Today's big news isn't on Page 1

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Electrified NJ Transit light-rail cars such as these would serve commuters under a plan to extend the line to several Bergen towns, including Leonia, Englewood and Tenafly.

Martin "Marty" Gottlieb finally has taken over as editor of The Record of Woodland Park -- as readers can see from a change in the masthead at the bottom of the Editorial Page today (A-10).


Gottlieb's name and title appear between those of Publisher Stephen A. Borg and Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin.


Readers are hoping the former New York Times editor will usher in much-needed change at the North Jersey daily as caretaker Douglas Clancy returns to his newsroom budget chores.


Gottlieb, 64, certainly can ask for better writing and editing from the staff, and a more even-handed approach to such important issues as mass transit.


Two glaring examples appear on the front page today under the main headline, which just as easily could have read:

New day for The Record

The first paragraph of the lead story on Governor Christie's historic nominations to the state Supreme Court is awkwardly written, especially the phrase between the dashes -- "hailed by him Monday for their diversity and 'pure judgment.'"

What an abomination. Did a committee write that lead?

Trashing transit

Given the huge amount of advertising revenue from car dealers, it's no surprise that news stories are anti-mass transit, as demonstrated again by today's A-1 centerpiece on the proposed extension of light rail to Tenafly.

Tenafly officials appear to be the only ones opposing the plan, claiming they will have to give up $200,000 in tax revenue from the loss of commercial property to create parking lots for commuters.

But why add parking? The commuter ferry at River Road and Route 5 in Edgewater is thriving with a shuttle bus and no public parking. Why couldn't light rail do the same?

The A-1 photo caption for the light-rail story also contains an error, calling Englewood "one of the cities affected" by the plan. It is the only city; none of the other towns have a city form of government.

The boring photo of a man crossing the tracks isn't worthy of appearing on the back page, let alone the front page. Where is a photo of the electrified light-rail cars that would serve Englewood and Tenafly?

Hack attack

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section is missing any Hackensack news.

But I love that photo of a horse carved from snow in Cliffside Park by talented Staff Photographer Tariq Zehawi, who Sykes has had chasing ambulances for too many years (L-1).

The Road Warrior column didn't run on the front of the section on Sunday, as it usually does, and there was no explanation in the paper. It is scheduled to appear again on Wednesday. 

Mixed message

On the front of Better Living, the promotional Starters restaurant feature reports MK Valencia in Ridgefield Park serves "American-Italian" cuisine "with an emphasis on seafood," but a photo shows two dishes with meat and none with fish.

At The Times, Gottlieb served as global edition editor, associate managing editor in charge of the weekend editions, deputy culture editor and an investigative reporter and editor on the national and metro staffs. 

He has also been editor-in-chief of The Village Voice, managing editor of The New York Daily News, and a reporter at The News and The Record when it was in Hackensack.

Breaking news: Dead patients don't pay

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The New World Trade Center is over-budget and won't be finished until who knows when.

Did you see the inadvertently hilarious Page 1 quote in The Record today from Anthony Orlando, CFO at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center?


Englewood and other hospitals apparently are stiffed so much they are requiring patients to pay upfront, even in the emergency room.


"When you go to Best Buy, do you walk out without paying," Orlando asks rhetorically -- as if an operation or other medical procedure is as common as buying a flat-screen TV.


"The only chance to collect a debt, direct and face to face, is when they're [patients] here," he goes on. "You may never see them again."


Especially if they die on the operating table. In other words, dead patients don't pay, so the hospital tries to get its money while they are alive and kicking.


Editor's giant error


Thanks to interim Editor Douglas Clancy, overblown coverage of the Giants on A-1 doesn't leave much room for general-interest news besides the hospital story.


A second front-page report says North Jersey residents continue to take a bath from the Port Authority's construction of the New World Trade Center. 


It's bad enough we're all paying higher tolls, but now readers learn about the outrageous compensation being paid to members of the private 9/11 Memorial foundation.


In the Local section, a story on the miraculous recovery of an Englewood woman whose heart stopped in church on Jan. 15 doesn't say whether her relatives were asked for a credit-card imprint when she arrived at the Englewood Hospital emergency room (L-3).

Key editor is 'Too Big to Fail'

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A story about ex-Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell appeared under the headline, "North Bergen mayor's sentencing delayed." 

