Christie wants better health care for addicts than rest of us

Today's New York Post cover on President-elect Donald J. Trump's reaction to rumors the Russians have compromising information about him.

A Daily News front page from October. Just think. In eight days, the man who said this about women will be sworn in as president of the United States.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's short memory for how Governor Christie tried to sabotage the Affordable Care Act in New Jersey is a disservice to readers.

Today's Page 1 story on Christie demanding that health insurers cover treatment of drug addicts for up to six months ignores how he refused to set up a state exchange when the federal health-care law took effect a few years ago (1A).

That reduced New Jersey residents' choice of insurers, compared to New York and other states where governors set up exchanges for the purchase of health policies.

New Jersey residents, along with those in more than 30 other states with Republican governors, were thrown into the overburdened federal marketplace, leading to confusion and delay. 

Trumped-up charges

At a news conference on Wednesday (1A), President-elect Donald J. Trump refused to answer a question on whether anyone connected to him or his campaign "had any contact with Russia leading up to or during the presidential campaign," as The New York Times put it.

"The country needs a clear answer," The Times said in an opinion column today.

Meanwhile, a Record editorial on President Obama's farewell address to the nation from Chicago lists only the Affordable Care Act among his accomplishments in office (8A).

Take a look at a list from Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who noted "all of this was accomplished in the face of unprecedented obstruction from Republicans bent on ensuring his failure."

"Last night, President Obama reminded us just how much we have accomplished working together during his administration:

• Bringing our economy back from the brink of a great recession

• Saving the auto industry

• Guaranteeing marriage equality for all

• Providing health insurance for 20 million more Americans

• Restoring relations with Cuba

• Addressing climate change with the historic Paris Agreement"

Local news?

Staff Writer John Cichowski, whose grip on reality has been the subject of speculation for years, continues to stray far from his commuting beat (1L).

The so-called Road Warrior begins his column with a man whose enormous Cadillac Escalade broke down on the New Jersey Turnpike, but who rolled up a $1,500 storage bill because he waited two weeks before he went to get it.

Then, the column devolves into a quiz, including a question on which New Jersey city runs its own subway. 

None of this helps North Jersey commuters, who fight over rush-hour seats on trains and buses into Manhattan or face increasing traffic congestion at the Hudson River crossings.

Governor Christie as leader, his evil twin -- all in one place

In a photo by Mel Evans of The Associated Press, Governor Christie pauses during applause at his State of the State address to the Legislature on Wednesday. Evans is a former staff photographer at The Record.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I can't recall another front page of The Record that showed the two faces of Governor Christie so starkly -- a radical anti-tax politician who thinks nothing of destroying the middle class, and a compassionate leader against drug addiction.

Today's top story discloses a settlement that "exposed private meetings in which unnamed allies of ... Christie planned to divert almost $2 million" from a project to dig two new Hudson River rail tunnels so he could use the money to fix roads and bridges (1A).

That allowed Christie to avoid raising the gasoline tax in late 2010 or 2011 for those repairs, but set back the expansion of mass transit for middle class commuters more than a decade.

But the biggest element on Page 1 today is an upbeat report on Christie's pledge during his final year in office "to combat the plague of heroin and opiate abuse," and expand treatment (1A).

"Our friends are dying. Our neighbors are dying. Our co-worker are dying. Our children are dying. Every day. In numbers we can no longer endure" Christie said during his State of the State address on Wednesday.

Sloppy coverage

There is so much missing in today's news and Editorial Page coverage of the $400,000 settlement with the Port Authority, and Christie's seventh State of the State address (1A, 8A, 9A and 10A).

Nowhere do Record reporters or the paper's Editorial Board recognize that Christie's conservative war against tax hikes, including a surcharge on millionaires, while doling out billions to businesses and other special interests, have wrecked the state economy.

And he's balanced the state budget year after year only by grabbing leftover Hudson River rail tunnel money from both the Port Authority and NJ Transit, under-funding the state employee pension system and using other voodoo economics. 

In a preview of the State of the State speech on Tuesday, Dustin Racioppi buried key paragraphs:

"Christie possesses tremendous power over the budget, over appointments and with his veto pen," the State House Bureau reporter wrote.

