News media always delight in exploiting political divisions

The easiest way to ruin a beautiful day is to try to drive through downtown Englewood, where construction and a blocked lane slowed traffic today at Palisade Avenue and Dean Street, above and below.

This afternon around 1, as the temperature reached a comfortable 75, one Englewood police officer directed traffic as two others leaned against a traffic-light repair truck that blocked a through lane, bullshitting. Now, residents know one reason why the city's property tax bills are so high.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After the nation's first black president took office in 2009, the racially inspired gridlock in Congress was evident to everyone.

And the news media couldn't have been more delighted, replacing any reporting about issues and what's good for the country with story after story about our political divisions.

A year later, Republican Chris Christie was sworn in as New Jersey's governor and faced a state Legislature controlled by Democrats.

Would he compromise? Fuggedaboutit!

The GOP bully unilaterally cancelled expansion of rail service under the Hudson River, and began vetoing every bill in sight -- from a tax surcharge on millionaires to hikes in the minimum wage to using tax money to purchase open space.

Again, the news media were delighted to report all of the conflict, and The Record's Charles Stile wrote column after column explaining Christie's every word, belch and fart in political terms -- even as the vetoes topped 500 and set a record.

Clinton v. Trump

Today, Columnist Mike Kelly repeats a frequent theme of his column -- that allegedly we are no longer united, as we supposedly were after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on America (A-1).

And once again he points to "an increasingly polarized presidential campaign."

But that's nothing new, just as the media's relentless focus on politics in the nation and New Jersey isn't new, and likely won't end in the foreseeable future. 

9/11 ceremonies

Today's front page, Local front and Better Living cover are dominated by stories related to the 15th anniversary of 9/11.

That's eight straight days of coverage, but I didn't seen anything on the hijackers who lived in Paterson, and obtained phony I.D.'s and licenses in the weeks leading up to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

With Christie budget, we get arguments, not leadership

The single lane open on the Anderson Street Bridge from Hackensack to Teaneck was closed on Tuesday for long-term repairs to the span, which has carried restricted traffic since September 2012.  Despite Tuesday's torrential rain, not a single photo of flooding appears today in The Record of Woodland Park, where presumably the sun was shining. See photos below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Even though Governor Christie was humiliated on the presidential campaign trail, he was back to contentious business as usual in Trenton on Tuesday.

Reading between the lines of his argumentative budget speech, as reported in The Record, Democratic lawmakers likely were reminded the GOP bully standing before them has already executed more than 500 vetoes since early 2010.

Today, we're no closer to resolving some of the biggest issues facing the state, including the underfunded public employee pension fund and the debt-ridden transportation fund that pays for bridge and road repairs, and mass transit improvements.

Flattering editorial

"The good news is that Christie sounded like a governor committed to doing his job," claims an editorial on A-10 today.

Gee. To me and many others, he sounds like the combative governor who turned his back on the middle class in New Jersey to pursue a doomed bid for the White House, and now he's back to make our lives even more miserable than before.

Or you can read more crap from Charles Stile, the political columnist who is one of Christie's biggest boosters at a paper that has far too many (A-1).

Flooding on Euclid Avenue in Hackensack.

Flooding on Hudson Street in Hackensack.

Flooding in the H Mart parking lot in Little Ferry.

Local news?

The hysterical reaction to a proposal for 142 apartments in Dumont -- and the threat of a suit by the school board -- speaks volumes about what is wrong with North Jersey's home-rule system of government (A-1).

Another front-page story today shows local news is literally going to the dogs.

What is a story about the Westminster Kennel Club and dogs from Bogota (New Jersey, not Colombia) doing on A-1 today?

The local editors needed several photos of power outages and fires, as well as crime and court news, to fill their thin section today (L-1 and L-3).

News from Hackensack went missing again today.

Bill Ervolino

Readers scanning Bill Ervolino's Better Living cover story on "kitchen gadgets" sigh with relief that at least he isn't writing about his father again (BL-1).