Coverage of snowstorms can make or break an editor at The Record -- as the trick-or-treat Halloween firing of Francis "Frank" Scandale clearly showed.


The lesson in the anemic editorial response to the surprise October 2011 snowstorm -- which knocked out power to hundreds of thousands for days -- wasn't lost on the staff, which produced today's timely stories on Page 1 and the Better Living cover.


Scandale arrived at The Record 11 years ago this month, and he didn't have to wait long for a big storm, which demonstrated once again how poorly the local assignment desk handled weather stories.


Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes was in charge of covering the storms -- in January 2001 and October 2011 -- and she or one of her junior assignment editors directed the news-gathering staff. 


But she has survived all the complaints about pathetically weak coverage from higher-ups like Publisher Stephen A. Borg


Like the banks and brokerages that brought the nation to the brink of financial ruin, Sykes is simply "Too Big to Fail."


Sykes and Tim Nostrand, who held the top assignment post before her, have survived at least three managing editors. And Sykes emerged triumphant in the Scandale debacle, even though one of her junior weekend editors botched the pre-Halloween snowstorm story. 


This weekend's storm, the first of the new year, may also be a milestone, coming in the waning days of the interim editor, Douglas Clancy, who presumably will resume his newsroom budget chores.


The Borgs' new editor, Marty Gottlieb, was hired away from The New York Times in December, and was expected to start early in the new year. Gottlieb was global editions editor of The Times for three years.


Milking the GOP process


Readers who picked up the Woodland Park daily today realized from the lead story that the excruciatingly boring process of picking a Republican presidential nominee will be shoved down their throats until the convention in August (A-1).


On A-2, another embarrassing correction appears. An L-3 headline on Friday said, "North Bergen mayor's sentencing delayed." 


The problem is the story was about Dennis Elwell, former mayor of Secaucus. The words "North Bergen" or "North Bergen mayor" never appear in the story, which was handled by Editor Liz Houlton's news copy desk. 


Free editorial help


Congress has been virtually paralyzed since a posse of rabid Tea Party members took their seats a year ago, but the editors have refused to do the story, leaving it to readers to explore how much damage they've caused.


In a letter on A-11 today, former Closter resident Chuck Bailey
discusses "the unprecedented lack of cooperation by [Republican Party] members of Congress " in aiding the economic recovery.


Instead of municipal news from Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood and other towns, Sykes' Local section is filled with court and police news today.


Where are you, Marty Gottlieb?


Related article

• Dear Marty: Seven ways to save The Record (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)

Everything but the kitchen sink

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Pad thai as served in Bangkok, Thailand. Elisa Ung reviews a Thai restaurant, delaying her food critique until the end.

One look at The Record's front page today and you'd think the world is ending with the move of school elections to November or that driver-license fraud is the biggest problem facing the state.


In fact, interim Editor Douglas Clancy had so little news for Page 1 today, two of the four major stories are about football -- the second day in a row he has squandered precious space on the sport.


Now, all we need is a kitchen sink. 


The overlong, eye-glazing story on license fraud carries the rare byline of Staff Writer Jean Rimbach, who milked the subject for all it is worth.


Four corrections


On A-2, are four embarrassing corrections and one clarification a new record?


Hackensack residents are offered two stories -- the umpteenth development in the legal saga of suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa (L-3), and the denial of an application to build a 19-story health care building between Prospect and Summit avenues, near Golf Place (L-6).


I haven't seen anything in head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section concerning a proposed $516,000 cut in the budget of the Englewood Public Library, but it is blasted in a letter to the editor of the weekly Hackensack Chronicle.


Fit to be Thai'd


You know the food must be pretty bad if Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung fills the first two-thirds of her report with everything but the dishes she sampled at Pa De Thai in Edgewater.


The 34-seat restaurant is called a "hole-in-the-wall" on the cover of Better Living and a "tiny treasure" in the centerfold. Ung gave it a lukewarm 2 stars (Good), though it doesn't deserve even that.


In two visits, she tried only 11 items, including two desserts. The waiter recommended the "crispy red snapper" for $16.95, but the small fillet had a "tough exterior." 


A duck salad had "tough chunks of meat," and the fried rice and pad thai had "too much soy sauce."


Thai food is known for its wide use of fresh vegetables and restaurants usually offer vegetarian alternatives to many dishes, including duck salad. Ung is silent on those scores.