But Racioppi long ago stopped counting Christie's more than 500 vetoes, which surely set a record for any New Jersey governor, or chronicling the damage they've caused to working and middle-class residents.

Also on Tuesday, he wrote:

"Property taxes in New Jersey remain the highest in the nation, despite a 2 percent cap," and "New Jersey's pension system is now the worst-funded in the country, with $135.7 billion in unfunded liabilities, according to Bloomberg."

None of those issues are raised in today's news story or political column, which is yet another Charles Stile rehash of Christie's "reputation" and "standing with voters" in the wake of damaging Bridgegate trial revelations (1A).

Christie's State of the State address is no longer Page 1 news

"Trump Hackers" from cartoonist Steve Sack. New York businessman Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as president of the United States in just 10 days.



By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Did you miss the teaser at the bottom of The Record's front page today on Governor Christie's State of the State address?

From the State House Bureau, Dustin Racioppi tries to predict what mood Christie will be in when he delivers his annual address to the state Legislature today (3a).

Most of the focus is on whether the GOP thug will be "combative or compassionate," not on such issues as the "worst-funded" public employee pension system in the country.

By the time the actual speech hits The Record's front page on Wednesday, it will be old news to anyone who watches the TV coverage or follows the governor on Twitter (@GovChristie).

How's that again?

The editors made a mess of Staff Writer Christopher Maag's overwrought story on the 100th anniversary of "one of the largest acts of foreign sabotage ever committed on American soil" (1A).

The man shown in the big photo on Page 1 isn't identified by name, though he's called "Bergen County Fire Marshal" in the caption.

Bryan Hennig of Lyndhurst is planning to celebrate the heroism of Tessie McNamara, who stayed at the telephone switchboard of the exploding Kingsland munitions factory on Jan. 11, 1917, to warn others to evacuate.

No one died, so readers are not sure why so much space is devoted to this anniversary. 

Judging from the dull headlines, the copy editor must have been lulled to sleep by the overly long story, and forced to write the main headline minutes before deadline:

"ANNIVERSARY

OF SABOTAGE"

In the story, Hennig is identified as a 35-year veteran of the Volunteer Fire Department in Lyndhurst, but not as a county fire marshal (6A).

The reporter stops short of comparing the German attack on the Lyndhurst shell factory to Russian sabotage of the 2016 presidential election.

Local news?

In his 14th year as the so-called Road Warrior, Staff Writer John Cichowski continues to give the cold shoulder to all of those long-suffering NJ Transit commuters and even drivers stuck in growing congestion at the Hudson River crossings.

I'm not sure what anyone's reaction to painting a blue line in the street to honor police departments has to do with transportation (1L).

Page 3L of today's Local section speaks volumes about the poorly executed redesign of the print edition by Gannett editors holed up in the Neptune design center.

The page is a mass of type, with only a thumbnail photo and a few headline words to break it up.

Christie, convicted ex-aides should be forced to guard GWB

In this photo from Fernanda Calfat/Getty Images, the label R13 showed a cheeky dress during New York Fashion Week in September, when Donald J. Trump was the GOP presidential nominee. What would the label say on a dress for Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration? How about, "We're f----d"?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today's Page 1 expose in The Record suggests Governor Christie and three convicted former aides should be forced to guard the George Washington Bridge, and relieve themselves in empty water bottles.

The former associates -- David Wildstein, Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni -- were convicted in federal court of conspiring to close access lanes, triggering gridlock in Fort Lee on five mornings in September 2013.

The politically inspired Bridgegate scandal also put the kibosh on Christie's White House bid and a major post in the Trump administration.

The GOP thug, who knew about the lane closures as they were happening, was convicted in court of public opinion.

"One guard was almost hit by a suicide jumper falling from 200 feet above," Staff Writer Paul Berger says in the lead paragraph of a story on the harsh working conditions facing bridge security guards (1A, 8a and 9a).

So, community service as unarmed and unpaid security guards at the GWB would be fit punishment for Christie and the trio of former associates who triggered the lane closures.

