Bridgegate trial editors forgot to read U.S. Courts handbook

In summing up the government's case at the Bridgegate trial on Friday, a prosecutor called defendants Bridget Anne Kelly, left, and Bill Baroni "loyal lieutenants" of Governor Christie (Credit: Bryan Thomas/Getty Images).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's flawed coverage of the Bridgegate trial in Newark is lurching toward its conclusion next week, when federal jurors are expected to begin their secret deliberations and deliver a verdict.

In reporting on Friday's closing arguments, the main Page 1 headline today presents the defense case first, and is missing a question mark:

"Political
dupes
or loyal
soldiers"

In fact, a federal prosecutor went first, and spent four hours laying out evidence the defendants "shared an intense commitment to the political success of Governor Christie."

"They saw themselves as his loyal lieutenants who were free to use their government jobs to launch political attacks ...," notably the George Washington Bridge lane closures in September 2013, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Cortes said (A-1).

Defendants Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, the governor's former top executive appointee at the Port Authority, "never attempted to separate politics from their jobs in public service," Cortes told the jury.

Defense attorney Michael Baldassare called Baroni's accuser and former subordinate David Wildstein "a serial liar." Kelly's attorney is set to sum up on Monday.

Uncorrected error

In today's Bridgegate trial story, Staff Writer Paul Berger steers clear of a major error on Friday, when The Record reported the judge has already instructed the jury on the law, even though that is the last step before they start their deliberations.

And no correction appears on A-2 today.

The two reporters who have been covering the trial, Berger and Dustin Racioppi, and their editors apparently forgot to read the "Handbook for Trial Jurors Serving in the United States District Courts," which lays out how a federal criminal trial proceeds.

Page 8 notes the judge's instructions or "the charge to the jury" comes after closing arguments, not before.

"The charge ... is much more than a statement of the rules of law. Sometimes it may contain a summary of the facts or some of the facts.

"The judge may point out and may also explain basic facts in dispute, and facts that do not actually matter in the case."

Bad news for Christie

At least three witnesses testified under oath that Christie knew about the lane closures in Fort Lee, despite his repeated denials.

But that's not why he looks so unhappy in a Page 1 photo today from a Seaside Heights bar, where people who are not back in their homes four years after Superstorm Sandy rained on his progress report.

3-star crap

Staff Writer Elisa Ung continues to lose credibility as a restaurant critic with her rave review of the low-quality smoked pork and artery clogging desserts served at an out-of-state restaurant, Fink's BBQ and Cheesesteak Roadhouse (BL-14 on Friday).

Absent any information to the contrary, readers can only assume the worst, that the pork, meat and poultry served there are raised under horrific conditions and pumped full of antibiotics, which are harmful to humans.

Editors bury the lead in trying to predict Bridgegate verdicts

This morning, in an annual municipal ritual, a pothole-patching crew proceeded slowly up Euclid Avenue, between Prospect and Summit avenues, in Hackensack -- a block that hasn't been paved in more than three decades, according to longtime residents.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Front and center on Page 1 of The Record today is a preview of the long-anticipated Bridgegate trial, but the biggest question in this political who-done-it isn't even addressed until deep into the continuation page.

Most readers likely won't ever see the paragraph that should have led all the rest:

"Although Christie is not on trial, the specter of the 55th governor of the state of New Jersey will loom over the courtroom" (A-4).

In the court of public opinion, Christie long ago was found guilty of orchestrating the September 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures to retaliate against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, who refused to support his reelection.

Fingering Christie

Staff Writer Paul Berger doesn't spend much time exploring the possibility of damaging testimony about Christie by his former aides, who will be on trial.

Nor does Berger know the testimony of ex-Port Authority official David Wildstein, a Christie crony who has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors who have jealously guarded the identity of several unindicted co-conspirators are expected to name them during the Newark trial.

Readers are losers

Readers lose when The Record and other media spend less time reporting what happened and more time trying to predict the future -- whether it's a national election or a sensational federal trial.

The Berger story is another blow to the credibility of the Woodland Park daily, which stands alone in not calling for Christie's resignation after he endorsed wacko racist Donald J. Trump.

Labor Day

The Local front today provides a fresh perspective on Labor Day today with a long story about low-wage workers who couldn't afford to take the day off (L-1).

A second story describes a Labor Day Mass for janitors held at a Paterson church.

These sympathetic accounts clash with The Record's editorial on Monday, when we celebrated Labor Day.

