Cartoonists are having a field day with Trump transition

President-elect Donald J. Trump's nomination of Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State raises potential conflicts in Russia and other countries where the oil giant does business. This cartoon, "Scrabble Connection," is from R.J. Matson. Go to Cagle.com to see this and many other political cartoons.

"Nyet" is from cartoonist Dave Grunland.

"Trump's Cabinet Picks" is from cartoonist Daryl Cagle.

"Rex and Vlad" is from cartoonist Taylor Jones.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Now that the nasty battle with Governor Christie over public notices has subsided, The Record returns to peddling front pages filled with soft news.

Meanwhile, the transition of President-elect Donald J. Trump continues to set a record for potential conflicts of interest, but readers have to search the paper for them (7A). 

Bergen County readers looking over the Local front today find that three out of four stories are from Passaic and Hudson counties (1L).

USS Ling

Stephen A. Borg, former publisher of The Record, is denying any moral responsibility for saving the USS Ling from an ignominious end.

An editorial and a news story allow Borg to bow out of any role in saving the World War II submarine, which is literally stuck in the mud of the Hackensack River (8A today and 1A on Wednesday).

Borg -- whose grandfather negotiated the 1974 deal to lease land to the New Jersey Naval Museum for $1 a year -- ended the arrangement this year, apparently in anticipation of selling The Record and other North Jersey Media Group newspapers to Gannett. 

The Borg family reportedly received $40 million for NJMG, but retained the publishing company's retirement and pension funds, as well as nearly 20 acres along River Street in Hackensack, where the Ling is tied up.

Abandons Hackensack

The younger Borg has formed a new company, Fourth Edition, and calls himself a developer. 

The land, which is believed to be worth more than $20 million, is in a flood zone.

Nevertheless, the city of Hackensack has approved it for apartments and possibly a hotel as part of a sweeping downtown rehabilitation plan.

After he took over from his father, former NJMG Chairman Malcolm A. Borg, Stephen Borg worked quickly to cut The Record's ties to Hackensack and the USS Ling.

Borgs always first

Still, the younger Borg made sure to line his own pockets with a $3.65 million NJMG mortgage for a Tenafly McMansion, and drew a salary of about $350,000 a year.

He moved printing of The Record and Herald News to Rockaway Township nearly a decade ago.

In 2008 -- several months after he received the $3.65 million mortgage -- he put into the motion the biggest newsroom downsizing in the paper's history.

And in 2009, in a royal F.U. to Hackensack, he closed NJMG's headquarters, moving the newsroom to Woodland Park.  

The Record had prospered in Hackensack for more than 110 years.

Gannett deal has older newsroom staffers shitting in pants

The widely reported sale of the Borg family's North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, to the Gannett company raises many questions. Does the deal include 19.7 acres along River Street in Hackensack, which the city has designated for redevelopment? In recent years, the parking lots of NJMG's old headquarters have been leased to Bergen County and Hackensack University Medical Center, above.

Publisher Stephen A. Borg closed the 150 River St. headquarters of NJMG and The Record in 2009, and shifted operations to a nondescript office building in Woodland Park a few years after moving the printing of the company's daily and weekly newspapers to Rockaway Township.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The reported sale of family owned North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, likely sent shock waves through the Woodland Park newsroom on Thursday, especially among older staffers.

How readers will fare is less certain, because The Record's local-news operation has been on life support for several years.

"Gannett is famous for cutting the budget and staff of newspapers it buys; for replacing veteran journalists with younger, lower-paid employees; for doing cookie-cutter newspapers subject to tightly centralized corporate rules," a columnist for Urban Milwaukee.com wrote last October.

If Gannett replaces newsroom veterans in Woodland Park, the move would recall the major 2008 downsizing ordered by Publisher Stephen A. Borg -- several months after he obtained a $3.65 million mortgage from NJMG to buy a McMansion in Tenafly.

