What are the editors waiting for? Let's impeach Christie

From Hackensack to Trenton to Washington, D.C., The Record's editors, columnists and reporters are addicted to writing almost everything in terms of partisan politics.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Could Editor Martin Gottlieb of The Record actually be as boring as the front pages he assembles for North Jersey readers?

This Sunday edition brings the usual tedious mixing and balancing of local, state, national and international news -- much like what Gottlieb's former paper, The New York Times, does every day.

Today, the big photo on Page 1 is from Srebrenica, which I'm almost sure isn't one of the 86 towns in Bergen and Passaic counties (A-1).

The lead story is about improved on-time performance at Newark Liberty International Airport -- of little interest to readers who might take a flight once or twice a year (A-1).

The "local" story is about a deaf athlete at Hackensack High School who is too old to play football and baseball in his senior year (A-1).

Impeach Christie

To add insult to injury, the obligatory political column on Governor Christie's presidential campaign doesn't even explore the possibility of his being impeached in New Jersey (A-1).

Nor does an Opinion column on Christie by Brigid Harrison, a political science and law professor at Montclair State (O-1).

Harrison may be a good professor, but I'll bet her five books on American politics will put you to sleep faster than The Record's front page today.

Good cop, bad cop

And because she apparently gets no editing, her column today is perplexing:

First, she says a bill by Democratic leaders in the state Legislature -- to require Christie to resign from office because he is running for president -- "sounds like a good idea" (O-2).

Then, she notes the state has "suffered" as Christie panders to conservative Republicans, and has been pushed to "the brink of a fiscal cliff."

"The governor has maintained he is always available by cellphone [!!!] to deal with state issues," Harrison says with a straight face. "Yet 71 percent [of New Jerseyans] think Christie can't effectively govern the state and run for president."

After that buildup, Harrison calls the Democratic bill a "joke," denounces it as a political stunt and declares it is legally flawed.

In Constitution

But she never mentions that according to the New Jersey Constitution, the state Assembly can bring impeachment charges against Christie, who would be tried in the Senate's "court."

Assemblyman John Wisniewski, D-Middlesex, brought up the possibility of impeachment in January 2014, if investigators found a direct link between Christie and the George Washington Bridge lane closures.

That link still may come at the federal trial of Bridget Anne Kelly, the close aide Christie fired after her email to the Port Authority -- "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" -- emerged.

More errors

The ugly head of the Queen of Errors rears up at least twice today:

On Page 1, six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton should have insisted on affiliations under a double byline on the story discussing a new novel by Harper Lee (A-1).

And in the TV Times tab, the cover story is on Page 5, not on the indicated Page 3.

Better Living

Elisa Ung, the paper's chief restaurant critic, isn't about to tackle two major issues that impact the bottom line of wealthy owners -- the broken tipping system, and menus that don't list whether the meat and poultry served are raised naturally (BL-1).

Today, her column, The Corner Table, asks if people who go out to dinner "want TV in the background."

Which raises a natural question: How do we turn her off?

Travelers' photos

The Record continues to run a full page of photos readers take on vacation, as long as they are shown holding up a copy of the Travel section (T-2).

Putting aside how that cuts down on consumer-oriented travel news, how long are we going to be treated to the spectacle of overweight readers going on all-you-can-eat cruises?

Doblin's highly partisan commentary

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

An OpEd article by President Obama that appeared in The Los Angeles Times.

Even if you don't read Alfred P. Doblin's columns on the OpEd page -- such as the one that appears today on Page A-13  -- you're probably reading one of his unsigned editorials or other editorials he has reviewed, edited and approved in his role as editor of The Record's Editorial Page.

Doblin is the former Hackensack daily's first Editorial Page editor who both expresses the newspaper's official position in editorials and writes highly partisan columns. 

And there's the rub. His columns' clear bias in favor of almost everything Governor Christie has done since the Republican took office a year ago is damaging the credibility of the paper's editorials.

Doblin came to The Record from its sister paper, the Herald News. Editorial writers at the flagship paper were passed over when he was appointed to replace Dick Benfield, who retired. He is a fastidious little man with an apparently small brain.

He loves movies and Broadway shows, and often compares events to them. His often juvenile prose employs a lot of gimmicks and plays on words. Take a look at the headline over his column, which runs on the Editorial Page in a small Monday paper:

Fear-mongering makes for bipartisan blend of tea

I have no idea what that means, a problem even if he didn't write it himself.

In today's column, Doblin attacks Democratic State Committee Chairman John Wisniewski, also an assemblyman, for saying Christie launched an "assault" on seniors in his call last week for raising the retirement age and cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. 

Well, isn't it an assault on older Americans? Doblin prefers to call the speech to a conservative think tank in Washington "a large dose of leadership," because Christie supposedly has the political courage no other Republican or Democrat has to push for cuts in these programs. 

Of course, Doblin never mentions that Christie has no political courage when it comes to finding new sources of revenue the state needs to climb out of its deep financial hole -- such as the millionaires tax and a few pennies added to the low gasoline tax.

And is there any real validity to Doblin's comparison of Wisniewski's statement to Sarah Palin's "fear-mongering"? Don't insult my intelligence with a stupid gimmick.

Don't you love how Doblin and his ilk invariably use the word "reform" to mask big cuts in government programs that are working and helping middle- and working-class retirees? And as a recent letter to the editor noted, all of us contribute to Social Security during our working lives, so hands off, please. 

Just above Doblin's column today, he speaks in his "other voice" -- an editorial opposing Christie's use of toll hikes to rescue the nearly bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund.

More ass slapping

The jock itching, ass slapping, jock-strap waving and male bonding roared back at the news meeting where Editor Francis Scandale ordered a large photo of spring baseball training on Page 1 today.

The front page usually carries a preview of Christie's budget speech, which is set for Tuesday, but why should Scandale care whether the governor is going to continue his assault on middle- and working-class programs, as he did to balance the current budget?

Scandale continues to fiddle while New Jersey burns -- residents watch in disbelief as the rich and powerful attack their public employee unions, end their property tax rebates, cut programs for low-income women and children, and shake their way of life the core.

See previous post, Comment of the day

You'll never see this in The Record

Image by harmonica pete via Flickr

Pure Jersey: Great blue heron over a cranberry bog.

Here is a Democratic assemblyman's take on Governor Christie, the Republican bully Eye on The Record loves to hate:

How Christie has cost us billions