Editors ignore wreck left by Christie, our homegrown terror

Radio City Music Hall on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. Since the Paris attacks, The Record and other news media haven't explored why New York City and North Jersey have been safe from terrorism since 9/11 or whether Syrian refugees already living here have been anything but law abiding.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The front page of The Record's Sunday edition is filled with news of global terrorism, Syrian refugees and New Jersey's own terror, Governor Christie.

But Editor Martin Gottlieb and Columnist Charles Stile still are trying mightily not to alarm readers with daily reports of the nightmare the GOP bully has left behind as he pursues his White House dreams.

Stile's boring political column today focuses on the distant future, the 2017 gubernatorial election (A-1).

Readers might be confused by another Paris-related story, today's column by Travel Editor Jill Schensul on her indecision over flying there for her annual vacation (T-1).

After all, she arrived there on Wednesday, and has already described the changes in the city she calls a second home in a Page 1 column on Friday and again in today's paper (A-6).

The attack on a hotel in Mali still has not prompted the news media to explore France's colonial rule in West Africa, Algeria, Syria and other countries as the possible root of today's terrorism (A-1).

Local schools

Englewood's new superintendent is telling parents whose children attend minority schools to eat cake (L-1).

That's the only conclusion readers can draw from an interview with schools chief Robert Kravitz, a former cake and dessert executive, who doesn't mention the challenge of elementary and middle schools filled almost completely with minority students.

Staff Writer Kim Lueddeke mentions poor test scores, limited English proficiency and other problems, but says nothing about whether Kravitz is hoping to desegregate those schools, as his predecessors did at Dwight Morrow High School.  

Other stories on schools in Edgewater and Wayne have Hackensack readers wondering when Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza are going to get off their asses, and assign a reporter to look at all of the problems in Bergen County's biggest school district.

They include high salaries for administrators and thefts of computers, two of which were allegedly traced to the home of teacher, who has never been charged.

Seats for homeless

Road Warrior John Cichowski, the so-called commuting columnist, continues to ignore the lack of rush-hour seats on NJ Transit buses and trains.

Today, he goes on and on about the cat-and-mouse game between NJ Transit cops and the homeless using seats at Newark Penn Station and other rail hubs.

At a total loss on how to lure readers who long ago became bored with Cichowski, the veteran reporter compares a homeless man nervous about a cop kicking him out of a train station to "a driver parked overtime at a meter" (L-1).

Crazy Kelly

Columnist Mike Kelly already showed readers what a wimp he is on Saturday, when his Page 1 column was completely devoid of criticism or condemnation of anti-Muslim rhetoric in the wake of the Paris attacks.

Today, the best he can manage is to label Christie a "crazy uncle" for saying he would not even allow Syrian orphans under the age of 5 to enter the United States (O-1).

Who is crazy? I'm betting it's Kelly, a burned-out columnist who has been pushing around words and desperately filling space for more than 20 years.

He has bad company in Cichowski and Stile. 

What can be said for a daily newspaper that gives precious space to so many stale journalists, and doesn't foster younger, more courageous voices?

See the Christie cartoon by Margulies on O-2.

Tipping guide?

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung's Better Living column on tipping today ignores a question on every restaurant customer's mind (BL-1).

Is 15% still considered the standard tip or should we be adding 18% or 20% to the pre-tax total as a matter of routine?

And when will Ung or any other reporter explain how wealthy restaurant owners managed to get regulators to go along with a system of extremely low hourly pay for their staffs and tips from customers to make up the difference?

If something goes wrong in the kitchen or the owner misrepresents the food he serves, the only recourse customers have is to stiff the server.

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

Menendez front page is a wink and nod at insider deals

The 7:40 a.m. NY Waterway Ferry took about 10 minutes to reach midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, but driving to the Weehawken terminal from Hackensack during rush hour ate up 45 minutes.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The defendant is supposed to come out swinging, not the editors of The Record.

But today's front page -- nearly all of which is devoted to Bob Menendez's legal problems -- calls into question The Record's objectivity in reporting a 14-count federal bribery indictment against the state's senior U.S. senator (A-1).

In a sidebar, Staff Writer Mary Jo Layton, quoting "several white-collar defense experts," claims "federal prosecutors face many hurdles in making their corruption case" against the Democrat (A-1).