The editorial criticized Christie for pushing a formula for school aid that would favor rich districts over poor ones.

But the editorial doesn't mention the GOP bully's veto of a hike in the minimum wage to $15 by 2021, the second time he's turned his back on the working class.

News Media Alliance

On Wednesday, the Newspaper Association of America, "the trade group that has represented the interests of major newspaper publishers in one form or another since 1887, is going to drop from its name the very word that defined it: 'Newspaper'," The New York Times reports.

The group will be known as the News Media Alliance.

The Times says the number of newspapers has fallen to about 2,000 from 2,700 in 2008.

What did we do to deserve Governor Christie and Ken Zisa?

The Hudson Riverfront 9/11 Memorial in Weehawken marks the site where about 60,000 people were evacuated to New Jersey after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Governor Christie was conspicuously absent when the memorial was unveiled on Sept. 7, 2011.

The land surrounding the memorial is a huge construction zone for apartments with a river view.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

For the second day in a row, Hackensack taxpayers are horrified over the prospect of a long legal battle with their disgraced former police chief, Ken Zisa, whose never-ending saga again lands on Page 1 of The Record. 

And when they turn to A-3, they learn that despite continuing gun violence in Paterson and other cities, Governor Christie wants to make it easier to carry a concealed weapon in New Jersey. 

Christie also vetoed a bill that would bring "smart gun" technology to retailers statewide.

Governor Veto

What did long-suffering taxpayers do to deserve these two? 

The Record hasn't bothered recently to report just how many times Christie has vetoed progressive legislation (more than 500), but he surely has set a record for a New Jersey governor. 

We can thank apathetic voters for his reelection to a second term just a couple of months after the George Washington Bridge lane closures in September 2013. 

The voter turnout was the lowest for any gubernatorial contest in state history.

Ex-Chief Zisa

Ken Zisa joined the Hackensack Police Department in 1976, according to today's Page 1 story. He was arrested and suspended from his post as police chief in 2010.

Yet, here we are about six years later and his legal problems haven't been resolved -- a testament to a glacially slow system that guarantees lawyers hundreds of thousands of dollars in exorbitantly high legal fees, which are only loosely regulated.

On Tuesday, a Superior Court judge dismissed the remaining charge from Zisa's 2012 trial, official misconduct, ruling that to retry the ex-chief would violate his constitutional rights.

Now, Zisa may sue Hackensack and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office for $35 million, but he's declared his intention to get his old job back, even though the city abolished the position a few years ago.

More hearings

The prosecutor, on the other hand, may restart his investigation of disciplinary charges alleging Zisa intervened in a 2008 accident involving his girlfriend, Kathleen Tiernan, whom he drove away before a sobriety test, and in a 2004 incident involving her teenage sons, who took part in an assault on a classmate.

City Attorney Alexander Carver said a disciplinary hearing --plus any appeal -- could take years to resolve. 

The Record doesn't take a guess at how much the city will have to pay lawyers to hold the disciplinary hearing and handle any appeal or what it will cost to defend against a $35 million lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Zisa; and his brother, former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa, have formed Team Hackensack, which is expected to field a slate of candidates in next May's municipal election in hopes of once again flying the despised "Zisaville" flag from the roof of City Hall.

Sloppy editing

In his lead paragraph, Staff Writer John Seasly wrote the judge "threw out the last criminal conviction" against Zisa.

Four paragraphs later, the reporter refers to it as "the remaining charge of official misconduct" (A-1).

A "charge" and a "conviction" aren't the same.

In the next paragraph, he has Judge Susan Steele "arguing ...." Judges don't argue; they rule.

Why are editors boosting defense cases of GWB figures?

Two of the three access lanes to the upper-level tollbooths of the George Washington Bridge, above, were closed in September 2013 in what federal prosecutors call a conspiracy to retaliate against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for refusing to endorse Governor Christie for reelection.

Christie denied any part in or even knowledge of the scheme, but joked that he personally placed the traffic cones, above, that caused gridlock in the borough for four days.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I'm sure the owners of The Record intended no irony by wrapping today's follow-up coverage of the long-awaited George Washington Bridge indictments in an ad for hearing aids:

"Finally ...
The Clarity
You've Always
Wanted"

Of course, despite a guilty plea and two indictments, we don't know what Governor Christie knew about the lane closures ordered by his key allies in September 2013 and when he knew it (A-1 news stories and O-2 cartoon).