Then, they turned the page to see yet another Ervolino column about his parents on BL-3.

Ervolino and The Record's other veteran columnists, including Stile, John Cichowski and Mike Kelly, long ago ran out of ideas.

They remind readers of the kitchen gadgets Ervolino writes about today:

They're nice for the paper to have, but does anyone really read them anymore?

Editors: Syrian refugees aren't demons Christie claimed

A homeless man walking across the street was killed on Christmas Day at Garrison Avenue and Cedar Lane in Teaneck, above. Now, police have put up a digital sign asking for help in finding the driver of a large black SUV that fled the scene.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A Page 1 story on Syrian refugees who have settled in Paterson continues The Record's gentle treatment of Governor Christie.

After the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, Christie said he would bar any Syrian refugee, even an orphan, from coming to New Jersey.

The GOP bully later expanded that, saying he wanted to keep them out of the entire country.

Today's upbeat story on the Alteibawi family from Daraa, called a "flash point for the Syrian uprising," mentions Christie in the overlong first paragraph (A-1).

Heavy editing

But to the chagrin of many readers, Editor Martin Gottlieb toned down any criticism of the governor's fear mongering and racial animosity.

Gottlieb is known as a hands-on editor who often heavily edits and rewrites front-page stories to give them the same kind of "context" they have at The New York Times, where he had a long career.

The family, Staff Writer Hannan Adely says, found themselves "in the center of a national debate over Syrian refugees with even Governor Christie weighing in on their arrival."

How does Christie's bid to keep all refugees (read "terrorists") out of New Jersey become "weighing in on their arrival," except in the mind of an arrogant editor who seems intent on polishing the governor's image?

In fact, The Record waited more than a week after Christie's first anti-refugee salvo before publishing a story on the peaceful Syrian community in Paterson, where immigrants from Aleppo and other cities put down roots more than a hundred years ago.

Dictatorial rule

The rest of Page 1 today is devoted to endless second-guessing of President Obama's move to tighten controls on guns.

Columnist Charles Stile, the paper's chief Christie apologist, recalls how the governor called Obama a "dictator" three weeks ago (A-1).

But nowhere in his boring political column does Stile point out that by executing more than 430 vetoes to stop the majority Democrats in the state Legislature, Christie surely is the one who has imposed dictatorial rule right here in the Garden State.

Hackensack news

Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza continue their boycott on Hackensack news in today's Local section.

I can't find any mention of Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

And Hackensack University Medical Center and city officials weren't even mentioned in a Tuesday story on L-1.

That story had local officials reacting to a bill that would require non-profit hospitals to make modest payments in lieu of tens of millions of dollars in property taxes.

Editors bury legal problems of a prominent Cliffs lawyer

A display of fall colors in Hackensack's Fairmount section.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Prosecutors say an Englewood Cliffs woman defrauded two Manhattan law firms where she was a partner out of $7.8 million, The Record reports today.

But in her defense, her lawyer blames the woman's husband, claiming he was leading a "dual life that included having a secret second family, and being a drug trafficker instead of a legitimate businessman."

Are you looking for the story on Page 1? 

You won't find it there, even though a lurid love-triangle murder trial and other sensational news are routinely splashed across the front page.

No. Something or someone must have told Editor Martin Gottlieb to bury the story about indicted lawyer Keila Ravelo, 50, of Englewood Cliffs.

So, readers might be surprised to find it leading today's Business page, way back in the Local news section (L-7).

Funny business

Calling this business news isn't sound journalism; it's funny business.

Yes. Lawyers seem to be a protected class at North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, where the litigious general counsel is Jennifer A. Borg, daughter of Chairman Malcolm A. Borg and big sister of Publisher Stephen A. Borg.

Stories about lawyers are routinely censored, especially when it come to reporting on fees of hundreds of dollars an hour that restrict access to the courts.

Story after story on multi-million dollar lawsuit settlements or jury awards carefully omit the hefty cut the judges  steer to the lawyers. 

