AARP appeals to political editors, columnists and reporters

AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins, who in 1980 was a voter outreach worker for the Ronald Reagan campaign (photo by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins has a message for columnist Charles Stile and every other Record staffer obsessed with keeping political scorecards in Trenton and Washington.

"When policy is debated only in terms of political gains and defeats, the American people lose," Jenkins wrote in the AARP Bulletin.

Although her column didn't mention the media, her message could be aimed at The Record and other news outlets.

"Instead of solutions, we get stalemates," she noted, describing what has happened so many times on important issues since Governor Christie took office in early 2010. 

"Let's unite behind our shared goals," was one of the headlines on Jenkins' column in the December issue of the monthly publication from the former America Association of Retired Persons.

Practical solutions

"Regardless of whom you supported in November, we share many of the same concerns," she wrote.

"How can we get our leaders [and newspaper editors and reporters] to put political partisanship behind them and come together?

"How can we as a country bring civility and public discourse back to our democracy? How can we disagree and still find common ground around the big issues that matter so much in our country?"

"Bipartisanship does not mean that Republicans and Democrats must agree on every issue," Jenkins noted. "But it does mean that they must be able to work together to find [practical] solutions."

Political Stile Columnist Charles Stile of The Record.

"But partisanship has reached such an uncivil extreme [in Trenton and Washington] that it is dividing our nation and prohibiting leaders from both political parties from coming together to do the people's work," Jenkins said.

"Far too often the politician's goal is not practical solutions, but political advantage."

Politics and news

Think of all the columns Stile has written about who gained the upper hand politically in the recent debates over Christie's book deal and removing the requirement for legal notices to be printed in newspapers.

The latter bill was designed to "punish state newspapers," The Record claims once again in an editorial today (7A).

In fact, this is another attempt by Gannett and other wealthy publishers to distract readers from an unwarranted government subsidy of millions of dollars for public notices no one reads.

See the politically slanted headline on 3A today:

"Congress sees mandate
to undo Obama's agenda"

Of course, for years, headline writers for The Record and other newspapers politicized universal health care as "Obamacare."

And why did an AP reporter who covered the opening of the long-delayed Second Avenue subway (8A) report a speech was given by "Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo?"

Editors boring us again with high school football, politics

The former Sears appliance store at 480 Main St. in Hackensack, above and below, is being demolished to make way for an ALDI supermarket, from a German company that also owns Trader Joe's. The store will be close to apartments on Main Street and on Euclid Avenue.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Editor Deirdre Sykes of The Record is a fool if she thinks tens of millions of Democrats haven't decided whether to vote for Hillary Clinton or wacko racist Donald Trump.

Today's front page is dominated by an idiotic headline over another crappy Associated Press story that tries to inject suspense into the nominating process and Nov. 8 presidential election:

"Time to get onboard?"

In New Jersey and other states, the tens of millions of Democrats who were "Ready for Hillary" long before she declared her candidacy are poised in five months to make her the first woman to hold the presidency.

The AP story leads with a "fractured" Democratic Party instead of focusing on the all-out civil war among conservative Republicans on whether to back Trump and endorse his hate speech against Muslims, Mexicans and others (A-1).

Football 'war'?

Sykes leads today's paper with some nonsense about a high school "football turf war" that is only of interest to a couple of dozen parents and coaches (A-1).

She sure knows how to bore readers.

Mansions such as this one on the East Hill, hundreds of apartments on both sides of Route 4 and a large industrial section generate tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue for Englewood, yet the city's public schools are failing and downtown store vacancies are mounting.

Englewood election

A story on Englewood politics ends with Councilman Michael Cohen, winner of the Democratic primary on Tuesday, vowing to "limit tax increases" (L-1).

Sykes and Staff Writer Matthew McGrath want you to think Englewood is a municipal paradise where the only worry is high property taxes.

In fact, vacant storefronts, elementary and middle schools with few white students, and a high number of failing high schoolers tell another story -- one The Record ignores, even though North Jersey Media Group Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg has lived in a mansion on the city's East Hill for decades.