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.

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.

Editors finally focus on crisis in Aleppo, Syrian-Americans

In this map of Aleppo, Syria, published in August by the Carnegie Middle East Center, the Old City is in East Aleppo, right, where fighting to retake rebel-held areas and the humanitarian crisis have reached a crescendo in recent weeks.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today, The Record's editors finally discover a local angle for reporting on the deepening humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, Syria.

Staff Writer Hannan Adely interviewed Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah and other Syrian-Americans who have lost touch with friends or relatives or know people who have been killed in the Syrian civil war (1A and 4A).  

This Page 1 story reminds readers of the one Adely wrote in November 2015 -- more than a week after Governor Christie announced that he wanted to bar all Syrian refugees from entering New Jersey.

Why the delay? Syrians have been immigrating to Paterson since the early 1900s.

In his column on Nov. 22, 2015, Staff Writer Mike Kelly called Christie "a crazy uncle" for saying he would not even allow Syrian orphans under the age of 5 into the United States.

His Page 1 column the day before was completely devoid of criticism or condemnation of anti-Muslim rhetoric in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.

Putin and Trump

Until today, The Record has avoided reporting on the links between President-elect Donald J. Trump and Russia.

A story on 11A today traces Trump's "soft spot for Russia" to his desire to sell his luxury condos to wealthy Russians.

Trump, a major apologist for Vladimir Putin, also has dismissed reports from U.S. intelligence agencies that the Russian dictator tried to influence the outcome of the Nov. 8 election in favor of the New York billionaire.

You need a magnifying glass to read the legal notices in The Record.

Book deal, legal ads

Since Sunday, The Record's news editors and editorial writers have been consumed by what they see as an assault on the right of the press to profit from the publication of legal ads (1A, 8A and 16A).

One question isn't addressed: 

Does anyone actually read those legal notices, which are printed in small type?

Today's front page is dominated once again by a package of legislation that includes Christie's "book bill;" raises for his Cabinet, legislative staffs, judges, county prosecutors and others; and eliminating the long-standing law requiring local governments to publish legal notices -- such as budgets, ordinance changes and contracts.

"Motivation for pushing the bill, and tying it to action on salaries and book deal, said to be revenge by Christie against newspapers for their coverage of his administration," according to The Record.

Local news?

Still, readers of The Record have to ask whether the publication of budgets and ordinances gives the news staff an excuse to ignore important local news, such as the campaign by nine candidates in the April election for three Board of Education seats in Hackensack.

There was no discussion of the issues in The Record or Hackensack Chronicle.

Nor did the daily or weekly paper report any of the details of the proposed $104 million school budget before voters went to the polls to approve or reject it -- even though education accounts for 44% of every homeowner's property tax bill.

Another 'food crawl'

Have "food crawl" articles in Better Living replaced the weekly restaurant review, and is it a budget-cutting move?

Freelancer Shelby Vittek is back today with a "Polish Food Crawl" on 14BL and 15BL, although the out of focus cover photo of pirogis with sour cream doesn't look appetizing at all.
Elisa Ung, the restaurant reviewer who left the paper in November, likely blew $200 to $300 or more on two meals with a friend at every one of the fine-dining restaurants she reviewed.

When Ung was hired more than 9 years ago, The Record allowed the restaurant critic to treat three other people to two dinners at each restaurant.

When The Record introduced the "Informal Dining" reviews Ung did once a month, that cut the paper's expenses.

Now, if the food crawl has replaced all restaurant reviews, the additional savings would be significant. 

Impeachment would be too good for evil Christie, Trump

"Twitter tirades" from cartoonist Adam Zyglis lampoons President-elect Donald J. Trump's 3 a.m. tweets.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie is trying to buy off the Democrats who control the state Legislature so he can profit from a book deal before he leaves office in 2018, according to the front page of The Record's Sunday edition.

Don't expect a cut for taxpayers who were fleeced by a law firm that got more than $10 million to whitewash the GOP bully's role in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures.