And is there any move to rein in lawyers' hourly fees? How much pro bono work do wealthy lawyers really do? Did Governor Christie close all the legal aid offices in the Garden State?

Readers don't have a clue.

GOP bully

Gottlieb leads the paper today with Christie's presidential campaign -- it's on life support (A-1).

The GOP bully is a lawyer who often reminds us he once was a federal prosecutor, but he worries more about drug addicts than the New Jersey middle class he has savaged since taking office in early 2010.

And Gottlieb can't help politicizing a story on "smart gun technology" with a headline declaring:

Dems
rethink
smart
guns

Back away from
tough N.J. stance

I guess smart guns will save only Democratic lives.

Hackensack news

In Local today, the only news about Hackensack is a collision between two cars that caused minor injuries (L-1). 

Gee whiz. What a great photo. Would you look at the guy on the gurney.

Drive and eat

When readers in Hackensack and other central Bergen County towns see the address of the restaurant being reviewed today, they'll likely turn the page (BL-14).

Given the hassles of driving in North Jersey, where even a routine trip can turn into a nightmare, who wants to bumper-to-bumper during the rush hour to have dinner at the Craft House or any other restaurant in Suffern, N.Y.?

This is yet another appraisal from Staff Writer Elisa Ung, who knocks herself out exploring food on the fringes of the circulation area.

Keep in mind The Record picks up her hefty tabs, including all of those artery clogging dishes she seems to love, and reimburses her for mileage.

On Page 1: Christie on trail, Mets, local trial -- readers yawn

The sign, visible to drivers on Route 4 east, went up in late July, but this walk-in urgent care center didn't open until Oct. 5. Patients presumably will get coupons for use at the Popeyes fast-food restaurant next door.

A vintage Volkswagen Microbus parked in the lot this morning carries the CityMD logo, but it's not known if patients will be transported in it.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Even the preview of a sensational Teaneck murder trial below the fold today can't save The Record's front page from being one of the dullest in memory. 

What's new about our absentee governor doing a good imitation of a chameleon on the presidential campaign trail or a sports columnist desperately trying to interest readers in the Mets (A-1)?

The real news about Governor Christie is buried -- a new poll turns even more thumbs down on the GOP bully (A-6).

The debate among Democratic presidential contenders won't be a contest (A-1).

But it will affirm to many voters that all is not lost, despite conservative control of Congress, the National Rifle Association and a Republican Party that seems intent on destroying the middle class.

Local news?

The Local front isn't any gift to readers, either.

A county road-salt plan is all the Hackensack news today, but if that doesn't interest you, there is plenty of parking news from Paterson and Passaic city (L-1 and L-2).

Local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza were so desperate they had to run a large, gee-whiz photo of downed utility poles and wires on Routes 1 and 9 on the fringe of the circulation area (L-1).

There are four other items from Paterson on L-2 and L-3 besides the story on the Local front about a parking garage proposal for the Great Falls.

Eye on The Record 

will return later this week

With more Christie in N.H. on front page, readers' eyes roll

Waiting for an NJ Transit train to pass in Hackensack. Since Governor Christie took office in early 2010, traffic congestion has worsened, but mass transit has stood still. Yet The Record continues to cover the governor's star-crossed bid for the White House.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie is being counted out as the GOP presidential nominee in 2016 by everyone but The Record of Woodland Park.

Running one Page 1 column after another on how he is doing in Iowa, New Hampshire or some other state with an early primary has alienated North Jersey readers.

Their eyes roll just at the sight of Staff Writer Charles Stile's outdated thumbnail photo (A-1).

Political satirist Bill Maher not only has stopped telling fat jokes about Christie he didn't even mention the GOP bully on Friday night's "Real Time with Bill Maher" when discussing the recent GOP debate.

Local news?

The local-news section is so weak some desperate editor had to run the arrest of two New York State men with 400 bags of heroin on the front today (L-1).

Franklin Lakes seeking an interim trustee also is deemed big news (L-1).