Then, staffers with 20 or more years of experience were shown the door or told to accept buyouts, including the director of photography, community editor and co-supervisor of the copy desk.

Before the downsizing, it was common newsroom practice for supervisors to favor younger employees for promotion, such as the replacement of the food editor with a man who was less than half her age and had none of her talent.

In 2011, Gannett was reported to have reduced editorial staffs at three of its New Jersey dailies -- Daily Record, Home News and Courier News -- to 53 from 99. 

Potential cuts in Woodland Park would include such veteran columnists as Mike Kelly, John Cichowski, Bill Ervolino and Charles Stile. 

Tabloid report

The New York Post broke the news on Thursday afternoon, reporting that Gannett "is getting ready to add to its stable of New Jersey newspapers by snapping up The Record and some weekly newspapers."

Media reporter Keith J. Kelly said:

"The news sent a jolt through the Record newsroom. Beleaguered staffers, who have survived recent rounds of belt-tightening without getting a raise in years, were stunned.

Many were said to be standing around in small groups talking after nypost.com broke the news of the impending sale Thursday."

A number of former Record reporters and editors who have been working at The Post for a decade or more may have been among the "sources" Kelly cited. 

Gannett in N.J.

Gannett already owns the Asbury Park Press and five other dailies in New Jersey, and they joined The Star-Ledger in calling for the resignation of Governor Christie after he endorsed wacko racist Donald J. Trump in the presidential race.

The Record is the only major daily in New Jersey that didn't do the same, leading many readers to question whether the Woodland Park daily still is part of a free and independent press.

The sale of The Record to Gannett has been rumored for years, especially in view of the two publishing companies' business and journalism ties.

Gannett's USA Today and other papers have been printed under contract at NJMG's Rockaway plant. 

Record history

NJ.com picked up the report from The Post, noting NJMG owns The Record and 49 community newspapers, one of which is the weekly Hackensack Chronicle. 

NJ.com is owned by The Star-Ledger, the state's largest newspaper.

The Record is second largest, but its average circulation of 170,163 on Sundays and 135,544 Mondays to Fridays probably includes copies of the Herald News, which was designated an "edition" of the larger paper years ago.

The paper has been owned by the Borg family since 1930.

The Bergen Evening Record was founded in 1895, and prospered for more than 110 years in Hackensack, where the Borgs once lived in mansions on Prospect Avenue and Summit Avenue, in the city's Fairmount section.

The younger Borg is president and publisher, and his father, Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg of Englewood, is chairman of NJMG.

Jennifer A. Borg, Stephen's big sister, is vice president and general counsel of NJMG.

The company also operates NorthJersey.com and Bergen.com, and publishes (201), a lifestyle magazine for Bergen County's wealthiest families.

Today's paper

Page 1 of The Record reports Democratic lawmakers have blocked Christie "from loosening one of New Jersey's toughest gun-control laws on Thursday, turning the tables for once on a governor known for his prolific use of the veto pen" (A-1).

In the court of public opinion, Christie was at the center of the George Washington Bridge lane closures a month before he was reelected in November 2013.

So, why is The Record again using precious space on the front page today to quote his continued stonewalling of an illegal political operation inside the Governor's Office that targeted Democrats, including the mayor of Fort Lee?

Taxpayers were forced to pay more than $10 million to Christie's lawyers for a complete whitewash of his involvement, yet Record editors, columnists and reporters long pointed to the so-called Mastro report as evidence the GOP bully had absolutely nothing to do with ordering the gridlock.

Pricey Italian

Today, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung recommends you fight traffic all the way to Ramsey, then fork over $25 for a small portion of potato dumplings at Bici, a pricey Italian restaurant where she makes the manager sound like a stalker (BL-16).

Ung complains manager Marcelo Gambarato "needs to become less intrusive," calling his five visits to her table "overkill, since most involved having full conversations."