In view of the governor's prodigious appetite for beer and pizza, he'd need a bucket or something larger in which to relieve himself.

More Christie

If Saturday's front page didn't give you enough of a political perspective on Christie's future, Columnist Charles Stile is back today with another column that will bore you to tears (1A).

Then, brace yourself for yet another column on Christie, this one by Mike Kelly, who goes on and on about "the rust of his battered political career" (Opinion front).

Local news?

Stories about a small number of the 90 or so towns in the circulation area appear in today's Local section (1L to 8L).

Wayne, Hawthorne (two stories), Montclair, West Milford, Ridgewood and Ringwood are represented, but not the three biggest communities in Bergen County -- Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood.

John Cichowski's Road Warrior column on "misleading road signs" is probably the 20th he's written on the same subject since taking over the beat in late 2003 (1L).

The best read in the section is Jay Levin's obituary of Michael Smith, 53, of Waldwick, a quadriplegic who spent 35 years in a wheelchair working on behalf of the disabled (1L and 7L).

All in all, today's paper is just another thin Sunday edition from the payroll-slashing folks at Gannett.

Editors somehow miss plan to fell 100 trees in parking lot

In 2009, North Jersey Media Group and The Record newsroom moved to 1 Garret Mountain Plaza in Woodland Park, above, from 150 River Street in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Gannett Co. executives were so busy redesigning The Record's print edition and website, as well as laying off staff, they missed a controversial story unfolding in the parking lot.

According to Page 1 of The Record today, editors failed to report that Mountain Development Co. applied for a permit to cut down more than 100 trees in the parking lots of their building, 1 Garret Mountain Plaza, and two other office towers in Woodland Park. 

That means the public and environmental groups didn't have a chance to comment on a plan to remove the trees to make way for solar panels to power two of the three buildings.

A photo caption on 1A today shows a tree service worker removing a tree "last week."

The story also reports the building operators paid $3o,000 so Woodland Park can plant 100 trees elsewhere in the borough.

Bruce Springsteen

Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen's comments on President-elect Donald J. Trump should have been on Page 1 today (3A).

"I mean, they're lies, they can't occur," Springsteen said of building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and other "Trump exaggerations," as the USA Today story puts it.

The story doesn't mention Springsteen refused to perform at the 2010 inauguration of one of his biggest fans, Governor Christie.

Food reporting

The Record appears to have given up all pretense of critical reporting on restaurants, food and nutrition.

The weekly restaurant review ended with the departure of Elisa Ung in November, more than nine years after she was hired.

Since then, editors have published "food crawl" stories that read like advertising.

Today's Better Living front focuses on "the best fireplace restaurants in North Jersey" or what the article calls "cozy local spots" (1BL).

"Baby, it's cold outside," writes Joanna Prisco, a freelancer who also owns a culinary business. "But inside these restaurants, the fire is blazing and fine food is cookin'."

Cheesy promotion

Most of Monday's Better Living front was devoted to Lisa Dosch, who has won "Best Cheesecake" at the New Jersey State Fair five years in a row.

Her cheesecakes, which happen to be served at her family's restaurant in Nyack, N.Y., cost $35 to $1,200 (with gold flake).

The enormous headline declared her, "Queen of Cheesecake."  

From a nutrition standpoint, that should have been, "Queen of Cholesterol."

Tens of thousands of readers watching their weight, cholesterol and sugar intake likely stared dumbfound at this promotion.

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?"

When journalism and politics collide, readers are big losers

Cartoonist Dave Granlund speaks for tens of millions of people across the United States.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In a major disservice to readers, Columnists Charles Stile and Mike Kelly of The Record aren't giving up their focus on partisan politics.

Stile's front-page piece discusses the coming political battles over a number of issues in Trenton and Washington, ignoring which outcomes would be good for the state and the nation (1A).

On the Opinion front, Kelly tackles Governor Christie's declining popularity, and such compelling questions as "can the Democrats [who control the state Legislature] find their mojo?"

'One nation'

The Record is part of Gannett's USA Today network, which explains why a woman in far-off Virginia is the first "exceptional American" featured in a new series, "One Nation" (1A and 1O).