Meanwhile, I can't recall a single story about school board members in Hackensack whose budget has grown to exceed the city's own.

Gee-whiz news

What's the point of a new column by Travel Editor Jill Schensul on the Better Living front (BL-1)?

Today, she lists the most expensive travel destinations in the world. Gee-whiz.

Why not discuss two great cities, Montreal and Toronto, where a strong U.S. dollar means Americans get 20% to 25% off of everything they purchase -- from hotel rooms to concerts to lunches in fine-dining restaurants?

If Schensul's column is supposed to help travelers get the most from their money, the joke is on readers.

Letting Christie off the hook on pathetic Sandy recovery

We may pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation, but we still are burdened with an antiquated road system that causes traffic congestion, worsens air pollution and erodes productivity. The infamous Teaneck Bottleneck on Route 4, which narrows to two lanes from three, above, pleases preservationists, but delays tens of thousands of  motorists every day. The Record's editors could care less.

BY VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You can search The Record's lead story in vain today for any mention of -- or comment from -- Governor Christie on the pathetic recovery from Superstorm Sandy in October 2012.

I guess Staff Writer Kim Lueddeke and her assignment editor didn't bother trying to locate the GOP bully, who has turned his back on New Jersey as he seeks conservative support for a White House run (A-1).

But Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson knocks himself out trying to measure whether Bridgegate has made Christie less popular than the state's indicted senior senator, Bob Menendez, a Democrat (A-1).

They're both bums, and Jackson is just wasting our time. Look at the idiotic thumbnail photo that runs with his NJ/DC column -- it's almost as silly as Columnist Mike Kelly's shit-eating grin.

Surprise bills

In her Page 1 story today, Staff Writer Lindy Washburn fails to mention a simple solution to surprise medical bills from providers who don't accept your insurance:

Refuse to pay the bill or negotiate a much lower payment.

Is Christie out?

Check out Tom Moran, a member of The Star-Ledger Editorial Board, on why Christie may quit the presidential race.

Moran is a former Record reporter who is married to Mary Jo Layton, a senior writer at the Woodland Park daily.

See: Why Christie may quit

Eye on The Record

will return later this week

Readers' eyes are rolling over upbeat Christie coverage

Volunteer jazz musicians entertaining visitors at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center on Wednesday.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie was popular as late as November 2012?

That's the ridiculous assertion of The Record's burned-out political columnist, Charles Stile, who continues to try and sell the GOP bully's supposed bipartisanship in yet another Page 1 analysis of the 2016 presidential election. (A-1 and A-8).

What about the loss of $400 million in federal education aid in 2010 -- his first year in office -- followed several months later by Christie pulling the plug on new Hudson River rail tunnels and the biggest expansion of mass transit in decades?

What about repeated vetoes of a tax surcharge on millionaires and hundreds of millions in tax breaks for wealthy business owners?

Or rubber stamping higher tolls on Hudson River crossings operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, an agency he packed with his cronies?

Revisionist

A second story that gives a favorable spin to Christie's actions cites "weak economic growth" as the reason Christie "slashed legally required payments to the state pension system in recent years in order to balance the budget" (A-4).

But the governor is personally responsible for that weak growth as well as lagging tax revenues.

An editorial today blames Christie for not honoring the state's obligation to make full contributions to state pensions for teachers and other workers (A-10).

The editorial notes Christie claims making next year's full pension payments "would require raising the 7 percent sales tax to 10 percent or increasing income tax rates by 29 percent."

Of course, what Christie and The Record aren't saying is that a tax surcharge on millionaires would have raised about $1 billion a year for the last several years, making those pension payments and balancing the budget a lot easier.

Page 1

For the second day in row, Editor Martin Gottlieb leads the paper with a rabid coyote or possibly two (A-1).

The poor man. 

After years of practicing journalism for The New York Times, probably the best newspaper in the world, Gottlieb must find the suburbs really dull.

That likely explains his frequent slide into sensationalism.