Who besides his wife and children believe Christie's claim that he first learned of the plot four months later, when the media uncovered his aide's infamous email:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." 

Today, though, the editors inexplicably start building a defense case for former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly and former Port Authority executive Bill Baroni, who were charged with nine counts of using the bridge to carry out a political vendetta and then covering it up (A-1).

Kelly and Baroni are in very deep doo-doo, likely at the behest of Christie.

Plea deal

Both called David Wildstein a liar after the former Port Authority official pleaded guilty on Friday to conspiring with them to cause the traffic jams, starting on the first day of school.

What else would their defense attorneys say in return for a hefty retainer and the many hundreds of dollars an hour they are being paid? 

How high are attorney Michael Critchley's fees? Poor Kelly, who is unemployed and may lose her house, has launched a Web site to ask the public for help in paying him.

I'm searching today's coverage for details of Wildstein's plea agreement with federal prosecutors and what he will get in return for testifying against Kelly, Baroni, Christie and others (A-1, A-8 and A-9).

Typically, such agreements promise defendants like Wildstein a non-custodial sentence, but only if they testify truthfully.

U.S. attorney

I'm betting U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman isn't relying on a "liar" to make his federal case against the defendants and unidentified "others" he says are involved.

Wildstein -- a high school classmate of Christie's who got a plum Port Authority job from the governor -- claimed as long ago as January 2014 that "evidence exists" that Christie knew of the lane closures as they were happening. 

Wildstein's attorney, Alan Zegas, repeated that claim after the guilty plea on Friday, and the federal trial of Kelly and Baroni couldn't come soon enough.

The scandal that has been dubbed Bridgegate may finally bring down the GOP bully who has his eyes set on the White House, not the Big House.

Horse's asses

Ahmed Zayat is a wealthy industrialist who owns race horses and has homes in Teaneck, New York, London and his native Egypt, according to Wikipedia.

But only newspaper and sports editors, among other horse's asses, could claim the victory of his American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby "is [a] win for Teaneck," as today's Page 1 photo over line claims.

City Greek

I guess Restaurant Reviewer and Sunday Columnist Elisa Ung should get some credit for writing about a rare restaurant owner who serves antibiotic-free chicken and pork,  grass-fed beef and organic greens.

But you won't be able to sample the Greek fare at Eons unless you schlep to Manhattan's East Side, and with the region's inadequate mass transit, we know what a hassle that is (BL-1).

Add the price of parking to the bill, if you can find a space.

Still, Ung spends so much time promoting restaurants, even in her reviews, she neglects all of the issues facing customers, making you wonder why her column is called The Corner Table.

Shore rentals

Here is more evidence Publisher Stephen A. Borg started the Real Estate section to serve greedy real estate agents, bankers, homeowners and landlords.

Today's upbeat cover story on a "rebound" of summer rentals at the Jersey Shore is bad news for anyone who had hoped to spend a couple of weeks or longer vacationing there.

Did the editors order Staff Writer Nancy Kearney to omit the cost of renting any of the places shown in the glamorous photos to avoid shocking readers?

Pension Plan

Late last month, North Jersey Media Group, owner of The Record, sent out the annual funding notice to participants in the publishing company's pension plan.

Depending on interest rates used, the "funding shortfall" in the 2014 plan year is given as $10,797,148 to $32,662,591.

The "minimum required contribution" is given as $5,113,025 to $8,429,229.

The "funding target attainment percentage" for the 2014 plan year is given as 87.27%, an improvement over the percentages in the 2013 and 2012 plan years. 

Readers greet GWB headline with healthy skepticism

Solari's on River Street is one of the Hackensack businesses that suffered greatly after The Record and North Jersey Media Group abandoned the city in 2009. I remember an April 2010 lunch there in a nearly empty dining room. Marco Solari, whose grandfather opened the restaurant in 1934, sold the business about two years ago, but retained ownership of the building and land.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Another edition, another bad headline.

The lead, banner headline on the front page of The Record today -- "GWB probe finds no link to Christie" -- has many readers questioning the editors' objectivity.

The text of the story by Staff Writer Shawn Boburg is far more equivocal:

"The report states there is 'no conclusive evidence' as to whether the governor 'was or was not' aware of the lane closures or involved in directing them" (A-1).

That sounds like the state legislative panel probing Bridgegate was unable to answer the question of Christie's role definitively.