She still managed to eat plenty of rich, artery clogging food topped off by a few gooey desserts.

"Gambarato was so over-hospitable that I was little worried he would follow us down the street and call us the next day," the reviewer notes at the end of her 2.5-star appraisal (Good to Excellent).

She doesn't mention whether he asked for her telephone number.

Judge rules Van Lenten, 4 others never defrauded NJMG

The Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, where Superior Court Judge Robert C. Wilson dismissed a lawsuit filed by North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, against a former executive.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In a 40-page decision, a Superior Court judge in Hackensack ruled North Jersey Media Group's fraud allegations against former executive Peter Van Lenten Jr. and four other defendants were completely without merit.

"The lawsuit is clearly an example of 'buyer's remorse,'" Judge Robert C. Wilson wrote, dismissing NJMG's interpretation of New Jersey laws.

"At its core, this case is plaintiff's retrospective analysis of its business relationship with the defendants."

In addition to the estate of Van Lenten, NJMG vice president of information technology until April 2009, other defendants were vendors IC System Solutions and Computer Network Solutions; and ICSS executives Philip Nolan and Nancy Nolan.

The suit claimed NJMG, publisher of The Record, paid more than $2 million "on false/and or inflated invoices" from 2001 to 2009, and an additional $1 million for temporary workers hired at "greatly inflated charges."

Sour grapes

"NJMG now 'feels' that it engaged in some poor business transactions ... and belatedly seeks reimbursement from the defendants," the judge noted in his ruling, which was filed on Feb. 18.

"The law ... does not provide a right to institute legal proceedings against your deceased ... employee [Van Lenten died in April 2010] by simply claiming fraud without any actual proof.

"NJMG had a duty to have internal financial and management controls to avoid such a claimed calamity." 

"There are no facts demonstrating fraud by any of the defendants," the judge said, granting summary judgment and dismissing NJMG's suit with prejudice, meaning  it can never be brought back to court.

Borg, Samaro et al

Left unanswered is why NJMG Vice President/ General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg, Pashman Stein attorney Samuel J. Samaro and other hired guns from the Hackensack law firm pursued the litigation for nearly two years.

In effect, Borg squandered legal fees that could total hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and that's on top of the $3 million "fraud" alleged in the baseless suit.

The costly, embarrassing miscalculation exposes NJMG's longtime practice of closely monitoring the computers and telephones of employees in the newsroom, but not paying any attention to what its executives are doing.

A glaring example was the sexual-harassment suit filed against Jennifer Borg's father, NJMG Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, by Tracey McCain, who worked for Van Lenten and whose duties included reading his emails.

That case, which alleged the elder Borg sent emails containing pornography to Van Lenten and other managers and supervisors, was settled in September 2011 for an undisclosed amount of money.

570 days of discovery

Judge Wilson noted that about 18,000 pages of discovery (sworn testimony and other evidence) were exchanged "over the course of five hundred and seventy days," ending on Dec. 14, 2014.

In addition, about 200 statements of fact were filed.

Defendants ICSS and CNS were IT vendors who did business with NJMG from 2001-09.

Security cameras

One project was the installation of 18 security cameras at NJMG's printing plant in Rockaway Township at a cost of nearly $282,000.

The judge noted Van Lenten was not required to seek "competitive proposals" as vice president of IT.

The vendors also sold NJMG annual maintenance contracts for the cameras "at $33,000 a year." 

In a certification filed with the court, NJMG Facilities Manager Frank Devetori "belatedly" testified he could account for only nine of the 18 cameras, and that maintenance was never performed.

Document software

NJMG also purchased LibertyNet, a document management software, for $84,800, but decided not to use it in the Human Resources Department as planned.

ICSS made a profit of about 600% on the sale of LibertyNet, the judge noted.

And even though the software was never used, ICSS submitted three invoices for maintenance, "each totaling in excess of $11,000."