Food promotions

The job description for food editor and food writer at The Record calls for someone who is willing to wildly exaggerate the greatness of restaurants and other food businesses that advertise in the Woodland Park daily.

That's the only explanation for why Food Editor Esther Davidowitz would call Callahan's a "legendary North Jersey hot dog restaurant" (A-1 and BL-1).

Maybe, she is referring to legendary heartburn or diarrhea.

Her Better Living cover story carefully omits describing the harmful preservatives, antibiotics and hormones that go into Callahan's deep-fried beef hot dogs.

Jon Hanson

I didn't see anything in The Record on this report from International Business Times:

"New Jersey rules require Republican Gov. Chris Christie's administration to cancel investment contracts with firms whose officials raise or donate money to the governor’s political campaigns. But his administration has paid more than $16 million in pension fees to the financial firm that was led by Christie’s chief fundraiser and top donor, Jon Hanson.

"The money -- far more than previously disclosed -- flowed to Hanson’s company, Prudential Financial, and its related funds that the state pension system has invested in. The new information, obtained through an open records request by International Business Times, comes as the Christie administration is facing a government investigation into whether it has fully disclosed all fees paid to financial firms -- some of whose executives have made donations to GOP groups backing Christie." 

Hanson is a close friend of the Borg publishing family, which owns North Jersey Media Group and its flagship daily, The Record.

The real estate company Hanson founded recently backed the sale-leaseback of NJMG's printing plant in Rockaway Township, a deal worth about $30 million.

Our next president isn't pictured on the front page today

In Hackensack on Tuesday morning, a man walked his young son across the NJ Transit tracks on Railroad Avenue, a largely residential neighborhood that has lived with passing trains in its front yard for decades. In 2012, a 12-year-old boy walking home from school was killed by a train, but The Record didn't bother asking officials why fences were never put up to protect residents.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie is taking his lies, distortions and mean-spirited policies on the road again in what The Record calls a presidential "campaign trip in all but name" (A-1).

But you can't tell from today's upbeat front-page coverage -- including four A-1 photos of the GOP bully in New Hampshire -- that Christie is damaged goods, a politician who is unlikely to get the nomination, let alone the victory.

And I'll bet there are unhappy workers in dead-end jobs in the Woodland Park newsroom and all around the country who would vote against Christie just to avoid having to wait until they are 64 to retire early.

Today's Page 1 story is written by Melissa Hayes, the reporter assigned to cover Christie, in her usual adoring style, as you can tell immediately from the first paragraph.

Christie's proposals for Social Security and federal health care are called "overhauls," not cuts (A-1).

"Today, one of the most unpopular governors in the country is unveiling what soon will become one of the most unpopular entitlement reform plans," U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson, said, according to PolitickerNJ.com.

Bob Menendez

After Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted by a federal grand jury, The Record leapt to his defense, quoting one defense attorney after another claiming his actions on behalf of a Florida eye doctor were inspired by friendship, not bribery.

Today, Dr. Salomon Melgen, 61, the senator's friend, is back on Page 1 after he was indicted for allegedly trying to bilk Medicare of more than $190 million and receiving $105 million (A-1).

In 2012 alone, health officials reported, Melgen billed Medicare $21 million, more than any other doctor in the nation, The New York Times reported.

If anything, Menendez's really poor judgment in calling this man a friend and accepting free travel and Paris hotel rooms from him should be questioned.

More corrections

The news, assignment and copy desks are on a roll, admitting to two more editing screw-ups on A-2 today.

Readers know The Record only acknowledges a few of the many errors that appear in the paper every day now that six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton, supervisor of the copy desk, has eliminated all fact checking and limited editing to spell checking.

If you think the A-7 photo of Menendez is unflattering, check out the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center construction photo the news editors are running on A-9 today.

Local news?

Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza continue to rely heavily on Law & Order and court news to fill the thin local-news section, robbing readers of legitimate municipal news (L-1 to L-6).