Belated second thoughts on Christie plan

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The biggest winners in Governor Christie's plan are residents with $1 million in taxable income.

Why did it take The Record's staff the better part of two days to give prominence to Democratic criticism of Governor Christie's latest proposal as a "B.S. tax cut" that's "not real" and "for the wealthy"?


All of the quoted words came from state Senate President Stephen Sweeney on Tuesday, but they're just appearing on Page 1 today, along  with an "ANALYSIS" that found a lot of holes in the governor's proposal.


And the State of the State address may have been released under an embargo the night before Christie was to deliver it on Jan. 10. The delay was prompted by the unexpected death on Jan. 9 of Republican Minority Leader Alex DeCroce.
  
Interim Editor Douglas Clancy again shows readers he isn't a serious journalist, devoting only a third of the front page to state government and burying other important stories inside.


A Christie veto of a bill on taxpayer-funded pensions is on A-3, and a $325 million shortfall in state revenue is reported on A-4. Both of those stories are worthy of being packaged with the two on the tax-cut plan.


Two more embarrassing corrections appear on A-2 today.


Column has holes


On the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, an unflattering photo makes Columnist Mike Kelly look like the newsroom idiot (L-1).


Kelly finally has taken note of the five-week-long "silence" from law enforcement officials on the many questions surrounding the shooting of Malik Williams, 19, of Garfield.


But Kelly doesn't do any original reporting here. He doesn't even bother interviewing the owner of the garage where Williams hid before he was shot dead by two police officers.


All he does is regurgitate all the unanswered questions, which have appeared in at least a half-dozen news stories since the Dec. 10 shooting.


In fact, Kelly's style is to ask a lot of rhetorical questions. He rarely expresses the strong opinions that readers are looking for in a columnist.


Nor does Kelly inform readers he wrote a book defending a white Teaneck police officer who shot and killed a fleeing black teenager, Phillip C. Pannell, in April 1990.

Christie bullshits the media, public

Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Chris Christie was considerably slimmer when the Republican ran for governor in late 2009.

Governor Christie's proposal for a 10% tax cut would put $80.50 in the pockets of anyone with taxable income of $50,000 -- or what you'd blow on a single visit to ShopRite.


But the plan would cut $7,265 from the tax a millionaire pays -- as if they need the money.


Yet, editors at The Record were so eager to sell Christie's fictional State of the State address on Tuesday, they stepped all over each other with redundant front-page headlines today:

CHRISTIE WOULD SLASH 10% ACROSS ALL INCOMES

Tax cut for 'everyone'

"Slash" and "cut" are bad echoes, and "everyone" and "across all incomes" say the same thing. Why is the word everyone in quotes? 


Sadly, the plan would deprive the state of about $1 billion in revenue, so more public-school cuts are feared. 


Interim Editor Douglas Clancy muted any criticism of Christie's many lies by burying it on the continuation page. An editorial was labeled, "Christie comeback." 


From what? Binge eating over the holidays? Hoodwinking Oprah Winfrey, a fellow food addict, on the governor's compulsive eating habits?


If Clancy had any objectivity, he would have ordered a sidebar on Page 1 with Democratic criticism and a side-by-side comparison of Christie's claims and reality.


But what can you expect from a glorified newsroom bookkeeper whose days in the editor's job are numbered?


On the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, a Road Warrior column on how to set your parking brake leaves readers shaking their heads (L-1).


As does the absence of Hackensack news for another day.


Teardown


The distinctive, half-timbered building off Route 46 in Ridgefield Park, where a Gasho of Japan hibachi steakhouse once operated, is being demolished.


"This unique ... multiple-family farmhouse is typical of those found hundreds of years ago in certain regions of Japan," according to the Gasho Web site.


Related posts

• The GOP's Laurel-and-Hardy campaign (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Christie rolls over on the editors (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• The year ends on a selfish note (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)

Editors can't resist a divided town

Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Rep. Scott Garett, R-Wantage, is a member of the House Financial Services Committee.

Two-thirds of Teaneck suddenly finds itself represented by one of Congress' most conservative members, but all of Hackensack, Fair Lawn and other towns have the misfortune of being moved into the Republican's district.


So, interim Editor Douglas Clancy, why is today's Page 1 story in The Record about Teaneck residents affected by redistricting to the exclusion of the other communities? 