ICSS also billed NJMG more than $70,000 a year from 2005-08 for a service called "NOC" to detect "security intrusions" into the publishing company's computer network.

NOC was provided by the other vendor, CNS, which installed two machines at $15,000 to $20,000 each, the judge said, but NJMG claimed it "simply did not need or use" the service. 

These and other monitoring and maintenance services cost NJMG more than $170,000 a year, "and now NJMG claims they were never needed or used, in spite of the fact that NJMG was freely paying for them," Wilson wrote. 

There's more

Judge Wilson also said Van Lenten sought to upgrade NJMG's email system to a platform known as Microsoft 2007.

But the contract for $477,900 was awarded to CNS "without competitive bidding, price negotiation or comparison shopping" ... "and the system never got past Microsoft 2003."

Jon Markey

The judge noted Van Lenten was introduced to Philip Nolan of ICSS by Jon Markey, former NJMG president.

When he ascended to NJMG's throne, Stephen A. Borg took the titles of publisher and president, replacing both his father and Markey.

Today's paper

Check out the faces of greedy Weichert real estate agents in an ad wrapped around Page 1 of The Record today.

The actual front page isn't much better.

Burned-out columnist Mike Kelly again hijacks improved relations with Cuba by dredging up events dating to 1998 (A-1).

Kelly's thumbnail photo, complete with shit-eating grin, also appears on the Opinion front, where he has another boring column about a book he wrote (O-1).

How many columns is the man going to write about Joanne Chesimard, and the suicide bombing that killed Sarah Duker of Teaneck in 1996?

Staff Writer Melissa Hayes declares Governor Christie "laid out his dramatic plans" to rescue the state employee pension and health benefit system he tried to destroy in 2011.

How can you trust a so-called Analysis from a reporter who follows him around like a puppy?

At least an editorial on O-2 criticizes Christie for his broken promises, and a Margulies cartoon sums up the pension mess nicely.

Blaming the victim

Some pedestrians seem to have a death wish, but nothing they do eclipses mean-spirited drivers, especially those who run them down in crosswalks.

Today, Road Warrior John Cichowski channels drivers who blame the victim -- the pedestrians themselves (L-1).

The demented reporter seems not to have noticed New York City is now filing criminal charges against drivers who hit pedestrians in crosswalks.

He should be asking why New Jersey isn't doing the same.

Six-figure head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes came up short on local news for today's Sunday section, and a layout editor had to resort to filling the yawning hole with a long wire-service obituary (L-6).

Christie, Ferriero spun webs of influence in high places

Room for two cars? On Euclid Avenue in Hackensack and on many other two-way streets in North Jersey, plows left snow that sets up potential collisions between vehicles. A few blocks away on Anderson Street, bus riders wait in the cleared driveway of a rental car business because a snowbank continues to block the bus stop itself.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Two Page 1 stories in The Record today trace the webs of political influence spun by Governor Christie and Joseph Ferriero, a onetime power broker in Bergen County.

Staff Writer Shawn Boburg leads the paper with details of how United Airlines started a direct flight to South Carolina for then-Port Authority Chairman David Samson, a Christie appointee who is often described as the governor's mentor (A-1).

Samson, a former state attorney general, has a vacation home in Aiken, S.C.

"United Airlines was in regular negotiations with the Port Authority and the Christie administration during Samson's tenure over ... expansion of ... service to Atlantic City and the extension of the PATH train to Newark Liberty [Airport]," Boburg reports (A-1).

The story was picked up this morning by WNYC-FM, the New Jersey and New York Public Radio Station.

Boburg also traces the ties to Christie's new transportation czar, Jamie Fox, a former lobbyist for United Airlines and a close friend of Samson's.

Joseph Ferriero

Below the fold, Staff Writers Herb Jackson and Jeff Pillets report on the expected testimony of James Dausch, formerly a top Mills Corp. executive seeking approvals for a massive shopping and entertainment complex then called Xanadu.