Not only does the headline go too far, but a couple of paragraphs later Boburg quotes Christie's million-dollar defense lawyer, who claims "there is not a shred of evidence Governor Christie knew anything" about the Sept. 2013 lane closures in Fort Lee.

You'd expect attorney Randy Mastro to say that, but you'd also expect The Record's reporter to leave such a self-serving statement to the continuation page, and to point out it also goes beyond what the investigative panel said.

Bad reporting

The Record should recall Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson, if he continues to write about Rep. Scott Garrett's campaign fundraising and to ignore the arch-conservative's policies (L-1).

In a Page 1 story before the Nov. 4 election, Jackson boosted the Wantage Republican's reelection effort by omitting any mention of how Garrett initially opposed federal Sandy relief.

Then, the reporter sat on his hands instead of telling readers whether ads attacking challenger Roy Cho of Hackensack had a shred of truth in them.

My beef with Ung

After reading Elisa Ung complain about Roots Steakhouse in Ridgewood, I get the feeling she would gladly eat a turd as long as it was dry aged (BL-18).

To the clueless restaurant reviewer, the ultimate steak "is prime and dry aged," and she complains Roots wet ages its New York strip, "a far less expensive method."

But prime only means the beef is fattier than lower USDA grades; it doesn't have anything to do with how the animal was raised.

So, a restaurant can serve low-quality steaks from animals confined to feeding pens and raised on grain, animal antibiotics and growth hormones to get them to market faster, and Ung would praise the meat as long as it was prime and dry aged. 

Are Roots' steaks organic or grass fed? Readers don't have a clue. 

Since 2010, Christie has staged events for gullible media

Work has begun in earnest on a large parcel of land bordering Lemoine Avenue in Fort Lee opposite the first of two 47-story towers in the Hudson Lights residential-retail project, below. Critics say when completed, the project will generate traffic resembling the politically inspired gridlock during the George Washington Bridge lane closures last September.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Remember Governor Christie's "Reform Agenda"? His "Jersey Comeback" and "Stronger Than the Storm"?

Remember how a gullible media and apathetic voters swallowed whole all of the events the GOP bully started staging as soon as he took office in January 2010?

Well, having lied his way out of the George Washington Bridge scandal, Christie is once again cranking up his "running for president in 2016" P.R. machine, and he has The Record's editors and reporters right by his side (A-1).

More no comment

Today's Page 1 story on a staged, second groundbreaking in Wayne and another manufactured event in Camden is hardly news, so why is it on the front page?

It certainly doesn't come off as an expose, and no reporter attempted to ask Christie why he is trying so hard to burnish his image. (A-1).

Indeed, with a June 30 deadline looming, why isn't a state budget story on The Record's front page today and every day?

From bad to worse

If you think the political paralysis in Washington is bad now, imagine what it will be like if Tea Party crackpot David Brat actually gets elected after his GOP primary victory over Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia (A-1).

The Record and other media love this kind of story, because it helps them avoid covering issues and what is good for the country -- that's too much heavy lifting for the mental lightweights in the Woodland Park newsroom.

Editorial laziness

It's amazing how Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin can deplore the drive-by shootings and other gun violence in Paterson without a single reference to the effectiveness of the police chief, Christie-inspired state aid cuts and layoffs in the Police Department (A-8).

There would be hardly any news in Local today if it wasn't for police, court and related news (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6). 

It's Wednesday -- hump day for six-figure head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her assistant, Dan Sforza, who was promoted to sit next to Sykes' throne despite a mediocre reporting career.

I am sure they are already looking forward to the weekend, and having more crime, court, accident, utility pole and fire news to fill their pages.

Safety lesson?

The Local front story on the Sept. 7, 2012, death of Matthew Killen on a highway shoulder focuses on keeping his memory alive, but never explains why no charges were filed against the tractor-trailer driver who struck and dragged him to his death (L-1).

Did Killen contribute to his death by "standing by his disabled Hyundai," as the story reports (L-6)?

Could he -- and others in similar circumstances -- safeguard themselves, and if so, how would they do that? 

For some reason, this kind of safety information rarely appears when newspapers report traffic deaths at the time they occur or in obituaries.

Road Warrior errors

Staff Writer John Cichowski could provide such safety information in his Road Warrior column, but he has proven so unreliable on almost any subject, he'd probably screw that up, too.

According to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers, Cichowski's Friday column "continued to provide worthless, made-up, and mistaken information about New Jersey teen driving safety, fatalities, and Graduated Driver License restrictions."