Where in the story is anything about the regressive policies of Rep. Scott Garret of Wantage, lord of the 5th District, that are so counter to the minorities he now represents?


And is there a sillier way to end such a story than to say brothers divided by the district border now have two congressman to call, if they want to complain about a "rough pat[c]h" of pavement on their street? 


Who would ever call a congressman to complain about that?


The photo on A-5 speaks volumes about Garret and his party. All the Republicans can come up with to oppose President Barack Obama are white, middle-age men, most of them wealthy.


Hackensack news is conspicuously absent in head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section as well.


Oprah and Chris


Two of the nation's most prominent food addicts sat down for a TV interview and not a word was uttered about the obesity epidemic.


On Sunday, Oprah Winfrey and Governor Christie discussed being overweight.


Oprah called food "a drug " and said she is a "compulsive over-eater."


Christie said he just finds himself eating the wrong things, but couldn't explain why. "But there is a certain compulsiveness at times about my eating," he said.


The governor said he has a dietitian and works out three days a week with a personal trainer, and one day on his own. "I'm getting there."


But Oprah never asked Christie how much he weighs or how much weight he might have lost.

Slim pickings for lilliputian readers

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There is absolutely nothing like the original.

Is there anything in The Record today for us mere mortals -- the vast majority of readers who care nothing about the heroic Giants and their chances of winning another Super Toilet Bowl?


For us Lilliputians, pungent locker-room odors and male bonding demote inspiring coverage of Martin Luther King Jr. to the bottom of Page 1 -- thanks to interim Editor Douglas Clancy.


Why does every project at Hackensack University Medical Center -- even a new "wellness" center that's more than a year away from actually opening -- land on the front-page?


Does it have anything to do with all the years Vice President Jennifer A. Borg sat on the its board while North Jersey Media Group collected tens of thousands of dollars in ad revenue from the medical center, still one of the paper's biggest advertisers?


News holiday


Another A-1 story -- reporting a drop in traffic after tolls went up 53% on the New Jersey Turnpike and 50% on the Garden State Parkway on Jan. 1 -- doesn't account for the roads being less busy due in part to observance of New Year's Day on Jan. 2.



Governor Christie's pivotal role in forcing higher tolls is buried on the continuation page, A-8.


On the Local front, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes devotes most of the front to a drunken celebration of the Giants' victory by patrons of North Jersey taverns (L-1).


Second look


Travel Editor Jill Schensul makes a rare appearance in the daily paper today with a sidebar on cruise ship safety (A-6) -- three days after the Costa Concordia ran aground and tipped over off the coast of Italy, killing at least five.


On Sunday, Schensul wrung her hands endlessly in the Travel section cover story over "the homogenization of unique travel experiences."


The jaded editor never explains why the magnificent, original Eiffel Tower in Paris no longer has any value, compared to all of the mere imitations around the world.


In a section on food, she seems to disapprove of the spread of good food served at restaurants carrying the names of celebrity chefs -- while many travelers rejoice at how those places have become alternatives to the crappy fare at McDonald's. 


And she doesn't mention that the spread of fast food hasn't affected all the choices adventurous eaters have wherever they are, especially in Italy and other countries where seasonal food is taken seriously.

It takes nearly a week to get it right

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Oprah Winfrey has a new network, but her interviewing skills leave a lot to be desired when it comes to exploring Governor Christie's weight problem and the obesity epidemic.

Alex DeCroce is back on the front page again today -- nearly a week after he died in a State House bathroom.

The Record has published thousands of words about the life and death of the Republican state assemblyman from Morris County -- completely out of proportion to his prominence -- because he was one of Governor Christie's key allies.

But what The Record failed to report was what killed DeCroce on Monday night, and readers noticed the glaring omission in Tuesday's lavish front-page coverage and in a follow-up story on Friday.

Heart of the matter

Today, it takes a Page 1 funeral Mass story from The Daily Record, which once competed with The Record, to finally inform readers that DeCroce, 75, died of a "heart-related problem."

Abbott Koloff, The Daily Record's reporter, quotes the state police on the cause of death. Imagine that. A reporter called the state police to ask about a death in the State House. 

This is Reporting 101.

Why didn't interim Editor Douglas Clancy and all of The Record's other editors and reporters think of that? And is it any surprise DeCroce's death is linked to heart disease?

The Record is so fixated on autism and so determined to ignore the problems of older people, its editors apparently are totally unaware of just how common heart problems are.