Four of the six stories on the Local front today distract readers from how poorly many of our towns and school systems are run -- which are among the issues The Record's lazy editors have never been eager to tackle.

Spring surprise

What's the point of running recipes for shad roe with such unhealthy ingredients as butter and bacon that many readers are trying to avoid (BL-1 and BL-4)?

350 vetoes give lie to Christie's image as a compromiser

Englewood officials found a cost-efficient way to fill a deep pothole on Jones Road and Linden Avenue.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front-page story today on vetoes during what a reporter calls "the Governor Christie era" has been years in the making.

This is the first time since the GOP bully took office in early 2010 that the Woodland Park daily has bothered to tally his vetoes, and the shocking number doesn't appear until the continuation page (A-6).

Also shocking are the number of staff stories and columns that have portrayed Christie as a moderate who often compromised with the Democratic majority in the state Legislature to achieve so-called reforms.

The front-page headlines are deceiving, only hinting at how many vetoes Christie has used to get his way on a range of issues, and insulate wealthy companies and individuals from higher taxes:

"Another try to override Christie
Democrats are 0-for-49 against governor's vetoes"

In fact, "Governor Christie has enthusiastically embraced his veto power, exercising it at least 350 times since he took office," The Record reports on A-6.

Still, the story never says what seems obvious: Christie has used his veto power more than any other governor in New Jersey history.

More Christie

Two other Page 1 stories report on Port Authority airport rescue teams, and another desperate Christie grab for environmental money to help plug gaping holes in his budget plan.

Christie vetoed Port Authority reform legislation passed unanimously by New Jersey and New York lawmakers last year, ensuring the bi-state agency will continue to do things as expensively as possible.

The creation of fire and rescue squads at each of the agency's airports tripled the cost of response teams, Staff Writer Shawn Boburg reports on A-1.

Falling short

But Boburg still hasn't linked the agency's  profligate spending to increasingly higher tolls and a refusal to expand bus and rail transit in the region.

And the editors run three major Page 1 stories today on how Christie has screwed up the state and region, and still won't declare him the worst governor in New Jersey history.

Editors' well-honed P.R. machine can't help Christie now

In Hackensack, a small deli on Hudson Street is where heroes go for lunch.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Negative court rulings and polls are making a mockery of The Record's campaign to promote Governor Christie as our next president.

Page 1 today is dominated by a ruling from Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobson, who called Christie's greatly reduced pension payments unconstitutional (A-1).

Ruling in a lawsuit brought by public employee unions, the judge said the GOP bully's pledge to fund the pension system in the next budget is another in a succession of "empty promises" (A-6).

She ordered Christie to make the full pension payment he cut by nearly $1.6 billion.

Of course, Editor Martin Gottlieb treats readers with contempt, giving equal prominence to another Charles Stile column that revisits the alleged "bipartisan reforms" that Christie claimed would save the pension system from bankruptcy (A-1).

The column's headline is fit only for readers who are imbeciles:

"Ruling is a black eye when
some good PR is needed"

Hackensack news?

Today's Local section doesn't have any Hackensack news, but Staff Writer Todd South, the reporter once assigned to the city, continues to file stories about war veterans like himself.

Retailing reporter Joan Verdon and Staff Writer Mary Diduch try to persuade readers that Westfield Garden State Plaza and the Paramus police are actually prepared for a terrorist attack (L-3).

Now, the mall and police are taking credit for "preventing injuries to shoppers and mall workers" on Nov. 4, 2013, when a disturbed young man with a rifle invaded Garden State Plaza and fired random shots into the ceiling, then committed suicide in a non-public area.

I recall The Record's photos of Paramus police, who were armed to the teeth, but who arrived after he killed himself.

God forbid the news columns should contain any negative news about malls, among The Record's biggest advertisers.

Unhealthy food

Food Editor Esther Davidowitz continues to promote an unhealthy diet with a Better Living feature on a stuffed-cupcake company (BL-1).

The promotion is sure to be lapped up by the thousands of diabetics in the audience, as well as those watching their weight and cholesterol intake.