The series will focus on someone "who unites, rather than divides, our communities" -- an apparent reference to the hate speech that got President-in-Waiting Donald J. Trump elected on Nov. 8.

Past and present

Today and Saturday, editors and reporters looked at the past year in "Remembering North Jerseyans we mourned in 2016" and forward in "17 people to watch in 2017."

On Friday's front page, an article discussed the medical basis for concluding that Debbie Reynolds died of a broken heart one day after the death of her daughter, actress Carrie Fisher.

But when Teaneck Mayor Lizette Parker died at 44 in 2016, as noted on Saturday's front page, The Record never attempted to explain in medical terms why she and so many other African-Americans die in their 40s and 50s.

'Oh shoot!'

In November, when Gannett launched an unannounced redesign of The Record, production of the paper was shifted to Neptune from Woodland Park.

As a result, errors have soared to a new level, especially in photo captions.

On Saturday, probably because of the enormous amount of space devoted to a fire in a garbage compactor chute in Paterson, one error jumped out.

"Chute" was spelled "shoot" in the caption for an enormous photo showing firefighters in front of a high-rise on Presidential Boulevard (3L on Saturday).

A second photo caption that day, this one on 6L, apparently was taken from NorthJersey.com, because it is in the present tense: 

"A wrong-way accident is causing traffic problems on Route 21 ....[italics added]." 

Also, the day of the accident is given as "Friday morning on Dec. 30, 2016."  

Group of the day

The editors continue to run Page 1 stories on groups:

On Thursday, a so-called Analysis declared environmentalists are "optimistic" about 2017. 

On Friday, adoptees were said to be looking forward to Jan. 1 and a new state law calling for the release of their birth certificates, which could identify their mothers.

Food crawl

Ridgewood and Englewood are two Bergen County towns known for their restaurants, but Friday's "food crawl" in the Better Living section suggested readers jump into their cars for a much longer trip to Nyack, N.Y.

The article carries the byline of Liz Johnson, and guess what, she is the former food editor at a Gannett newspaper who lives in Nyack, and helped conduct a similar food crawl in the town last summer.

How convenient for her, and how inconvenient for Bergen County readers.

Another problem is that Johnson provides no prices for any of the dishes she sampled at four restaurants.

With Trump, Americans must renew struggle for equality

From Jimmy Margulies, the Sunday cartoonist at The Record of Woodland Park.

In "Half the nation was shocked" by cartoonist Daryl Cagle, the losers on Nov. 8 are all people of color. They have the most to fear from the policies of Donald J. Trump, who will be sworn in as president of the United States in 23 days.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With billionaire Donald J. Trump poised to take the oath of office in only 23 days, millions of Americans are worrying about losing freedoms they have taken for granted.

They also worry about a nuclear war, accelerated climate change and trade battles with other countries.

And many of us fear Trump will eclipse George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan as the worst president in the history of the republic.

Christie focus

At The Record, editors have been focusing on their nasty fight with Governor Christie over a book deal and his bid to end payment of millions of dollars for legal notices published in newspapers.

Today, the lead Page 1 story recalls the morning of Aug. 13, 2013, when Christie appeared at a groundbreaking ceremony for renovation of a PATH station.

Most readers are clueless about why the story by Dustin Racioppi is on the front page or just what point the Trenton reporter is trying to make.

Racioppi says details of how the governor's appearance at the groundbreaking was stage managed by his staff were obtained "through a public records lawsuit by The Record" (1A).

And on Tuesday's front page, another Racioppi story reported judges ordered state officials to pay attorneys for The Record and others who won such lawsuits more than $900,000 in fees. 

'Group of the day'

Today's front-page feature on an 8-year-old transgender boy from Secaucus who was barred from a Cub Scout pack is a departure from recent "group of the day" features.

However, a related story on 8A compares Joe Maldonado's struggle with the former plight of "gay scouts and gay Scouting leaders."

On Tuesday's 1A, so-called Dreamers were the "group of the day" -- 23,500 illegal immigrants in New Jersey who may lose protection from deportation when Trump takes office.

On Monday, the front page focused on "faith groups" -- churches, synagogues and mosques that are helping refugees to settle in New Jersey, despite opposition from both Trump and Christie.