This is a virtual rewrite of Herb Jackson's front-page story a few weeks ago, after CNN reported top Justice Department lawyers had "signed off on the charges" (A-8).

What else would defense lawyers say? 

They have to justify the huge retainer they demand from defendants like Menendez, and the hundreds of thousands in legal fees that follow when the cases go to trial.

A bad taste

A U.S. senator enjoying a lavish, jet-setting lifestyle courtesy of a friend -- allegedly for promoting the friend's "business and personal interests" -- leaves a bad taste in the mouth of taxpayers and certainly appears to be improper, if not illegal (A-1).

The Borg family, which owns North Jersey Media Group, publisher of the Woodland Park daily, also treats their business associates and friends favorably.

In recent years, The Record has run at least two stories promoting business associates of the Borgs without disclosing those ties.

And in January, Publisher Stephen A. Borg announced a sale-leaseback deal with a close family friend involving the company's printing plant on 16.67 acres in Rockaway Township.

Borg said the agreement was with a fund sponsored by the Hampshire Cos. of Morristown, but didn't mention that Jon F. Hanson is its chairman and founder or that his father, Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, and Hanson had jointly purchased a private jet in 2011.

Hanson is a major fund-raiser for Governor Christie, and advises him on sports and entertainment policy.

The Rockaway Township deal is worth about $30 million.

Branching out?

The byline of Jay Levin, The Record's local obituary writer, appears today on a front-page story about bunnies that just about the only relief  from the Menendez saga.

Levin's second byline is on the Better Living front feature called "The Name-Dropper" (BL-1).

Family dynasties

The upbeat story on the nearly 40-year reign of the Parisi family in Englewood Cliffs makes such dynasties sound like a good thing instead of one of the worst aspects of home rule (L-1).

Staff Writer Kim Lueddeke even mentions how the Zisa family "once dominated Hackensack so thoroughly that some called the city 'Zisaville'" (L-5).

But Lueddeke shouldn't have stopped there, because Hackensack still is haunted by Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa, its corrupt police chief, and the millions of dollars it took to fight all the lawsuits filed against him.

Today, Staff Writer Todd South reports on a lawsuit filed against Hackensack Police Director Mike Mordaga by Capt. Thomas Salcedo (L-3).

Wednesday's paper

On Wednesday, South reported the Union County Prosecutor's Office is handling the investigation of a March 9 pedestrian fatality in Hackensack that involved a detective from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.

South's story on Wednesday's L-2 quotes Mordaga as saying "that it's quite common practice to have outside agencies review such incidents."

Avoiding any conflict of interest also is cited in the story.

Blogger's role

Of course, The Record doesn't acknowledge that Eye on The Record looked into the death of Hue D. Dang, 64, of Hackensack, and questioned the decision not to charge Detective Sgt. John C. Straniero, whose unmarked car knocked down and fatally injured the woman.

Eye on The Record also questioned Hackensack police saying they didn't know where the woman was standing, even though their own report and other evidence strongly indicated she was in or near the Jackson Avenue crosswalk when she was hit -- a crosswalk they never mentioned to The Record.

I called the state police and emailed the state Attorney General's Office about those concerns, leading to the case being given to the Union County Prosecutor's Office on Monday.

Wedesday's L-1 carries another story about a pedestrian in North Bergen who was fatally injured by the car of a West New York police officer.

This story, like the March 11 account about Dang's death, doesn't mention whether any charges will be filed. 

More Christie B.S.

Wednesday's front page gives Christie a soap box to justify his withholding $1.8 billion from state pension funds.

But the editors shoved back to A-3 complaints from Democrats that Christie is being far from honest about the fiscal health of the Transportation Trust Fund.

Wednesday's A-2 carried an embarrassing correction of a front-page story on the effort to recall Mahwah's mayor.  

Look to readers for the unvarnished truth about Christie

On the Jersey shore, the Sandy Hook national park includes a nude beach, above, and one of the big guns that protected New York Harbor during World War II, with the Manhattan skyline in the distance, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you want the truth about New Jersey's worst governor ever, ignore the front page of The Record today and flip to letters from readers in the Opinion section.