"The Road Warrior even provided the wrong telephone contact information for the New Jersey Teen Safe Driving Coalition. 

"The Record's editors and the Road Warrior never corrected this contact information, even though the head of the coalition pointed out the mistake and provided them with the correct contact number."

See:

Road Warrior wages war on truth

Christie's latest broken promise breaks media backs

Hackensack Mayor John Labrosse, right, reads a proclamation at Tuesday night's City Council meeting, accepting an oil painting from Parisian-born artist Marius Sznajderman. The artist painted the winter scene of the old Masonic Temple from his apartment window at Atlantic and State streets in 1956. The building is slated to become the city's new Cultural Center. The artist was accompanied by his wife, Suzanne Messing, a onetime reporter for The Record.

 

 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

An editorial in The Record today condemns Governor Christie's plan to cut $900 million from this year's pension payments in a desperate bid to plug an enormous hole in the state budget (Page 1).

The anonymous editorial writer notes Christie is blaming federal tax policy, previous administrations and public employees, but calls that "a snow job" (A-10).

That should be "latest snow job," given all the lies the GOP bully has told about lowering property taxes, job creation, surging state revenue under his obstinate no-tax policies, Sandy aid and the George Washington Bridge scandal.

Christie's first term was all smoke and mirrors, but that didn't stop The Record's editors, reporters and columnists from falling all over themselves to be the first to promote the mean-spirited conservative for a White House run.

Knows nothing

The politically motivated lane closures at the Fort Lee end of the bridge last September exposed Christie's infamous Office of Governmental Affairs, which ruthlessly pursued endorsements from Democrats before his reelection last November.

Matt Mowers, who worked in that office, became the latest former or current Christie aide to tell investigators he knows nothing about the lane closures, which critics have blasted as an abuse of power (A-3).

But Mowers testified Bridget Anne Kelly, then deputy chief of staff for Christie, called him on Aug. 12 to ask if Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich was endorsing the governor, and he told her no.

Bully out of loop?

That was one day before Kelly sent the explosive e-mail, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," to Christie's Port Authority crony, David Wildstein, who has been blamed for carrying out the lane closures.

Wildstein, who has since resigned, claims he told Christie about the lane closures last Sept. 11, during the 9/11 memorial ceremony in Manhattan.


 

Lynne Hurwitz, the political muscle behind Zisa family allies defeated in last May's municipal election, returning to her seat after speaking at Tuesday night's City Council meeting in Hackensack. Hurwitz asked City Councilman David Sims if he had used the N-word to refer to himself, as alleged by a police officer. Sims would not comment.

Hackensack news

News of Hackensack shared the front page of The Record on Tuesday with a story about nasal strips for a racehorse.

Editor Marty Gottlieb ran an inspirational photo of Hackensack High School senior softball team manager Erin Kelly, who was paralyzed for two years by illness, but has recovered.

The story on L-1 doesn't say whether her "rare ailment," a virus, was connected in any way to the mediocre food at the high school, where the cafeteria and presumably the kitchen is infested with roaches.

This is 'news'?

At Tuesday night's City Council meeting, residents saw The Hackensack City News, an 8-page tabloid filled with upbeat stories on the accomplishments of the new administration.

The "newspaper" was written by Thom Ammirato, the former campaign official who was given the $78,000-a-year job as the city's chief spokesman.

Council officials said the tabloid will be distributed by The Record, but didn't give the cost of printing or distribution.

Ammirato's one-year contract expires in July.


 

Christie is no longer believable on GWB, budget

The crews of two NYPD patrol boats on the East River stop to shoot the breeze, a scene repeated frequently when municipal police in North Jersey do the same.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record today helps boost Governor Christie's White House ambitions after his bandwagon spent months spinning its wheels in North Jersey's scandalous traffic.

When the GOP bully wants to shift attention away from the terrible job he is doing on the state economy, mass transit or any other deficiency, all he has to do is snap his fingers.

Editors like The Record's Marty Gottlieb and reporters like Herb Jackson, the paper's Washington correspondent, jump up like lap dogs to catch every deceptive morsel (A-1).

Sadly, Christie is no longer believable, no matter what he says about what he knew and when he knew it on the George Washington Bridge lane closures, the state budget or anything else.

Secret budget cuts

He has successfully kept secret cuts he will make to meet an $807 million state budget shortfall, but is there any suggestion he will do anything different than balance the plan on the backs of the middle and working classes, as he did in the past? 

On the continuation page, Jackson reports Christie "did not hesitate to blame his predecessors, state courts and his own staff" for the current budget problems (A-6).

The unflattering photo of Christie on A-6 suggests the lap-band surgery he had a year ago in February hasn't been that successful.

He still looks like he is full of crap.

GWB scandal

Another story on A-1 today calls into question Christie's credibility on last September's lane closures in Democratic Fort Lee.

The lawyer for former campaign manager Bill Stepien says Christie misspoke when he said Stepien told him he didn't have "any knowledge" about the lane closures, which were ordered by a gubernatorial aide and a crony at the Port Authority. 

On A-3 today, The Record contrasts President Obama's transportation plan with Christie's failure to find a stable source of revenue for the state Transportation Trust Fund.

The story reports Christie used Port Authority toll money for some road projects, including the Pulaski Skyway, even though previous stories said the governor grabbed $1.8 billion left over from his cancellation of new Hudson River rail tunnels (A-3).

Which is it?

Solar confusion

On the Editorial Page, a boastful columnist and a confused reader's letter to the editor combine today to deliver misinformation about solar panels (A-20).

In "Global warming: It's real. It's Here. Deal with It" (Opinion, May 11), Alan Robock says, "I have solar panels on my roof, subsidized by the state of New Jersey, and have not paid an electric bill for years."

The heading on the letter, "Solar panels not free for everyone," is incorrect. 

Robock is not saying his panels were free and he apparently doesn't read his bill carefully, because no system installed with a state subsidy would provide all the electricity a homeowner uses.

The letter writer, Melinda Thompson of Little Ferry, should be able to find a private contractor willing to install solar panels for free in return for the monthly solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) the system generates.

The contractor can sell those credits to the utility over the life of the system to recover his upfront costs. 

Governor Christie's mouthpiece makes boss proud

This full-size pickup at 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus makes me question whether a driver who can climb up into the seat is, in fact, disabled. One morning last week, every vehicle parked in handicapped spaces in front of the gym was an SUV or large pickup, below. What a racket.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today's Page 1 story in The Record speaks volumes about why Michael Drewniak makes the big bucks as Governor Christie's chief spokesman and spin doctor.

As he has been doing since the GOP bully was elected in 2010, the former Star-Ledger reporter skillfully crafts Christie's image for a mostly compliant media.

Drewniak turned in a masterful performance on Tuesday in front of the legislative panel investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures, backing up Christie, who has repeatedly expressed ignorance of the dirty tricks perpetrated by his closest aides.

Lacks credibility

It almost makes you forget the contempt he has for some of his former colleagues in the so-called Fourth Estate, and how he has used obscenities to describe them.

Of course, Drewniak's credibility is suspect, even though that seems to escape Staff Writers Shawn Boburg and Melissa Hayes (A-1), and Columnist Charles Stile (A-6). 

Check out the first paragraph of Boburg's and Hayes' front-page report: 

It's wordy enough to choke a horse, even though the media swallow it hook, line and stinker.

Word pusher is back

Another stinker on Page 1 today is Columnist Mike Kelly.

Kelly, the burnt-out reporter who lives in Teaneck, attempts to interpret the harsh police response to a senior prank by "mostly non-white" high school students that came close to the 50th anniversary of voluntary school desegregation (A-1 today and Tuesday's A-1 and L-1).

In his first paragraph, Kelly says "messages that cascaded from two meetings in Teaneck the other night could not have been more different."

Do readers really need The Record to tell them that, let alone on Page 1? Does Kelly think we're all morons?

It gets worse, with Kelly comparing "the social and political ebbs and flows in Teaneck" to a "meandering whirlwind."

What a meaningless phrase. Do whirlwinds meander? Kelly doesn't write; he pushes words around to little effect.

Voter apathy?

Today's coverage of local elections in Teaneck, Ridgewood and Paterson give vote totals, but don't tell readers how many people are registered in the respective communities (A-1 and L-1).

Voter apathy likely had a lot to do with the outcomes, but The Record's incompetent local editors are too lazy to tackle the subject or try to explain it, lest many would point to the media's lack of interest in issues that could engage readers.

For example, I can think of a lot of issues in Hackensack that deserve coverage, and settlement of a bizarre lawsuit isn't one of them (L-1).

And why aren't readers told the attorney expects to receive a third of the $50,000?

Readers fume, too

In Better Living today, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz manages to publish a long interview with Thomas Fume, the executive chef of Sear House in Closter, and never ask him how the cattle are raised for the expensive steaks he serves (BL-2).

You can bet Fume and his boss are putting profits over his customers' welfare, if they are serving beef raised on grain, harmful animal antibiotics and growth hormones.

These editors again fail to deliver hometown news

The quality of life in North Jersey -- including aircraft noise over Hackensack and other towns near Teterboro and Newark airports, above, or gaping potholes that damage car tires and wheels -- are of no interest to the editors of The Record's Local news section who appear to spend most of their time reading tabloids in the newsroom toilet.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I'm shocked by the amount of Law & Order news in The Record's Local section today and Friday.

Police, fire, accident and court news and photos dominate almost every page.

But readers also find stories about the police, including Friday's report on raises for the Pal Park chief and today's solemn piece on a vigil for Daniel Breslin, the hospitalized Bergen County police officer who was severely injured by an allegedly drunk driver (A-1 and L-1).

Sforza stumbles

Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza was so desperate to fill his pages today he ran a freelance shot of a Route 80 accident in Hackensack from inside the photographer's car (L-3).

Now that's chintzy hometown news coverage. Still, Sforza stands proud, shouting, Who says we don't cover Hackensack? 

Sforza's stumbling around for the last several months would seem to call for the return of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes after a prolonged convalescence.

On vacation?

When is the last time readers saw Hannan Adely's byline on a Hackensack story? Has she been reassigned, sent to cover the Syrian civil war or what?

On Friday, the weekly Hackensack Chronicle reported the City Council on Monday night approved a $760,000 bond ordinance to repave streets and perform related work.

After the meeting, resident Steven Gelber's Hackensack Scoop blog reported that Mayor John Labrosse announced former campaign manager Thom Ammirato will no longer be writing press releases for the mayor or Deputy Mayor Katherine Canestrino.

But Labrosse said Ammirato's salary of $6,500 a month wouldn't be adjusted at this time, Gelber reported.

Following Gelber's lead, Adely of The Record has reported that Ammirato also has a full-time position with Bergen County, and serves as public relations consultant to at least three Republicans in the state Legislature.

But the Woodland Park daily hasn't reported on this latest wrinkle in the Ammirato story or approval of the street-paving bond ordinance.

The woefully short list of streets listed in the Chronicle story continues to omit Euclid Avenue, between Prospect and Summit avenues, a potholed block that hasn't been repaved for decades. 

Euclid Avenue potholes, above and below.

Friday's Record

Editor Marty Gottlieb led Friday's paper with a long report on the incredible mess Governor Christie has made of road, highway and mass-transit improvements by refusing to hike the low gasoline tax to fund them.

This is basically a four-year-old story The Record has ignored until now, especially increasingly congested traffic, and crowded trains and buses.

Barf bags

In Better Living, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung pans Port of Call American Fusion Buffet and Sushi in Hackensack.

Still, she feels it necessary to tell readers the all-you-can eat format "would be good for people with big appetites."

The data box on Friday's BL-18 lists only four recommended dishes, two of them desserts, but omits other dishes Ung praised in the text. 

Did anyone edit the piece?

Today's paper

Gottlieb's Page 1 today includes another story on the agonizingly slow investigative and legal process in the wake of January's explosive revelations in the George Washington Bridge scandal.

Since members of the GOP bully's inner circle in Trenton and at the Port Authority admitted they orchestrated four days of gridlock in Democratic Fort Lee, all readers have seen are firings and resignations, and targets lawyering up and taking the Fifth.

Christie himself hired a friendly law firm at taxpayers' expense to produce a whitewash declaring the governor had no knowledge or involvement in the lane closures.

Other stories and columns appear designed to help Christie repair his battered image (A-3).

The slow legal process is designed to ensure greedy lawyers who charge exorbitant hourly rates will walk away with literally millions of dollars in fees no matter who is found to be at fault for an apparent pattern of political retribution.

Paramus woes

Today's front page also includes a story on a "big change for Paramus," which has eased rules on retail signs along Routes 4 and 17.

This piece continues The Record's ad-fueled focus on major retail chains over Main Street merchants.

The last story on local merchants reported on a few record stores, as in those selling vinyl recordings, and continued to ignore struggling downtowns in Hackensack, Englewood, Teaneck and other towns.