From frying pan ...

No one at The Record seemed to question moving a family of four refugees from Afghanistan into an apartment in Paterson, parts of which are more dangerous than their native country.

Sunday's Page 1 focused on wealthy suburbanites who volunteer to feed the homeless at soup kitchens.

On Saturday, the focus was on knitters; last
Friday, it was holocaust survivors; and on Dec. 18, Staff Writer Lindy Washburn did a takeout on women who undergo medically unnecessary cesarean sections.

Washburn reported Hackensack University Medical Center performed more of the risky C-sections than any other hospital in the state.

The story was a departure from The Record's usual policy of showering praise on doctors and administrators at the medical complex.

Who lied more during nasty campaign, Trump or Conway?

"Puppies for Putin" is from cartoonist Stacey Fairrington. You can see more political cartoons on Cagle.com. I guess the cartoonist thought better of showing President-elect Donald J. Trump and Exxon Mobil CEO Rex W. Tillerson kissing the Russian dictator's ass.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

During the nastiest presidential campaign in memory, the news media rarely challenged Donald J. Trump or GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway as the streets ran red with their lies.

Now, the president-elect has named his former campaign manager as White House counselor, according to a Page 1 story in The Record.

Trenton reporter Salvador Rizzo, whose byline misspells his first name, calls Conway "the first woman to manage a winning campaign" (1A).

The appointment suggests voters are so gullible they will elect the presidential candidate who lies the most, lies about those lies and puts his campaign in the hands of another enormous liar.

Christie and press

After a lull in a war of words, Governor Christie again lashed out at New Jersey newspapers for lobbying against a bill that would cut into their revenue (4A).

"Just another special interest feeding like pigs at the government trough" is how Christie described newspapers on his monthly radio show.

The GOP bully should know all about special interests, as Rizzo reported in a front-page story last Sunday.

"At a time when New Jersey lawmakers are rushing a bill to end what they call 'corporate welfare' for the news media, Gov. Chris Christie's administration this month surpassed $7.4 billion in tax subsides awarded to hand-picked businesses and nonprofits."

Who is right?

Still, isn't Christie on the right side of the issue?

A requirement that towns, banks, law firms and even homeowners facing foreclosure publish notices in newspapers amounts to a subsidy of millions of dollars to publishers who are supposed to remain independent.

The New Jersey Press Association portrayed the proposal to drop that requirement as a "free press issue."

But the legal notices, published in type so small few people read them, are in no stretch of the imagination a public service or a free-speech issue.

Anyway, the bill didn't come up for a vote, but isn't dead, and is expected to be proposed again in the new year. 

So, we can look forward to Christie once again bashing what he calls the "billionaire bosses" at Gannett, the payroll-slashing owner of The Record and six other dailies in New Jersey.

Where to eat

Better Living readers in search of a restaurant review find instead a list of restaurants, bars and even a dinner cruise that will serve "a sumptuous holiday repast" on New Year's Eve (12BL-13BL).

Freelancer Joanna Prisco, who also owns a "pop-up" culinary business, suggests spending up to $280 per person at venues in Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties.

Her reporting sounds more like promotion or advertising. Here are examples:

"Ring in 2017 with style at Esty Street, "stay up late with the fun folks at Chakra," "the sexy, Asiatic restaurant will offer two seatings" and "the same Neapolitan-style pies that put Asbury Park back on the culinary map are being slung at ... Porta."

Gag me with a spoon.

Christie trashes Gannett's 'billionaire bosses' on Twitter

Governor Christie's Twitter page, above and below, has been filled with criticism of "billionaire newspaper owners" demanding a government subsidy in the form of payments to publish legal notices. This week, the state Legislature deferred action on a bill to remove that requirement, which Christie claims would save taxpayers $80 million a year.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

@GovChristie has been flailing away on Twitter at "billionaire newspaper owners" who "demand Gov't subsidy from taxpayers but refuse to open their books to show how much tax $ they already take."