"More important to him [Governor Christie] than a happy New Jersey is a happy moneyed elite who can fund his national run," Dave Palmer of River Edge says of the GOP bully's adamant stand against taxing the wealthy or reducing business tax cuts (O-3).

"New Jersey is dead last among the 50 states in recovery from the recession," reports Mary Ellen Marino of Princeton.

"He proposes to break his promise to fund the pensions of state employees," Marino continues, "as well as such local workers as teachers, social workers, police and firefighters."

Boosting image

Why isn't the mess Christie has made of the Garden State consistently reflected in the columns, news stories and editorials of the Woodland Park daily?

The Political Stile column on Page 1 today -- reporting Christie's renewed focus on the White House -- sounds just like all of the ones we read before the George Washington Bridge political-retribution scandal. 

Staff Writer Charles Stile notes that "on Jan. 8, The Record published emails directly linking two Christie confidants" to the lane closings (A-1).

But the editors have never explained why it took four months after the gridlock in Fort Lee and more than two months after the election to uncover the smoking gun.

And why doesn't Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin condemn Christie's extensive travel as head of a GOP fund-raising group only days before the June 30 deadline to balance the state budget (A-1 on Saturday)?

Do the arithmetic

Today's Local section leads with the dedication of a new riverfront park in Garfield (L-1), but Columnist Mike Kelly is still writing about a three-decade-old chromium spill in that working class city (O-1).

Staff Writer Kim Lueddeke still expects readers to do the arithmetic on the number of floors a new LG headquarters in Englewood Cliffs would have (L-1).

She continues to describe a "143-foot-high" or "143-foot-tall" building, but notes the borough changed the zoning code to allow "buildings up to 150 feet and eight stories."

Does that mean the controversial LG building on top of the Palisades would be eight stories?

Skeleton news staff

The weekend news staff must have been really thin this weekend, if reporters couldn't find out anything about a fatal cement-truck accident on Saturday in Edgewater (L-1 photo).

Sadly, too many of the paper's photographers think their job ends at capturing an image.

Who were Harold Olivares, 49, of the Bronx and Kevin Bonin, 59, of Teaneck?

Stories about their deaths appear on L-3, but this body count style of journalism ignores whether they were fathers or sons, what they did for a living or anything else.

Eat to the death

Why do the editors think older readers (the majority), who may be diabetic or watching their weight and cholesterol, have any interest in Staff Writer Elisa Ung's obsessions with chocolate and other artery clogging food (BL-1)?

The Corner Table column today is a thinly disguised advertisement for a chocolate bar at Westfield Garden State Plaza.

For the $31 price of the Copper River salmon entree at The Plum and the Pear in Wyckoff, you can buy more than 2 pounds of the Alaskan sockeye fillets at Costco Wholesale in Hackensack ($12.99 a pound) and feed a family of six with plenty of leftovers (BL-2).

Too academic

Kevin DeMarrais, the paper's retired consumer columnist, overlooks the most practical tip of all when you are planning to move (R-1).

Make sure you collect plenty of boxes, leave a few weeks to pack and check to see if the mover you hire has even more boxes, which you will need if your estimates of both are off.

A little balance

On the Opinion front today, Columnist Brigid Harrison's profile of Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto is a welcome break from the usual all-Christie, all-the-time coverage (O-1).

Now, for a good laugh, read the caption on the photo of Prieto and Christie on O-4. Does that look like "chatting" to you?

Readers are always scratching their heads, thanks to the lack of proofreading under six-figure production editor Liz Houlton, who likely was taking a nap when that page went to press.

More screw-ups

Want another good laugh? A Saturday correction (A-2) noted a story on Friday misstated the number of counties in New Jersey.

It wasn't even close, with the story mentioning "13 counties." There are 21.

Another correction, on Friday's A-2, said a Thursday headline misstated a significant problem in New Jersey nursing homes -- bedsores.

The headline noted a "significant bedbug problem."

Recommended 

If you missed it, Saturday's Local section carried a rare feature about a downtown merchant, as the editors continue to whip their reporters into promoting mall retailers almost exclusively.

Staff Writer Christopher Maag reports Kates Brothers Scientific Shoe Co. has been custom-fitting shoes at four different locations on Main Street in Hackensack for 73 years (L-3 on Saturday).

Why didn't this feature get better play?