Dausch is expected to testify in the federal racketeering trial of Ferriero, who once headed the Bergen County Democratic Party (A-1).

Jackson and Pillets report on newly public documents that "provide rare snapshots of a host of power players in New Jersey," including state legislators and congressmen, and campaign donations to them.

A key figure was Teaneck attorney M. Robert "Bob" DiCottis, who "helped the company [Mills Corp.] put together a team of consultants and navigate state politics" (A-7).

Ferriero is accused in part of extorting monthly $35,000 payments from Mills Corp., which is now defunct.

Christie junkets

Recent revelations of how Choose New Jersey, a corporate group, paid for Christie's foreign travel finally has knocked Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin off of his stump, admitting, "I was snookered" (A-11).

In his Opinion column, Doblin says:

"The latest revelations about the governor's trade trips -- lavish excursions funded through a non-profit governed by people with close ties to Christie and whose companies do business with or are regulated by the state -- blow the man-of-the people reformer image out of the water."

When readers catch their breath, they undoubtedly will wonder why it took Doblin more than five years to cut through all of the GOP bully's P.R. and B.S.

And why the journalist-cum-lapdog is allowed to write both an opinion column and help determine the paper's editorial policy on Christie's reign in New Jersey.

Jon F. Hanson

The Woodland Park daily still has not revealed the ties between real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, one of Christie's chief fundraisers, and the Borgs, who own
North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record.

Last month, Publisher Stephen A. Borg announced that NJMG had turned to Hanson in a sale-leaseback deal involving the company's printing plant on 16.67 acres of land in Rockaway Township.

Borg said the agreement was with a fund sponsored by the Hampshire Cos. of Morristown, but didn't mention that 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.

The printing plant at 100 Commons Way is assessed at $24,991,500, and the land is assessed at $1,979,600, Rockaway Tax Assessor Mark Burek said today.

Those assessments equal about 93 percent of the total value.

On Euclid Avenue in Hackensack, drivers are thankful the street isn't heavily traveled.

Bridge news

Another Page 1 story today reports on emergency repairs to two Route 46 spans (A-1).

But there is no mention of any of the Route 4 bridges cited in recent Road Warrior columns by staffer John Cichowski, the irresponsible reporter who tried to panic readers into believing they are unsafe.

Black history

Today's front page also appears to mark the first in a series of stories that will appear during Black History Month (A-1).

I couldn't find any Black History Month stories in the first five days of February, with the possible exception of a Thursday story on the homeless in Paterson.

When February is over, The Record will return to its usual policy of reporting mostly negative news about African-Americans, and the only way a black person can get on Page 1 until next year is if he or she is a suspect in a crime.

'Overpriced' Italian

The 80-seat dining room of Momento Italian Grill in Tenafly is "graciously decorated" with a crystal chandelier "dripping from the ceiling," Staff Writer Elisa Ung says in her lukewarm review (BL-14).

Ung, the paper's chief restaurant critic, sampled Momento's American rack of lamb -- which isn't likely to have been naturally raised -- but reports that it "arrived overcooked."

The price is an exorbitant $42.95.

In her data box, she explains the restaurant offers "value for the better items, otherwise can be overpriced."

That leaves Simply Vietnamese as one of the few reasons to eat out in Tenafly.

Borgs rely on Christie ally in sale of Rockaway plant

Some visitors to the Bergen County Courthouse on Main Street in Hackensack park at Costco Wholesale, 80 S.River St., to avoid the $5 fee at the temporary lot leased from North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The sale-leaseback deal with a close Borg family friend is the latest chapter in the troubled history of North Jersey Media Group's Rockaway Township printing plant.

On Friday, Stephen A. Borg, publisher of The Record, announced an agreement with a fund sponsored by the Hampshire Cos. of Morristown, but not that family friend Jon F. Hanson is the real estate companies' founder and chairman.