In fact, on A-4, a story reports former presidential candidate John Edwards has a serious heart condition.

Hand kissing at funeral

On A-6, the continuation of the DeCroce story, a photo of a chivalrous Christie shows that he definitely has the hots for the widow, BettyLou DeCroce, who may fill her husband's Assembly seat. 

Page A-2 carries two more embarrassing corrections and a clarification.

Check out A-3 for an unflattering photo of Christie with Oprah Winfrey. He makes her look svelte.

In an interview scheduled to air Sunday, Oprah apparently fails to find out how much the GOP bully weighs or whether he has lost weight working out with a personal trainer.

Nor does the story mention whether Christie and the first lady, Mary Pat Christie, are doing anything about the epidemic of obesity in New Jersey.

Cops make news again

If you're looking for Hackensack municipal news, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section disappoints once again today.

On L-1, Staff Writer Stephanie Akin has yet another account of legal problems in the Police Department -- a day after the story appeared in the weekly Hackensack Chronicle.

The section has lots of other news about the police as well as police and court news on every page but L-4, which is filled with death notices.

On the Better Living front, an article on the health benefits of tai chi lists only one class for beginners -- in Little Falls.

That may be close to the Woodland Park newsroom, but it's far from the majority of readers.

Where have the editors been hiding?

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How much of his huge fortune will Republican Mitt Romney squander on his bid to unseat President Barack Obama?

Tensions

rising over

inequality

of wealth

Study reveals shift in

middle-class attitudes

I almost spit out my coffee when I saw these headlines on Page 1 of The Record today and wondered what the editors have been doing during the last two years of partisan warfare between the rich and everyone else.

It's just like interim Editor Douglas Clancy to wait for a survey to confirm what readers knew long ago.

The Record does its best to ignore Governor Christie's refusal since he took office two years ago to raise taxes on millionaires or hike the levy on fuel for their gas-guzzling limousines. 

And Republicans in Congress are doing their best to keep taxes on the rich at a 50-year low as a result of the Bush tax cuts. 

Mitt Romney, leading in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, estimates his net worth at $190 million to $250 million.

You'd have to be a fool to believe they care anything about unemployment, foreclosures and all the other shocks destroying the middle class.

Chickening out

It's not just the news editors who are out of touch.

Years after antibiotic-free chicken showed up in supermarkets, Better Living today publishes a cover story on how to read poultry labels (F-1). 

The story would be a lot more useful to readers if it listed brands that are drug-free, such as Readington Farms (ShopRite) and Murray's (Fairway Market), and those that are raised with lots of antibiotics, including Perdue and Tyson.

Little real insight

The major element on Page 1 today reports on the latest desecration of a synagogue, which involved a Molotov cocktail tossed into the bedroom of a Rutherford rabbi and his wife.

The A-1 sidebar by Staff Writer Deena Yellin reports the rabbi was injured, but the main story doesn't. 

The caption for the photo, which shows the rabbi and his wife, says the gasoline bomb was thrown into "his bedroom" when it should have been "their bedroom."

Neither story attempts to explain why there have been four attacks on Bergen County synagogues since Dec. 10.

And where has head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes been, covering most of the front of the Local news section with a fire in North Bergen that killed no one?

Partisan politics -- in death as in life

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Would Governor Christie have made such a big deal if a Democratic lawmaker died on Monday night in a State House bathroom?

I was surprised to hear Governor Christie postponed his State of the State address to the Legislature on Tuesday and even more surprised by the lavish coverage in The Record of his 9-minute eulogy for Republican Minority Leader Alex DeCroce.


DeCroce and Christie served together years ago on the Morris County Freeholder Board, and the senior Republican in the Assembly presumably spearheaded the GOP governor's mean-spirited budget cuts in 2010 and 2011.


Would Christie have postponed the business of state if a Democratic legislator died?


The Record's coverage is ridiculous, especially the feature-like first paragraph of the lead story on Page 1: "The first day of a new legislative term is traditionally filled with ceremony and festivity ...."


No cause of death


Give me a break. The reporting is awful, with the stories failing to list a cause of death for the 75-year-old DeCroce, who collapsed in a State House bathroom on Monday night.


Columnist Charles Stile actually has the balls, in a second A-1 piece, to call the State of the State address a "triumphant moment" for Christie, ignoring all the pain the governor has visited on the middle class in New Jersey.