How many stuffed cupcakes did Davidowitz bring back to the newsroom?

Christie is gorging on fish and chips while Jersey starves

The 47-story luxury residential tower at the center of Fort Lee's Hudson Lights project, as seen from the parking lot of a small downtown shopping center. The building, dubbed "The Modern," is shaped like a tombstone, and I can see it from the car while driving on Euclid Avenue in Hackensack, now that the trees have lost their leaves.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front page today is another lame effort that holds hardly any relevance for residents of North Jersey.

A third international trip for Governor Christie, who is flying thousands of mile to London for takeout fish and chips, has readers wondering how New Jersey's ailing economy benefited from his previous junkets to Mexico and Canada (A-1).

At least Editor Marty Gottlieb finally is running a Page 1 story on the group bankrolling the GOP bully's foreign trips:

Choose New Jersey has the backing of the "largest public utilities, labor unions, law firms and contractors -- some that have received multi-million contracts and tax breaks from the state," a front-page story reports in an awkwardly worded, poorly edited first paragraph (A-1).

For one thing, I don't think the labor unions have received any of those benefits.

Today's largely favorable Christie coverage shows how Gottlieb, Columnist Charles Stile and other staffers have been sitting on the edge of their seats for at least two years, promoting the governor's White House dreams.

On Saturday's front page, Stile's boring political column discussed how the pathetic Mitt Romney's decision not to run for a third time in 2016 might affect Christie.

Media vultures

Again, today's Page 1 image from an Islamic State video "in the slaying of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto" only encourages more terrorist brutality.

Why does the irresponsible Gottlieb keep on running the story on the front page?

The rest of A-1 today is wasted on the Super Toilet Bowl.

Municipal news

Today's Local section is filled with legitimate municipal news for a change, but stories from Hackensack and Teaneck have been conspicuously absent lately.

Four out of five stories on Saturday's Local front reported on employment issues in Paterson and Emerson, and on the police in Glen Rock and Lodi.

The fifth story was about the sentencing of a former Paterson auxiliary officer who tried to cover up the death of a motorcyclist.

The rest of Saturday's Local section was mostly Law & Order and court news, as if the municipal staff and local assignment editors in Woodland Park took Friday off.

Kelly on 'Sniper'

Hard to believe New Jersey columnist Mike Kelly couldn't find anything else to write about today except "an extraordinarily subtle but deeply significant fact" in the film "American Sniper" (O-1).

The punch line?

"The hero at the center of the story, Chris Kyle, served four tours in Iraq." (%$&!!!*()@???)

'Rape' or not?

If a grand jury voted against indicting four William Paterson University students on charges of sexual assault, or rape, why did the banner headline on Friday's and Saturday's front page refer to a "rape case"?

It wasn't, after all, a case of rape. The headline should have used the phrase "rape charges" or "alleged rape."

Free country

I guess emergency room doctor and pilot Christopher Okechukwu of Paramus has every right to commute in a 1976 Cessna 150 (Friday's gee-whiz story on A-1).

But after the engine sputtered and he landed on a highway in West Milford, shouldn't he reimburse the town and any other first responders?

Property taxpayers shouldn't have to subsidize the wealthy doctor's joy rides.

Blizzard fizzled

Last Tuesday's "Blizzard of '15" edition was really embarrassing, though not quite as bad as the incorrect banner headline that ran in The Chicago Tribune on Nov. 3,  1948:

"DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN"

The Record's stories, under the banner "READY FOR THE WORST," called the storm potentially one of the biggest in decades and reported a virtual lockdown on transportation.

Maybe, it's a good thing The Record wasn't able to deliver the paper to subscribers -- even though fewer than 6 inches of snow fell in some places -- telling them in an e-mail to look at a digital version online.

Next time, instead of swallowing whole all that hysterical TV news hype, The Record should put a story on Page 1 explaining just how many times forecasts have been right and wrong to put the developing storm in perspective.