Hanson and Christie

Hanson, 77, a close friend of NJMG Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, also is Governor Christie's adviser on casino and sports development projects.

The real estate developer has received extensive and favorable coverage in the Woodland Park daily, though Staff Writer John Brennan never discloses Hanson's ties to the Borgs.

But in June 2014, The Guardian newspaper reported a joint venture that included Hanson's Hampshire Cos. was awarded a $105 million tax incentive in 2013 by the Christie administration for a hotel and office project in Paterson.

The Guardian said Hanson is one of Christie's chief fundraisers, and both men served as top fundraisers for the presidential campaign of George W. Bush in 2000.

The newspaper said Hanson's ties to Christie also extend to insurance giant Prudential, where the businessman retired from the board of directors in 2011.

Later that year, the company received a $250 million tax incentive from the state Economic Development Authority to move its offices a few blocks.

Hanson and Mac

In 2011, Eye on The Record reported Hanson and Malcolm Borg purchased a private jet from a woman who was later featured in a Business page story in The Record:

"A Web site listing recent sales by Freestream Aircraft Ltd. says a Citation Excel was 'exclusively purchased on behalf of Mr. Malcolm Borg and Mr. John Hanson,' though Hanson's first name is misspelled.

"The price isn't given, but Freestream sells jets that cost $10 million to $50 million.

"Borg discusses the process of buying the plane in this testimonial about Rebecca Posoli-Cilli, president of Freestream's U.S. office in Hackensack:

'Rebecca’s sales team, but especially Rebecca, was the best thing that happened to us when my friend and I decided to sell our 1984 Citation III and upgrade into a late-model Citation Excel. She had the patience of Job in dealing with me, the lead partner, in the acquisition of our Excel. Without her, we would not have made the great choice we did. She found us a plane with 1100 hours that was 95% equipped with everything desired; she took care of all the pre-buy inspections and details; and she negotiated the upgrades to our avionics with Duncan Aviation. 

'Without Rebecca, my friend [Hanson] and his family and my family and I would not be enjoying the wonderful convenience of having our own jet at our disposal. She was simply incredible on all counts, and I recommend her to any potential airplane purchaser without reservation.' 

• Malcolm A. Borg, Managing Partner – Trio Air Holdings, LLC

Rockaway plant

The Rockaway printing plant was built during a recession in the early 1990s as Malcolm Borg sought to extend The Record's reach into Morris County.

But when the elder Borg sought a loan to buy another daily newspaper, banks told him he was overextended.

The plant began printing other newspapers, including USA Today and the Irish Echo, and became a big profit center.

After Stephen Borg took over as publisher of The Record and Herald News in 2006, the four-color presses in Hackensack were worn out, and he moved the printing of those dailies to Rockaway, enabling him to lay off more than 50 pressman.

According to NJMG, the printing plant produces the company's two daily newspapers, more than 40 of its community newspapers and also prints USA Today, Greater Media Newspapers, Gannett Westchester-Rockland Newspapers and the New Jersey Herald.

Decline in quality

The move to Rockaway, a major downsizing of the staff in 2008 and the abandonment of Hackensack in 2009 appear to have contributed to a precipitous decline in the quality and accuracy of local journalism at The Record.

Today, for example, an A-2 correction notes a story on Friday identified Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn as village manager.

That's a really stupid mistake, but typical of the sloppiness since Liz "Queen of Errors" Houlton was promoted to six-figure production editor. 

The front page often reads like a national paper, thanks to Editor Marty Gottlieb, a former bigwig at The New York Times.

And the Local section reads more and more like a police blotter, as many of the stories in today's edition show, thanks to the laziness and incompetence of Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza (L-1 to L-6).

Today's paper

Typical of media hype and exaggeration is today's Page 1 headline comparing the killings of newspaper editors, police officers and hostages in Paris to the 2011 attack on America:

France 
grapples
with its
own 9/11

In two long front-page stories remembering Brendan Jordan, The Record makes no attempt to find out whether improper maintenance caused the freak collapse of a folding bench that fatally injured the 7-year-old in a New Milford school on Wednesday.