Since Christie took office in January 2010, he's executed more than 500 vetoes to thwart the will of the Democratic majority in Trenton.

Christie vetoed a phased-in hike in the minimum wage to $15 (1O), a tax surcharge on millionaires, stronger gun control and hundreds of other bills.

When the Bridgegate scandal derailed his White House campaign last February, Christie threw his support behind wacko racist Donald J. Trump.

That led The Star-Ledger and six Gannett-owned dailies in New Jersey to call for his resignation, but The Record of Woodland Park was the exception.

Now, even impeachment would be too good for the GOP bully, who somehow escaped being charged in the Bridgegate scandal.

Three of his former aides or associates were convicted.

Trump election

The same could be said for Trump, whose Electoral College victory sparked unprecedented protests after Nov. 8, and set the stage for a Women's March on Washington on Jan. 21, the day after the billionaire businessman is to be inaugurated.

California, Massachusetts and other states, as well as such big cities as New York and Chicago, are expected to file numerous lawsuits to stop Trump from changing policies on such issues as immigration, health care, climate change, abortion rights and gun control (11A).

Commentary

The Record hasn't commented on what many are calling Trump's illegitimate election, with Democrat Hillary Clinton receiving about 2.5 million more votes nationwide.

Two of the paper's columnists also have shifted gear:

Veteran Trenton reporter Charles Stile, one of Christie's biggest apologists before revelations in the Bridgegate trial, is now focusing on the November 2017 gubernatorial election (1A).

Staff Writer Mike Kelly wrote columns during the presidential campaign filled with interviews of laid-off factory workers, who were said to be among Trump's biggest supporters.

Kelly also continued to take pot shots at President Obama, even though he saved hundreds of thousands of auto industry jobs and brought the country back from the brink of a second Great Depression.

Today, Kelly inexplicably devotes his Sunday Opinion front column to David Wildstein, the Christie crony who was the chief government witness at the Bridgegate trial (1O).

Twitter, on the other hand, is filled day after day with attacks on Trump being unfit to take office:

"Trump hasn't drained the swamp," says filmmaker Michael Moore. "He IS the swamp."

"The Strongman" from cartoonist Adam Bagley.

Growing diversity

The major Page 1 story on North Jersey's growing diversity is saddled with an incomplete, hard-to-understand graphic (1A).

Looking at the front page, readers might be puzzled about why the graphic shows Bergen and Passaic counties, but the huge photo with the piece was taken in a Hudson County town, Secaucus.

Only when they turn to the continuation page (6A), do they see another graphic for Hudson and Morris counties.

Local news?

Gannett editors continue to trivialize local news, putting town coverage largely in the hands of reporters for North Jersey Media Group's weekly newspapers.

They are younger, less experienced and get lower pay than staffers for NJMG's dailies. Here are a few headlines from today's Local section:

"Developments to add students in Upper Saddle River"

"Carlstadt wants to limit
kitten and puppy sales"

"New assistant principal to join Cresskill district"

Best restaurants?

The Better Living cover story -- "Best Restaurants of 2016" -- reprints appraisals under the byline of Food Editor Esther Davidowitz.

But I don't see any credit given former critic Elisa Ung, who left the paper last month after nine years as a food writer and weekly restaurant reviewer (1BL).

The idiotic sub-headline: 

"This was a good year for eating out"

As you can tell from reading Ung's reviews, her twin obsessions with meat and dessert often blinded her to whether the food she recommended was naturally raised or grown, which might justify in part the outrageous prices many fine-dining restaurants charge.

Ung started a monthly review of informal, less expensive restaurants in 2015, but that likely was driven by then-Publisher Stephen A. Borg trying to cut her expense account, and disguising it as a service to readers. 

Her last weekly restaurant review ran in November, and she hasn't been replaced by another critic.

The Record has been running a series of "food crawl" pieces in place of weekly reviews. 

On Friday, Staff Writer Sophia F. Gottfried also took a look at fine dining and other options at Newark Liberty International Airport. 

Cubans live longer, don't worry about guns, crime or drugs

Pope Francis and Fidel Castro meeting on Sept. 20, 2015, during the pontiff's trip to Cuba (Credit: Alex Castro-AP).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's news, feature and travel editors and columnists are trying to keep readers from learning a dirty little secret about Cuba.

The island has long been the safest major tourist destination in the Caribbean.

Cuba doesn't have crime, gun or drug problems, making it a paradise on earth for its 11 million residents, and a great place to vacation.

In fact, the life expectancy on the biggest island in the Caribbean is 80, CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported on Saturday.

That's quite a feat for a country that is often portrayed in the news media as one of the poorest in the world, especially when you realize the life expectancy in the United States is 79.

In reporting the death of Fidel Castro, the Sunday edition of The Record is filled with negatives about the Cuban revolutionary, communism and life on the island -- a former U.S. colony (1A, 9A, 10A, 11A).

The headline over the huge black-and-white photo of Castro in 1970 reads:

"DEFIANT LEADER DIES"

Castro handed over the presidency to his younger brother, Raul, in 2008 and was in declining health for several years, so he really wasn't the "leader" of Cuba on his death.

Much of today's coverage reflects The Record's relentless focus on politics -- the same filter used to report on Governor Christie, the racially inspired congressional gridlock during the Obama presidency and the nasty White House campaign that ended with the election of wacko racist Donald J. Trump.

In 2000, on one of my visits to Havana, Cuba, I took a photo of three teenagers. They reflected the diversity of an island that until the 1959 revolution had been strictly divided between whites and blacks.

I made seven trips to Cuba between 1997 and 2004, and stayed with a family in Havana on most of my vacations. I rented cars to explore such eco-tourism as bird watching and scuba diving. Here, I saw a group of friends gathering at the Bay of Pigs on a hot January afternoon.

Redesign

Gannett editors launched a major redesign of The Record with the edition of Nov. 16, a Wednesday.

When you compare today's Sunday edition to the Sunday paper of Nov. 13 -- before the redesign -- the differences become clearer.

The redesign appears to use more white space and smaller type, especially in photo captions, but the type used for text is not as dark as before.

So, pages with big blocks of type make the paper appear grayer.

Headlines and captions were far from perfect before Gannett bought the Woodland Park daily in July, but now even more errors appear:

In the Page 1 caption on the death of Castro, his full name is used twice -- usually a no-no.

Last week, in a front-page promotion of a column on rehabilitation of Route 495 to the Lincoln Tunnel, the headline, caption and sub-headline all repeated the subject of the story.

From the website Mike Kelly Writer.

Columnists

The redesign also uses updated thumbnail photos for most columnists, such as the one that appears with two Mike Kelly columns today (1A and 1O).

The old photo, in use for nearly a decade, showed an annoying shit-eating grin.

Although Kelly's own website shows he has a lot of gray hair, the new photo makes him appear to have colored his hair, and he looks like he is holding up his head with his right hand.

Local news?

Although readers today won't find any news from the vast majority of the 90 or so towns in the circulation area, the Local front carries a long story about a single parking spot in Ridgewood (1L).

The Record has devoted move coverage to the village's downtown parking woes and solutions than to the entire school system in Hackensack. 

Restaurants

Many readers rejoiced at the departure of Elisa Ung, who was the paper's beef-and-dessert obsessed restaurant reviewer for more than nine years.

Ung consumed obscene quantities of mystery beef and other artery clogging food, all on an expense account, and showed extreme deference to celebrity chefs.

Still, Gannett hasn't replaced her.

On Friday, in place of the usual weekly restaurant appraisal, readers found a list of Theater District restaurants taste tested by Food Editor Esther Davidowitz and Robert Feldberg, the theater critic.

The week before, Better Living editors listed expensive North Jersey restaurants that were serving Thanksgiving dinner.

Was 2016 presidential election the 'closest' in half-century? Hillary Clinton said to win popular vote by 2 million-plus

The New York Times front page on Saturday reported President-elect Donald J. Trump "cast aside" Governor Christie as the head of his transition team. On this rack at Starbucks Coffee on the Hamburg Turnpike in Wayne, below, The Record of Woodland Park is displayed at the bottom.

Editor's note: This post has been expanded to discuss the departure of the restaurant reviewer as part of the biggest downsizing in The Record's history.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front page today declares the presidential election was "America's closest ... in more than half a century."

But on Friday, The New York Times reported Hillary Clinton won the popular vote "by a substantial margin."

"By the time all the ballots are counted, she seems likely to be ahead by more than 2 million votes and more than 1.5 percentage points ...," Op-Ed Columnist David Leonhardt reported.

"She will have won by a wider percentage margin than not only Al Gore in 2000, but also Richard Nixon in 1968 and John F. Kennedy in 1960."

Clearly, America's electoral system is broken, contributing to Clinton's defeat in the antiquated Electoral College.

As unprecedented protests continue in Manhattan and around the country (A-1), you won't find any discussion of the broken electoral system or voter apathy in The Record.

Instead, the paper has been filled since Thursday with story after story trying to explain why people voted the way the did, and speculating on what President-elect Donald J. Trump will do once he takes office on Jan. 20.

Today's paper

The editors ran not one but two columns by the insufferable Mike Kelly, who goes on and on about "my own journey to listen to ordinary voters" (A-1), and how in March, "I set out to interview ordinary voters who had been out of work for more than a year" (O-1).

In his Page 1 column, Kelly says last Tuesday's election was "America's closest ... in more than half a century."

But how can anyone call an election close when 4 of 10 voters or more stayed home?

CNN reports working-class whites gave Trump the White House, but that voter turnout hit a 20-year low. 

In fact, the wacko racist billionaire -- who has inspired more than 200 hate incidents since the election (A-1 and A-10) -- got fewer Republican votes than Mitt Romney, John McCain and George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, according to CNN.

Voter apathy also affected Clinton, who got fewer Democratic votes than the party's previous presidential nominees going back to 2000, but did just barely beat her husband's turnout in 1996.

CNN says its vote totals were valid as of Thursday, but will be higher by the time all vote counting is completed in mid-December.

Governor Christie

As The Record has done since Governor Christie took office in early 2010, Staff Writer Dustin Racioppi tries to put a positive spin on the latest setback for the GOP thug -- his being demoted to one of Trump's vice chairmen for the transition (A-1).

Racioppi, who is assigned to cover the governor, once did a story on how many vetoes the GOP bully used to thwart the Democratic majority in the state Legislature.

At the time, it was more than 300. But he never did a follow-up, even after Christie passed 500 vetoes. 

Fat lady sings?

Staff Writer Elisa Ung tells readers today she is "moving on" after reviewing 400 restaurants in the last nine years, as well as writing a Sunday column and an unknown number of items that promoted -- not dissected -- restaurants (BL-1).

Her Corner Table column today confirms Ung wrote about restaurants superficially, and rarely bothered to find out whether the food she sampled and recommended to readers was naturally raised and free of antibiotics, growth hormones and other harmful additives.

Her last review on Friday was a rare exception. She reported Viaggio Chef Robbie Felice serves pork from Berkshire pigs and free-range chickens.

Squid with butter

She claimed she was giving Wayne's "new Italian spot" the highest rating for a Passaic County restaurant in her nine years at The Record (3.5 stars out of 4 stars), because it presents food "as it's cooked in Italy."

But she puzzled readers when she praised the seemingly inauthentic fried calamari served "with a lemon-butter sauce."

And as in nearly every one of her 400 reviews, she raved about a few of Viaggio's desserts, though in her column today she tells readers, "Don't order dessert," which she noted "is almost always underwhelming and, too often, gross."

The biggest laugh line in that last review was her complaint about "hard metal chairs that dig into your sides."

After eating so many high-calorie desserts, many the problem is Ung's sides, not the chairs.

Ung is one of The Record staffers affected by the biggest downsizing in the 121-year-old paper's history, put into motion by the Gannett Co.

Editor's column

In his first message to readers, The Record's new editor, Rick Green, discusses changes that will take place next week (O-2).

But he doesn't confirm Gannett Co. is following through on a Sept. 15 layoff announcement affecting half of the 426 employees at North Jersey Media Group -- publisher of The Record, Herald News, (201) magazine, weekly papers and NorthJersey.com. 

A notice on the front page of the weekly Hackensack Chronicle told readers the paper will continue to be published, but Gannett is folding the Teaneck Suburbanite.

Green also disclosed he has "settled into a great apartment in Nutley" instead of one in Bergen County, the heart of The Record's circulation area.

Appeals could keep Bridgegate pair out of prison for 2 years

Bridgegate defendants Bridget Anne Kelly, left, and Bill Baroni, both former allies of Governor Christie, were found guilty on all counts today (Credit: Thomas Bryan/Getty Images).

Editor's note: This post has been revised and greatly expanded.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

We're nowhere near having heard the last about Bridget Anne Kelly, Bill Baroni, Governor Christie and the infamous George Washington Bridge lane closures in 2013.

After a federal jury in Newark found Kelly and Baroni guilty of all charges this morning, sentencing was set for Feb. 21.

Appeals of the verdicts and sentences are certainties.

That means Christie's former deputy chief of staff, as well as his top executive appointee at the Port Authority, owner and operator of the bridge, may be able to stay out of prison for up to 2 years.

So, David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty and became the government's star witness against Kelly and Baroni, likely will be going to prison before them.

Damning email

Kelly, a divorced mother of four, testified in her own defense, but was never able to explain away the email she sent to Wildstein about a month before he put the lane closures into motion on Sept. 9, 2013, causing five mornings of gridlock:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

"Got it," replied Wildstein, who was Baroni's deputy at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a notorious patronage mill for the governors of the two states.

What everyone referred to as a "traffic study" was actually a bizarre scheme designed to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for refusing to endorse Christie's re-election in November 2013.

The defendants were each charged with seven counts of conspiracy and wire fraud, including misusing the resources of the bi-state transportation agency and violating the rights of the citizens of Fort Lee to travel without restriction.

The most serious charge is punishable by a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Christie's role

Kelly and other witnesses testified that Christie knew about the lane closures as they were happening, despite his repeated denials.

Wildstein testified that his every official action at the Port Authority was designed to please only "one constituent" -- Christie.

Wildstein also said he told the governor about the scheme at a Sept. 11, 2013, memorial service. Kelly said she received the governor's approval before she sent the "Time for some traffic problems" email.

Unindicted?

The governor was never charged and wasn't called to testify under oath, although he was found guilty in the court of public opinion years ago.

And federal prosecutors never revealed the list of unindicted co-conspirators in the case.

"The lane-closing scandal was the biggest political corruption case in New Jersey in years, riveting a state that has a long history of official malfeasance," The New York Times is reporting.

"It crippled ... Christie's presidential candidacy this year and left him deeply unpopular among his constituents.

In the six-week trial in Newark federal court, "the prosecution and defense both portrayed the Christie administration as a relentlessly political operation in the service of a fiery-tempered and ambitious governor," according to The Times.

"Aides began using government resources to seek political endorsements" in 2010, the year the GOP bully took office, "with an eye to winning not just a broad re-election victory, but also the presidential race six years away."

Today's paper

The guilty verdicts were returned before noon today by federal jurors, who like so many of their predecessors didn't want to come back on Saturday to deliberate.

They started going over the evidence and the judge's instructions on the law that governed the charges on Monday.

The Record's front-page story on the trial today focuses not on the possibility of a verdict, but on Thursday's mistrial motions by hysterical attorneys who saw their defense cases sinking.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan D. