Dems do end run round Christie on pensions and gas tax

The reconstruction of the Route 46 bridge in Little Ferry drags on, and drivers still have only one narrow lane in each direction, above. Meanwhile, at the former Little Ferry Circle, below, cars back up in a single left-turn lane onto Route 46 from Bergen Turnpike.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With conservative Republicans refusing to override Governor Christie's mean-spirited barrage of vetoes, Democrats are asking voters to approve dedicated funding of pensions, and road-and-bridge repairs.

And given its anti-union history, The Record of Woodland Park has already come out against a constitutional amendment requiring quarterly payments to the public employees pension fund, as has the state's biggest business group.

Three other amendments to be submitted to voters would require that all gas tax revenue go into the state Transportation Trust Fund, overhaul the redistricting process and add two casinos to North Jersey, which we need like a hole in the head (A-3).

Voters already have approved two other constitutional amendments to trump Christie vetoes and break the Trenton logjam -- an increase in the minimum wage and dedicated funding of open-space preservation.

Gottlieb curse

Editor Martin Gottlieb could care less about New Jerseyans, and he demoted this important news to an A-1 brief and a full story on A-3.

But Marty reserved space on Page 1 for another exceedingly boring political column by Staff Writer Charles Stile on Christie's "greatest vulnerabilities" after Tuesday's GOP debate.

Tax on wealthy

In the A-3 story, readers have to work hard to separate partisan rhetoric from Republicans' real objections to dedicated funding of the state pension system.

Republicans called the plan "fiscally reckless," because it relies on economic growth and "a tax on the state's highest earners" (A-3).

Christie has vetoed a tax surcharge on millionaires several times among a total of 430 vetoes since he took office in early 2010, cementing his reputation as the worst governor in state history.

Hackensack news

With the Hackensack reporter assigned to the "Star Wars" premiere, municipal news from Bergen County's biggest town goes missing for another day today (L-1).

This week, readers have been hurling over every headline with a play on words off of the title of the movie, "The Force Awakens."

Mystery beef

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung thinks nothing of driving 10 miles or more to rate a restaurant, but today, she discusses "east" and "central" Bergen County as if they are separated by a mountain range (BL-19).

That's how she ended up doing a lukewarm 2-star review of Seoul Galbi in Paramus, the successor to Pine Hill, a Korean restaurant near Bergen Community College that never achieved the A-list status of those in Palisades Park.

As usual, Ung ignores the cheap, mystery beef served at many barbecue places, and doesn't sound that knowledgeable about Korean food or restaurants.

She calls the complimentary panchan or side dishes that come with every Korean meal "snacks," and knocks a special of one free order of barbecue when you order two ($24.95 to $32.95).

Minimum of two

But most Korean barbecue restaurants in Pal Park and nearby towns require customers who want to cook their food on the table to buy at least two orders of beef, chicken or seafood.

Otherwise, a single order is prepared in the kitchen.

Ung also doesn't discuss the appeal of a Korean restaurant, where servers willingly replenish free side dishes of kimchi, seaweed and other items at least once.

Nor does she convey the fun of wrapping your barbecue in lettuce leaves along with rice, garlic and other items, and trying to stuff the entire package into your mouth at one time.

And near the end of her appraisal, what's with the highly unusual plug for two Korean soft-tofu restaurants in Ridgewood ?

Errors mount, production editor laughs all the way to bank

Four pieces of Hackensack fire equipment responded to an audible alarm from a house on Euclid Avenue on Sunday afternoon, above and below, but no fire or smoke was visible.

Even though temperatures were approaching 90 degrees, this firefighter at State Street headquarters shows protective suits haven't advanced very much.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Editing, fact-checking and proofreading -- three crucial steps in the production of The Record -- have become so lax readers can expect to find at least one major error in the paper every day.

And despite those errors, Liz Houlton, the production editor, continues to bank a six-figure salary every year.

Today, an editorial on the increasing odds of winning a Poweball jackpot notes the lottery hasn't been run by the state since Governor Christie "retained" Northstar New Jersey, a private firm (A-9).

"Northstar's involvement is an issue itself," the unnamed editorial writer states.... "Democrats criticized the move at the time, and with Northstar not meeting revenue projections, their happiness has increased [italics added]."

Of course, "happiness" certainly isn't the word the writer was looking for. 

"Their unhappiness [italics added]" is what increased, but everyone from Houlton on down completely missed the latest major error.

Houlton earned the title of "Queen of Errors" when she ran the features copy desk in the old Hackensack newsroom, allowing hundreds of mistakes to get past her cursor, especially in the Food section.

Her promotion to production editor and the hefty raise that went with it wasn't based on merit.

The accuracy of The Record has declined dramatically on her watch, but Publisher Stephen A. Borg seems not to notice or care.

In an email, the Eye on The Record reader who pointed out the error in today's only editorial commented:

Check out the huge stupid faux pas ... in Monday's editorial about "Lottery Dreams," in the first paragraph of the second column.

"It should have read "unhappiness" instead of "happiness." 

Either The Record editors are totally clueless to the real meaning of "happiness" or this has the connotations of  '1984'  where too many words have the opposite meaning.

Today's paper

Do Page 1 columns today and Sunday on Christie's presidential campaign mean Editor Martin Gottlieb has given up on reporting what a poor job the GOP bully is in doing in New Jersey (A-1)?

Today's A-1 headline, "Greeks and lenders talk past deadline," exposes the Woodland Park daily's pathetically early deadlines, as TV and radio were reporting that a deal had been made.

Why even put the incomplete story on the front page? 

Does Gottlieb really think readers were on the edge of their seats over the outcome of negotiations in Europe?

In fact, what many readers are wondering is how wealthy Greek restaurant owners in North Jersey can get away with charging $40 to $50 per pound for whole fish?

Christie's signature achievement is ruled unconstitutional

The Pathmark in the Home Depot Shopping Center in Hackensack closed in April 2011 and hasn't been replaced. That means tenants of an apartment complex next door have to get into their cars to go food shopping.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The pension "reform" Governor Christie signed into law in 2011 was declared unconstitutional today by the New Jersey Supreme Court.

The Record, especially political Columnist Charles Stile, has invoked that law repeatedly in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election as showing Christie's so-called bipartisanship.

But the high court ruled that progressively higher payments into the strapped pension system for seven years violated the constitution by creating new long-term debt, North Jersey.com reports.

"In New Jersey, voters must approve new debts by referendum," Associate Justice Jaynee LaVecchia wrote for the majority.

The GOP bully has balanced his last two budgets by cutting $2.4 billion from pension funding he had promised, and vows to reduce a $3.1 billion payment to $1.3 billion in the coming budget, which must be signed July 1, The Record's Web site reports.

But voters are certain to stop Christie from doing so next year, if the Democratic-controlled state Legislature succeeds in getting a proposal for guaranteed pension funding on the ballot.

The New Jersey pension system represents 770,000 public workers and retirees, including teachers.

Voodoo economics

To balance his budgets, Christie has repeatedly used cuts in pension payments, health services for women and other middle- and working-class programs.

At the same time, he has repeatedly vetoed a tax surcharge on millionaires, refused to raise the low gasoline tax and grabbed mass transit funds to fix roads and bridges.

In short, Christie is the worst New Jersey governor in history, and experts say he doesn't have a ghost of a chance at getting the GOP presidential nomination, if he decides to seek it.

Editors absolve themselves in analysis of low voter turnout

A police investigation of an accident closed all but one lane of the George Washington Bridge's lower level a little after 1 on Saturday afternoon. On the West Side Highway, re-striping of the two-lane 79th Street exit funneled drivers into one lane, causing backups that slowed motorists heading downtown. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In The Record's front-page story on low turnout, you won't find the answer to what really turned off voters, even though it's right there on the same page.

The Woodland Park daily today carries not one but two political columns analyzing the race for Bergen County executive last Tuesday (A-1 and O-1).

The front-page Charles Stile column explores the personal ambitions of three Democrats, who may or may not run in an election three years from now.

Stile sounds much like he does in all of those columns he's written touting Governor Christie as the next Republican nominee for president.

How boring.

In addition to endless stories about politics instead of issues, the editors no longer are exposing the lies in the attack ads that sway so many voters (A-10). 

Is it any wonder, as The Record reports five full days after the election, "nearly seven out of 10 New Jerseyans who were registered to vote Tuesday decided not to" (A-1).

Healing Westwood

Another Page 1 story reports that despite its awkward-sounding name HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley is paying Westwood $1.7 million in property taxes annually.

The mayor says that money has allowed the town to "engage in some significant infrastructure improvements" (A-6).

Conversely, Hackensack University Medical Center's non-profit status denies the city tens of millions of dollars in property taxes, leaving streets like Prospect Avenue looking like cow paths.

The Record has never told that story.

Fierce backpedaling

Road Warrior John Cichowski's column today on the decal law for drivers under 21 carries pretty much the same headline as did his Tuesday column on the same study (L-1).

But Tuesday's column was filled with errors, including the length of the study and the direct impact of the decals on the number of crashes.

Today's piece appears to be the veteran reporter's lame attempt to correct his previous column, which was analyzed by the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers.

Here is an excerpt:

"Road Warrior repeatedly tried to indicate that estimated reductions of 9.5% in crashes over a two-year period after the May 2010 GDL law were solely due to red decal provisions.

"[But] the study repeatedly indicated that while red decals could be an important component, the reductions in crashes could not be solely or primarily attributed to red decal provisions.

"The study repeatedly indicated that some of these reductions also could be attributed to other provisions of the updated GDL law, as well as better education and publicity about its benefits."

See: Road Warrior crashes and burns again

Customers whine

Staff Writer Elisa Ung's Sunday column today reports on the expensive mistakes some customers make when they order wine in restaurants (BL-1).

But Ung never mentions the tremendous markup on bottles and glasses that allows a Bobby Flay restaurant in Atlantic City to charge an outrageous $3,750 for a single bottle of red wine.

She makes the customer seem like a moron, because he thought the waitress' "thirty-seven fifty" meant $37.50. 

Given the ridiculous markup on wine, Ung should urge her readers to seek out BYOs or order the cheapest bottle on the wine list.

After all, as the paper's chief restaurant reviewer, she is supposed to report on issues from the consumer's point of view, and not shamelessly represent owners, as she does here.

The Borgs' hand-picked editor fiddles while N.J. burns

The Panera Bread Bakery-Cafe in Queensbury, N.Y., on July Fourth.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The front page of The Record today carries another so-called ANALYSIS, reporting the sad state of the New Jersey economy:

Governor Christie's "latest state budget," Staff Writer John Reitmeyer reports, contains more borrowing and more business tax breaks; higher property tax bills and no money for "transportation upgrades and open-space preservation" (A-1).

Why didn't this frank discussion of the mess Christie has made of the Garden State -- while catering to the rich -- appear before he vetoed the Democrats' budget proposal on June 30?

In a familiar story, Christie cut funding for women's health care, a tax-credit for low-wage workers and legal services for the poor, and delayed property tax relief to next year, according to a front-page story on July 1.

Silent endorsement

Yet the editorials that ran July 2 and 3 make no mention of the GOP bully's mean-spirited balancing of the state budget for the fifth year in a row.

Similarly, today's lead story on the woes of North Jerseyans struggling to rebuild their shore homes doesn't even attempt to assess whether Christie bungled federal Sandy aid, just as he tried to sabotage the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act in New Jersey (A-1).

Editor on vacation?

I've been on vacation out of state, but what is Editor Martin Gottlieb's excuse?

The onetime cub reporter for The Record went on to a stellar career at The New York Times, including a Paris posting, before he was hand-picked by the Borg publishing family to run their flagship daily paper in early 2012.

Not much has changed

The Brooklyn-born Gottlieb, 66, has been running the Woodland Park newsroom for nearly three years, but readers could be forgiven if the only changes they notice are longer stories, a relentless focus on politics and an even greater emphasis on front-page sports than his incompetent predecessor.

Readers are still ill-informed by a local-assignment desk filled with the same old, lazy sub-editors and stale, burned-out columnists that have been around for decades.

More lazy reporting

One of those lazy columnists appears on Page 1 today, trying to peddle a commuting story that affects only a few hundred people, if that (The Road Warrior, A-1).

Road Warrior John Cichowski and the paper's other transportation reporter, Karen Rouse, have labored in recent years to ignore growing mass-transit congestion, including a lack of rush-hour seats on trains and buses, and the delays faced by commuters trying to return to their North Jersey homes from the antiquated midtown-Manhattan bus terminal.

How does today's column on "a cheaper commute" over the George Washington Bridge benefit the vast majority of commuters, who are victims of Port Authority toll increases that amount to highway robbery?

Out of whole cloth

Cichowski is so lazy he will grasp at any straw as an excuse to write a column, such as his lame Page 1 effort on June 27 to tie the deaths of three men trying to fix a disabled truck on Route 287 to the average motorist whose car breaks down on a busy highway.

I pity the driver and passengers who follow his advice to stay inside a car with their seat belts on as trucks and other traffic flies by -- instead of getting the hell out of there.

The Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers notes that advice is definitely not posted on the AAA web site, aaa.com, as Cichowski claimed. 

Bankrupt section

Today's Business front story on mergers and acquisitions among community banks (B-1) makes no mention of Spencer Savings Bank assuming NJM Bank's deposits and loans, according to a letter sent to customers in late June.

The Business editors presumably are waiting for a press release.

The SMALL BUSINESS story today focuses on a restaurant in Conshohoken, Pa., not one in North Jersey (B-7).

Bring lots of dough

In Better Living today, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz and Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung continue their breathless promotion of expensive restaurants -- in a form of payback to those big advertisers (BL-2).

Food coverage has gone decidedly upscale in recent years, with no attempt to report on casual restaurants where four can eat for $50.

Lame local reporting

Today's Local front carries a story on Fort Lee trying to prepare for a steep rise in school enrollment (L-1), but no one has reported that Hackensack faces the same problem.

With hundreds of new apartments already built, under construction or proposed, the Hackensack City Council and Board of Education have yet to address the issue.

Dissing Hackensack 

Looking through the papers I missed since I left Hackensack on June 26 is a chore I'm trying to avoid, but the lead front-page element on June 29 caught my eye:

"Change isn't easy for Hackensack"

Is Columnist Mike Kelly responsible for this trite sentiment or does he tell readers where reform has come easily?

One look at his dated column photo -- with the same unflattering, shit-eating grin -- shows change doesn't come easy at The Record.

Negative spin

I saw Kelly at a Hackensack City Council meeting last month, and he has a nice head of gray hair. 

Isn't it time for The Record's editors to update his column photo, just as they did for TV critic Ginnie Rohan (BL-1)?

Kelly's column criticizing Hackensack's "unseasoned newcomers" is inaccurate and inflammatory, but it is typical of The Record's overwhelmingly negative coverage of the city it once called home.

Will we get rid of Christie in November or 2016?

Last Monday morning, only one window was open at the Hackensack Post Office on State Street, above and below.

Customers made sure they fed the parking meters outside.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

The fawning editors of The Record seem intent on being the first to report that Republican Chris Christie will run for president in 2016.

The latest in a series of speculative stories appears on Page 1 today.

The Record long ago wrote off the challenge of Democrat Barbara Buono, who will stop Christie from getting a second term if she can overcome the apathy of her party's voters in November.

I see an upset, but if the fat, mean-spirited slob does beat Buono, at least we can count on him going down in flames in 2016 in a race against Hillary Clinton.

In one way or another, a woman will deal Christie the huge political humiliation he so richly deserves.

Today's story is written by reporter Melissa Hayes, who is trying her hardest to scoop the national media or at least earn a job in the next Christie administration.

Arabs step in

The second paragraph notes in passing that Christie accepted a $4.5 million donation from the United Arab Emirates to the Superstorm Sandy relief charity.

That's great. New Jersey prostrates itself before Arab oil billionaires. 

What's next? Arab oil money flowing into his campaign? What would that mean to the drive to develop alternative forms of energy?

Cops sit on hands

The major story on A-1 today bemoans the lack of progress in creating bike lanes on Route 9w, but the entire focus seems to be on what state officials are or aren't doing (A-1 and A-6).

The editors never question whether more police enforcement of traffic laws or of bicyclists blowing through red lights would improve the situation.

Or why the mayors interviewed aren't getting their towns to improve safety on the heavily trafficked road.

Fat chances

Check out the editorial hailing a slight decline in obesity among low-income preschoolers in New Jersey (A-9).

There is not a single mention of what Christie or other state officials might have done to lower the incidence of obesity among 2 to 4 year olds -- except for a campaign to make adults "more aware of the dangers of childhood obesity."

Why do editors continue to shaft older drivers?

The 14 acres of woodland that once served as Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg's playground, behind a columned white mansion on Summit Avenue, are one of the few instances where Hackensack residents defeated a development proposal. In this case,  68 town houses were to be built on the land.

I am sick and tired of reading The Record's endless reporting on teen deaths in automobile accidents -- as in today's Page 1 column -- while the challenges faced by older drivers are virtually ignored.

Seniors get behind the wheel, mistake the gas pedal for the brake pedal and kill themselves or someone else -- then become a photo op for head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, who uses accident photos as filler in the Local news section (see L-3).

You'd think Editor Marty Gottlieb, who is in his mid-60s, or veteran reporter John Cichowski would care about this issue, and report on the challenges facing older drivers and the help available to them. 

Today's Road Warrior column cites a number of reason for fewer deaths among 16- to 20-year-old drivers, including red decals on license plates.

Of course, Cichowski doesn't tell readers how many hysterical parents he allowed to vent in his column in opposition to the decals when they were first proposed, just as he has done for lead-footed drivers trying to kill another life-saving measure, red-light cameras.

If past Road Warrior columns are any guide, the statistics cited in today's piece are probably reported incorrectly by Cichowski, but don't look for corrections on Wednesday.

Donovan v. Democrats

I am sure I wasn't the only lifelong Democrat repelled by the greed of Bergen County's Democratic Party who voted for county Executive Kathleen Donovan, a Republican.

Now, Donovan, who has been hospitalized for a month, has vowed to veto a pay-to-play ordinance -- proposed by majority Democrats -- that would allow special interests to contribute up to $20,000 a year to county political parties (A-1).

Dissing Hackensack

Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, turn out another lame Local section today, with no Hackensack news.

A story on plunging gas prices (Business, L-7) includes photos from Vermont, suggesting that all of the gas stations near the Woodland Park newsroom have gone out of business.

The photo with the 15 Minute Chef, supplied by The Washington Post, makes Cumin-Cilantro Chicken Patties look like vomit (BL-2).

Columnist jumps back into bed with Christie

With the help of a compliant and adoring media, a truly ugly Governor Christie is trying to sell himself as a champion of the middle class he has been screwing all along.

Charles Stile, The Record's chief political columnist,  must really have contempt for readers today as he regurgitates the latest royal B.S. from Governor Christie.

Long after most people labeled "The Jersey Comeback" a big lie, Christie has adopted a new slogan to deceive voters: "Christie Middle-Class Reform Agenda" (A-1).

Of course, it's the Democrats who are fighting for the middle class, as the party's national convention demonstrated time and again  last week.

And it's Christie, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan who are out to destroy the middle-class way of life by trying to loot Social Security and Medicare, assaulting the unions at every turn, and defending huge tax cuts for their wealthy supporters.

Paper does P.R.

Stile has had his head up his ass for so long he won't even acknowledge any of that in today's Page 1 column nor does he mention all the anti-middle class moves from Christie since he took office in January 2010:

Christie's attacks on state employee and state teachers unions are well-known. The GOP bully also killed the biggest expansion of mass transit in decades.

And our rotund governor stood by as the Port Authority and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority held up commuters with drastically higher tolls.

Christie also cut funding for women's health programs and school nutrition programs for students from low-income families.

The governor should start worrying about his spreading middle, not the middle class.

Meanwhile, the media -- and Editor Marty Gottlieb of The Record -- would shock all of us if they started reporting on Christie's health problems and his failure to address the state's child obesity epidemic.

Now that Stile has jumped back into bed with Christie and his spin doctors let's hope the obese governor rolls over on the clueless reporter.

More corrections?

The Record's editors have repositioned "Corrections" on A-2 to make them more visible to readers. 

Let's hope they'll start acknowledging all the errors that appear in the paper, instead of ignoring them. 

Little local news

Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza present another disappointing Local section today, with two Hackensack stories that are merely follow-ups on former Police Chief Ken Zisa and the city's school board (L-1 and L-2).

Road Warrior John Cichowski again relies on reader e-mails to turn out his 678th column on the MVC (L-1).

Even with coverage of 9/11 ceremonies in North Jersey, Sykes needed to fill space with a photo of a minor, three-vehicle accident (L-2).

Whole paper?

I'm still digesting Monday's editorial, which urges readers to "keep eating organic" to avoid pesticides, animal antibiotics and growth hormones, and to help the environment.

So, what's the explanation for how little attention the paper's food editor and restaurant reviewer pay  to naturally raised food? 

Today's weekly recipe from Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill calls for ground turkey and beef, but she doesn't even recommend that readers try to find antibiotic-free meat for themselves or their children (BL-1-2).

And Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung rarely tells readers anything about the origin of food she samples and recommends or say whether restaurants serve organic salad greens and other dishes.

Related articles

• Jerry Brown to Christie: Bring it on
• Christie's 'Jersey Comeback' goes belly up
• An ugly speech from a truly ugly man
• Business editors blow Christie -- again

Here's a lot more news you can't use

George Washington Bridge at night.

When Governor Christie grants an audience to The Record's unnamed editorial board, the editors fall all over themselves to save a slice of the front page for every juicy morsel from the Republican pit bull.

As you can see from today's front page, there is no "news" here -- just more divisive partisan rhetoric blaming the Democrats for everything that has gone wrong since Christie took office, including a state economy that can't get out of low gear.

What a dismal front page, and you won't find much else in an edition that seems designed to put you back to sleep. 

Instead of humoring Christie's chest thumping on Page 1, Editor Marty Gottlieb should have given better play to the governor saying he's disappointed in the Jets and Giants trying to stop the expansion of American Dream Meadowlands (A-6). 

Celebrity pest

It's too bad actor Andy Griffith died, but do we have to endure Bill Ervolino's fascination with the "television legend" (A-1)?

I'd much rather read about an interesting local resident, such as the 93-year-old man I met the other day in the Stop & Shop in Teaneck who still goes to the office.

Sports betting at Monmouth Park in the fall? Who cares, except gambling addicts who get high on the smell of horse shit (A-1)?

Pass the toilet paper

On the Local front, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes approved a Road Warrior column on "those little pieces of paper police hand out," instead of helping ease the commute of tens of thousands of readers (L-1).

Anyone who tries to read John Cichowski today will need their own little pieces of paper, the ones you use in the toilet.

Where's the local angle?

On the first Business page, a story about low lobster prices in Maine should appeal to the handful of readers who have a second home there, such as Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill (L-7 and L-8).

The rest of us would like to know whether those low prices will be seen in North Jersey, too.

That's news we could really use.

Christie's bull leads Millionaires' March

Governor Christie and the Legislature's Democratic majority are preparing to sacrifice middle-class taxpayers on the altar of the General Assembly in Trenton.

The Record's wealthy publisher, Stephen A. Borg, continues to promote and endorse Governor Christie's war on the middle class, as today's front page clearly demonstrates.

The GOP bully, who has long had Borg and other media owners in his pocket, now adds the Legislature's Democratic majority to his arsenal, Staff Writer Charles Stile reports (A-1).

But even though his Political Stile column leaves a lot more leeway than a news story, Stile can't seem to muster any outrage over the governor's diabolical plan to cut mass-transit and Clean Energy programs to preserve a tax cut that will benefit the rich most of all.

Jersey bull

In writing about Chrisitie's so-called Jersey Comeback income-tax cut in recent months, The Record's editors have been careful to omit how little the middle class would benefit.

If I recall the earliest stories accurately, in the first year of a cut, a typical middle-class family would save $80 -- enough to buy a bag of groceries -- but a millionaire would be handed a cool $10,000 gift from Christie, who has vetoed any attempt to impose a tax surcharge on Borg and other members of the filthy rich class.

The expected huge shortfall in state revenue has Christie jumping through hoops to find ways to reward his wealthy supporters -- quite a feat considering his size.

Zisaville news

But the state budget drama also has pushed back to the Local news section the sky-is-falling-in-Hackensack saga, which has dominated Page 1 since the conviction of suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa eight days ago. 

After all the doomsday predictions from head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her lazy, incompetent minions, readers now learn the judge who presided at the six-week trial must decide whether Zisa should forfeit his position (L-1).

Why this hasn't been reported before is unclear, though it is typical of how the editors ignore the requirements of the law in pursuit of sensational journalism whose only aim is to sell copies of this once-great daily.

Here comes the judge

This ensured that residents' anger was directed at city officials, not Superior Court Judge Joseph S. Conte, who has moved up the Zisa hearing to next Wednesday from June 14.

The Record has never explained why, on the day the jury announced its guilty verdicts, Conte deflected the prosecutor's request that the court order Zisa to relinquish his hold on the position of police chief.

On Monday night, Hackensack officials named Capt. Tomas Padilla as interim police chief. It's not known whether Padilla, who has run the department in the two years since Zisa's arrest, would be the city's first Hispanic chief.

One man, one vote

Outside of all the Zisa stories, Hackensack residents have seen little reporting about their city's municipal affairs.

And they've simply had to shake their heads over the endless stream of stories about the Rothman-Pascrell battle in the 9th Congressional District's Democratic primary.

Voters in Hackensack, a large part of Teaneck, Fair Lawn and many other towns have no say in the 9th District battle, so they remain in the dark about the contest in their new district, the 5th. 

  

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