The Borgs: Like father, like daughter?

The lawsuit was filed at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack.

Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, isn't the only member of the prominent newspaper publishing family to have settled a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment.

Jennifer A. Borg, NJMG vice president and general counsel, was named as a defendant in a sexual harassment suit filed in 2002 at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack.

The plaintiff was Craig C. Caso, an employee of The Record for nearly 15 years who alleged he was "wrongfully discharged and terminated" on Feb. 25, 2000.

The events described in the suit occurred at what is now the former headquarters of The Record, 150 River St., Hackensack. The building has been closed for years.

In his amended complaint, Caso said "plaintiff was subjected to acts of sexual harassment by the defendants ... consisting of verbal and/or physical conduct of a sexual nature that did result in an alteration of the terms and conditions of plaintiff's employment, creating a hostile work environment ...."

In the Seventh Count, which was ultimately dismissed, Caso alleged "harassment was based on sexual conduct between the plaintiff and the defendant, Jennifer A. Borg, which in turn resulted in plaintiff's wrongful discharge of employment on February 25, 2000 ...."

Caso also alleged that he was required to "voluntarily terminate his employment with the defendant, Bergen Record Corporation, in the event of wedlock between the defendant, Jennifer A. Borg, and the plaintiff, which was refused by the plaintiff."

That count also was dismissed later, but the defendants -- Malcolm Borg, daughter Jennifer Borg, North Jersey Media Group and Bergen Record Corp. -- eventually settled the lawsuit in 2004.

The case had been partially tried before Superior Court Judge Robert P. Contillo, according to documents on file in Hackensack and at the state court's Record Center in Trenton.

Eye on The Record will return soon with more details of the lawsuit and its critique of The Record.

Deirdre disses Hackensack again

The Record devotes more space to the Englewood municipal budget today than to the larger proposed budget from more populous Hackensack, the county seat.

Hackensack readers -- who searched The Record in vain on Wednesday for news of a City Council meeting the night before -- found a short piece in today's Local section.

How short? On L-2, a shaded box with the heading "Hackensack municipal budget" is about half the length of a Mahwah crime story on the same page, and far shorter than the Englewood budget story on the opposite page, L-3.

Hackensack is the county seat, as well as being bigger and more populous than Englewood, where Chairman Malcolm A. Borg lives imperiously on the East Hill.

Abandoning home

Hackensack is also where The Record prospered for more than 110 years before the Borgs pulled up their roots and fled to Woodland Park and Rockaway.

Since the downsizing, Hackensack news has gotten the back of the hand from head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her lazy, incompetent assignment-desk flunkies.

It's safe to say that Staff Writer Stephanie Akin, who is assigned to cover Hackensack, devotes far more energy to her main squeeze, Staff Writer Shawn Boburg, than to her beat.

And at least one of the assistant assignment editors spends far more time staring at her breasts than he does in coming up with Hackensack story ideas.

Page 1 'process' stories

Many readers from Hackensack probably jumped to the Local section today after their eyes glazed over while trying to read two "process" stories on Editor Marty Gottlieb's front page.

The first is on teachers union lobbying in response to Governor Christie's so-called education reform, and the second is on GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

The most interesting stories on the front page are below the fold: more testimony in the Dharun Ravi trial and Muslim reaction to an atheist billboard in Paterson.

Limp editorial

On A-20, a long editorial on the $10.9 million spent on lobbying by the New Jersey Education Association doesn't call for 100% public financing of election campaigns, which would end lobbying forever.

Back in Local, the Garfield City Council has asked the county prosecutor for an "update" on the fatal Dec. 10 police shooting of Malik Williams, 19 (L-1).

"Little has been released on what transpired Dec. 10," the story reports, reminding readers of how little The Record has done in the past three months to fill in all the blanks.

More animal news

Two days ago, a large part of the Local front was devoted to a circus elephant. Today, the patch story and photos are about dogs rescued from Ohio and Kentucky.

On L-7, the first Business page, a big, black headline declares:

North Jersey can't
wait for new tablet

And in a photo just below the headline are the words "The new iPad." 

Actually, North Jersey can't wait for the Business editors to decide whether they should cover the business world like real journalists or continue to sell their souls to promote Apple and other companies.

A strong week with a hiccup or two

Image via Wikipedia
An NJ Transit hybrid bus leaving a Newark garage. Have you seen any hybrid buses plying North Jersey streets? 

Today's all-North Jersey front page ends a week of similarly focused editions, though missteps were glaring.


On Page 1, interim Editor Douglas Clancy's relied much too heavily on crime news and ran a dude-ranch fire photo from Parksville, wherever the hell that is in New York State.


Focus on dead


And the A-1 story localizing the end of America's war in Iraq saw the assignment desk inexplicably focusing on the parents of dead soldiers, not on the relatives of those who are coming home for the holidays.


Poor editing by assignment and Editor Liz Houlton's news copy desk continues, even for front-page stories.


Just look at today's account of a star-crossed cop who acted out a classroom lesson; got arrested for overturning an all-terrain vehicle, allegedly while driving drunk; and was seriously injured (A-1).


The Gaeta family


Why in God's name wait until the last paragraph to tell readers Midland Park Police Officer Joseph B. Gaeta, 31, is the son of Superior Court Judge Bruce A. Gaeta, who was crippled in an automobile accident at 20 (A-6)?


The elder Gaeta, now deceased, was a passenger in a car that hit a utility pole.


The younger Gaeta also crashed into a pole in 2006 while answering an armed-robbery call, "leaving him with a gash in his head that required 60 stitches," the Woodland Park daily reports (A-6).


God bless the artist


The Record's layout rules lock in every editor to running a big color photo with the most prominent A-1 story, and the actual placement of stories and designation of headline sizes are decided by a graphic artist.


So that's how you get Page 1 stories that should be running in the Local news section, like today's judicial reprieve for a congregation that had been barred from its church (A-1).


And that's why another embarrassing loss of millions in federal education money gets shoved back to A-4. It seems the Christie administration was denied $60 million in early childhood program funds; last year, it blew $400 million in the same contest.


God bless, Chris


It's hard to know why Clancy didn't think this was a front-page news, though he may be trying not to embarrass Governor Christie, who has slashed state aid to public schools and favored the opening of more charter schools.


The A-10 photo of a double-decker hybrid bus in London might have North Jersey readers wondering whether NJ Transit has any hybrid buses -- a question that hasn't occurred to the paper's transportation and environment assignment editors.


News of advertiser


Why run a nearly 10-inch story on a new CEO for Montvale-based Mercedes-Benz USA on the Business page (A-12) -- unless Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg is trying to cut a deal for his next Merc? 


The executive, Stephen Cannon, was a member of the Mercedes team in Stuttgart that developed the gas-guzzling M-Class SUV.


Nothing happened


A story on sleepy Northvale appears on the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local, though you won't find any Hackensack news anywhere in the section.


Nothing actually happened in Northvale -- unless you count the mayor asking the borough engineering firm "to analyze ongoing remediation efforts at the former TECT/Danzig site on Livingston Street for a report to be prepared before the council meets next month," according to the lead paragraph.


Sykes and her minions were so desperate for local news they had to run not one but two big photos of a Little Ferry fire captain being sworn in on L-3. 


A story about contract negotiations between Mahwah and its teachers reports "progress," but no actual settlement (L-3).


This is really scraping the bottom of the news barrel, but it's what we've come to expect from the supremely lazy Sykes and her sub-editors, all of whom appear to be asleep at their computers.