More errors


An embarrassing correction on A-2 today is the latest in a string from the lazy local assignment desk and the news copy desk: There were three corrections on Tuesday and two on Monday, and last week, three on Friday and three on Thursday.


When you consider that many errors go uncorrected, you can only assume accuracy is no longer a priority at the Woodland Park daily under interim Editor Douglas Clancy, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Production Editor Liz Houlton.


Teen theme


On Sykes' Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski sounds a favorite theme: teen driving deaths (L-1). Readers of the column die silently.


Judging from Hackensack news, the city is at a standstill. Staff Writer Stephanie Akin has yet another story about police officer lawsuits against suspended Chief Ken Zisa (L-1).


Six related stories have run since Dec. 3.


  

Rabbi gives Jews a bad name

Image by dougtone via Flickr
Englewood's schools, including Dwight Morrow High, above, can't afford to lose the $63,000 in annual property taxes paid by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on his East Hill estate.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood is a publicity monger and a hypocrite, yet The Record devotes a huge amount of space today to his shameless plan to seek tax-exempt status for his multimillion dollar East Hill mansion.


Boteach bought the estate in 2000, knowing the Libyan Mission to the United Nations was next door. He parlayed that into a million dollars worth of free publicity for himself in 2009, when he protested a planned visit by dictator Moammar Gadhafi.


The Record published five stories over the course of six days in August 2009, many of them featuring Boteach prominently. Later, the Better Living section wrote a glowing review of the rabbi's book on his relationship with Michael Jackson.


In recent years, Boteach withheld property taxes to protest the Libyan Mission's tax-exempt status in Englewood, but now he's proposing to take his own property off the tax rolls. This man gives Jews a bad name.


Editor worships rabbi


The story on Page 1 clearly shows Boteach has interim Editor Douglas Clancy in his pocket. From the size of the headline and the space devoted to his selfish plan, you'd think a major disaster had occurred in North Jersey.


Don't hold your breath for an editorial opposing Boteach's plan and urging the city Planning Board to reject the use of a caretaker's house as a synagogue. Let Boteach take Englewood to court.


Next, Publisher Stephen A. Borg will convert a room in his $3.65 million Tenafly McMansion into a newsroom, declare The Record and Herald News a non-profit and seek his own tax-exempt status.


More poor journalism


Another front-page story raises all the questions surrounding the month-old police shooting of Malik Williams, 19, of Garfield -- and answers none of them.


So, this is just a rewrite of previous stories by the lazy assignment desk under Editor Deirdre Sykes.


Why didn't the reporter talk to the owner of the garage where Williams hid and find out what he or she knows about the "tools" police said the escapee held in his hands as justification for killing him?


Today's story reports Williams was "found behind numerous objects" and "had allegedly armed himself with tools."


Taking on Garret


It's good to see Adam Gussen, the deputy mayor of Teaneck, is among Democrats who are weighing a run against arch-conservative Rep. Scott Garret, the Wantage  Republican who cowed Rep. Steve Rothman, D- Englewood (L-1).


Let's hope Garret will rue the day his district was reconfigured to include Hackensack and most of Teaneck, two of the most diverse communities in North Jersey.


Also on the front of Local, a story on the death of three seniors in a highway accident in Florida doesn't say who was driving nor quote police on what caused their small SUV to go off the road.

The GOP's Laurel-and-Hardy campaign

Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Governor Christie scolding a protester during campaign for presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

Nick looked up at the wall-mounted TV and the image of a roly-poly Governor Christie campaigning in shirtsleeves for Mitt  Romney in New Hampshire and said, "Whatever he's eating, we're paying for it."


Christie's size surprised even the staff and patients such as Nick in the cardiac rehab unit at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center this morning -- and they've seen it all. 


Doesn't Christie have a personal trainer, one nurse asked. But the governor won't say how much he weighs or whether he's lost weight, a patient said.


You can see a photo of the media's favorite fat slob on A-6 of The Record today -- the continuation of a Page 1 story reporting Christie lashed out at an Occupy movement protester who accused the GOP bully of killing jobs.


Since Christie took office, The Record and other media have time and again praised his brash Jersey style -- as if this is now the only qualification for governor -- and forgiven his mean-spirited budget cuts, huge toll-and-fare increases and his assault on the middle-class way of life in the Garden State.


