We'd all be better off if Christie moved to New Hampshire

Governor Christie in a moment that cements his reputation as the GOP bully.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's lead story today -- how New Jersey lost out on tens of millions in federal disaster aid -- only rubs salt in the wounds of residents who have been seduced and abandoned by their governor.

Yet, Editor Martin Gottlieb again gives Columnist Charles Stile front-page play to argue that campaigning in New Hampshire is more important to Christie's future than coming home to help the state weather a big snowstorm. (A-1 and A-6).

If Stile, the paper's chief Christie apologist, doesn't make you hurl, take a look at the idiotic headline:

Christie shelters in place

Readers still are waiting for The Record to call for the impeachment of a governor who time and again has put his selfish ambitions above the welfare of residents.

Or, at least demand that Christie resign, give up his million-dollar state police protection and move to New Hampshire as he pursues his doomed bid for the GOP presidential nomination.

Local news?

Bergen County readers continue to get a good spanking from local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, who are in charge of the paper's thin local-news section.

Four of the five stories on their Local front today are from Passaic County (L-1).

Three Paterson stories appear on L-2 and L-3, and Pompton Lakes police news can be found on L-5.

The inside pages also carry plenty of crime and court news, including a long, flattering story on the Bergen County Police Academy (L-3).

Hackensack?

There is no municipal news from Hackensack, as has been the case for weeks. 

And school board stories from Clifton (L-1), Elmwood Park and Saddle River (L-6) only remind Hackensack residents they haven't seen a story on their profligate school trustees for more than, what, a year or is it two?

You're mistaken if you think care is taken in the writing and editing of stories, as shown by a mangled sentence in the police academy story referring to Bergen County Corrections Officer Alex Herrera:

"Corrections officers, as he's been since 2005, are limited to posts at the jail and the academy" (L-3).

Ignoring readers

It isn't news that Elisa Ung, the paper's chief restaurant critic, ignores the dietary restrictions of most of her readers, whether they are on a low-carb, low-fat or low-cholesterol diet or are watching their intake of sugar and other sweets.

Today, she recklessly awards 3 out of 4 stars to Porto by Antonio, a North Bergen restaurant that not only charges up to $23 for a 12-inch pizza, but actually fries the dough of another pie (BL-12).

Ung raves the fried pie is "less heavy" and "more subtly rich" than other versions she has tried.

Clogging our minds with politics, our arteries with dessert

Seen on Essex Street in Hackensack, near Summit Avenue.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Staff Writers Melissa Hayes and Charles Stile of The Record have shamelessly repeated Governor Christie's many attacks on President Obama without ever challenging the GOP bully.

Stile is at it again today in a Page 1 column reporting Christie will be chasing his White House dreams in New Hampshire during the president's visit to Camden next week (A-1).

And the political columnist repeats the fiction that Christie "tipped the balance of victory to Obama" in the 2012 presidential election (A-9).

Obama's margin of victory over the pathetic Mitt Romney was wide in both the popular vote and Electoral College, despite polls claiming the election was too close to call.

Given Christie's fading chances of winning the GOP nomination in 2016, reporters like Stile and Hayes should be asking whether the governor's attacks are racially motivated.

Here is New Jersey's worst governor launching political attacks against one of the best presidents we've ever had.

Hackensack news

How did The Record miss an appeals court decision against a developer who wanted to build a controversial 19-story Long Term Acute Care Hospital on Prospect Avenue in Hackensack (L-1)?

The developer's appeal was a central issue in the City Council campaign of 2013, and candidates appeared before Prospect Avenue residents to state their positions on the proposal.

The court's decision was issued on May 7, according to today's story.

William D. Smith

The otherwise detailed obituary on former Tenafly resident William D. Smith, 79, fails to explore how the globe-trotting former New York Times reporter developed Alzheimer's disease and dementia (L-6).

Nor does The Record explain whether a much bigger paycheck compelled the intrepid journalist to become a lobbyist and then public relations representative for Exxon Corp.

Sugar high

Staff Writer Elisa Ung can't get off the sugar high that informs most of her reporting on food and restaurants.

She was a walking contradiction when she first came to The Record -- an overweight Asian woman. Now, after years of gorging on artery clogging desserts made with heavy cream and butter, she must be as big as a house.

Today, she pans Finca in Ridgewood, saying "so many cooking errors" forces her to recommend the new small-plates restaurant only for dessert "after dinner at one of the dozens of other restaurants within walking distance" (BL-16).

Gee. What do the owners of other Ridgewood restaurants think of Ung telling their customers to go elsewhere for dessert?

What did she expect from Finca's owner, who called his previous failed effort The Stable, prompting some to think he served grilled horse meat and candied, deep-fried hay?