The GOP bully just suffered an embarrassing defeat when he tried to get the state Legislature to enact what he calls "a commonsense piece of legislation" to "reform an archaic practice requiring taxpayers and private businesses to pay for costly legal notices" in newspapers.

But the bill isn't dead; action was deferred until the next session in the new year.

Hidden revenue

The Record of Woodland Park, now owned by Gannett, disputed the $80 million in savings Christie cited, if the new law offered the option of posting public notices online.

But nowhere in the week-long blitz of news stories, columns and editorials attacking Christie did The Record mention that, according to a message from the governor posted on Twitter:

"In the case of foreclosure, every family going through that trauma is charged an average of $910 just for the legally required newspaper notice.

"That is unconscionable, and in response to the advancing legislation the New Jersey Press Association proposes to increase those charges.

"As a result, required legal notices earned newspapers approximately $14 million for the 12-month period ending in October 2016," Christie says.

"Today, there are more than 65,000 foreclosures currently pending in New Jersey. That's $59 million in potential revenue going to private media outlets that can instead be saved by citizens experiencing foreclosure.

"For government entities, hundreds of millions of dollars of future resources to be spent on legal notices could now be made available ... for municipal and county services...."

One of Christie's Tweets refers directly to the layoffs at North Jersey Media Group after the publisher of The Record and other newspapers was purchased in July by Gannett Co., which now owns seven dailies in New Jersey.

Attacks Gannett

"Reporters blindly defend their billionaire bosses and their $80m subsidy while Gannett lays off their colleagues in Bergen," the governor tweeted, in an apparent reference to The Record, once known as The Bergen Record.

Of course, the paper's Hackensack headquarters were shut down in 2009, and the newsroom moved to Woodland Park.

The Record and Herald News have been printed in Rockaway Township for about a decade.

Legislature stops Christie, gunman avenges Syrian slaughter

Moments after pumping several bullets into the back of Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov on Monday, a Turkish police officer shouted, "Don't forget Aleppo! Don't forget Syria!" This photo and others from Associated Press photographer Burhan Ozbilici, who was covering the event at an arts center, are certain to be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie is down but not out after the state Legislature killed a bill that would have allowed him to cash in on a book-publishing deal while giving hefty raises to his Cabinet officers, judges and legislative aides.

But a separate bill -- to drop the requirement that public notices be published in newspapers -- survived, and will be debated again next year  (1A and 6A).

For the biggest piece of fiction in today's paper, see the third paragraph of the Page 1 news story:

"It was a stunning turn of events for Christie, who was once regarded as a master of cutting deals with New Jersey's Democratic political bosses and muscling the bills through the Legislature" (1A).

Christie hasn't made deals for years; instead, he's unleashed more than 500 vetoes to get his way with the majority Democrats -- vetoes that have hurt the working and middle classes in New Jersey.

And shame on Charles Stile for yet another front-page column on what Christie once was and what he is now -- amounting to a rewrite of every piece under the byline of the burned-out Trenton reporter since the GOP bully abandoned his White House dreams last February (1A).

Defending profits

The Record and other newspapers, as well as the New Jersey Press Association, portrayed the battle over legal notices as a "free press" issue.

The NJPA ran a full-page ad on the back of The Record's Local section claiming Christie is trying to "hide ... vital information" from the public, including "government contract bids, air and water pollution emergencies, and meetings of legislative bodies" (8L on Sunday).

But the substantial revenue generated by publication of the notices amounts to a questionable subsidy to newspapers, which are supposed to be independent.

Finally, the notices are of little use to taxpayers, because they are printed in small type and poorly organized. 

In Hackensack, the City Clerk's Office spends about $1,000 a month on publishing the legal notices, an official said on Monday.

The city's Board of Education also publishes its own meeting schedule and budget, but spends less than the City Clerk's Office.

Christie apparently exaggerated the savings to government and business as $80 million a year, if the notices were put online.

'Don't forget Aleppo'

Every time the news media reported Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Tump's praise for Vladimir Putin, few editors reminded readers of the Russian bombers that were pulverizing Aleppo to keep a dictator in power.

On Monday, a Turkish cop fatally wounded Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, avenging all of the deaths of innocent civilians during the civil war struggle for Syria's biggest city.