GOP comedy team


You can't see it in The Record photo, but on TV, Christie was a few inches shorter than the fashionably thin Romney, who is leading in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.


They're a modern-day Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, but the biggest joke is on voters.


Another story on A-1 reports NJ Transit took a $297 million bath after Christie killed the Hudson River rail-tunnel project, another $95 million was paid to settle a repayment demand from federal officials and nearly $1.2 million went for legal fees (A-6).


No attempt was made to get comment from Christie.


Sports trumps news


On Jan. 9, 2011, the day after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords survived an attempted assassination that killed six in Tucson, Ariz., The Record's front page was dominated by the photo of an athlete, squeezing the Giffords story under a 1-column headline.


Today, a year later, the front page is again dominated by the big photo of an athlete, thanks to interim Editor Douglas Clancy, who thinks sports is going to sell papers.


But I  guess Clancy also is telling readers they have to love all that sports has given us:


Overweight fans who drink as much beer and eat as many ribs as possible before every game, as shown on L-1 today; perverted coaches who molest young boys, obscene salaries that shock the conscience and, in Wayne, the arrest of nine thugs on one high school football team.


The third element on A-1 today is a story by the nursing home reporter, Colleen Diskin, whose last byline was Dec. 27, 2011. Diskin once wrote the Mother Load column.


Food for thought


Don't look for a Hackensack, Teaneck or Englewood report or much other local news today. 


Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes spent all her time raiding tailgate parties on Sunday in East Rutherford -- then plastered the fans' bacchanal all over her Local front in place of any legitimate local news.

Another disappointing Sunday

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Does any commuter doubt Hudson River toll hikes would have been lower if Governor Christie hadn't grabbed $1.8 billion in Port Authority funds for state roads?

Are voters supposed to clip out today's Page 1, side-by-side comparison of Democratic Reps. Bill Pascrell Jr. and Steve Rothman, and save it for reference just before the primary election more than five months from now?


Why is that running now? Isn't there anything else happening -- or not happening -- in Washington? Maybe that's the story that should be on the front page of this ho-hum Sunday edition.


And why does Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson give a pass to Rothman?


The Record has refrained from reporting the anger of many Democrats who feel Rothman is ducking out of a fight against an arch-conservative Republican, Scott Garret, the U.S. representative from Wantage.


And where in this long story is the biographical material comparing Pascrell, the scrappy former mayor of Paterson, to Rothman, who is from a privileged background in Englewood?


Finally, have you ever seen a more boring headline? Where was the supervisor of the news copy desk, Editor Liz Houlton, who earned the title "Queen of Errors" when she ran the features copy desk?

Two candidates

separated by style

You can slap that generic headline on any political story for years to come. It's probably on one of Houlton's save/get keys.


GOP bully speaks


More GOP bias is evident in the bully A-1 pulpit interim Editor Douglas Clancy gives to Governor Christie, who told editors he's finally going to do something about the free-spending Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.


After all, Christie is partly responsible for the huge Hudson River toll and fare hikes, as well as the recent increases on the turnpike and parkway.


Instead of raising the gas tax on his limousine-riding supporters, Christie grabbed billions in agency funds, shifting the money from the Hudson River rail tunnels he killed to state road and mass-transit projects.


Heat but no light


An A-3 story doesn't explain how higher prices for credits sold by solar-power producers would "come at the expense of ratepayers and utilities." 


And the story ignores credits sold to utilities by homeowners (and ratepayers) who have spent tens of thousands of dollars to install solar panels.


Determined to avoid writing about commuters, Road Warrior John Cichowski bases his column today on e-mails from truckers and other so-called professional drivers (L-1). He's boring us to tears recounting all these reader e-mails.


The Local news section continues to report on seemingly endless municipal reorganization meetings.


A jerk reveals herself


Can the editors explain why an unlabeled photo that appears to have been taken in Europe accompanies a column by Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung (Better Living cover)?


The arrogant Ung tells readers how they can get their "money's worth in a restaurant -- without being a jerk."


If anyone is a "jerk," it's the unseasoned reviewer herself, obsessing over dessert and blindly praising the cheap beef, poultry and fish many restaurants serve to fatten their profits.


On the Opinion front, an overly long column under the headline, "Key questions remain after Iowa caucuses," fails to answer the most obvious question -- why has The Record and other media wasted so much time and space covering the Republican nomination campaign?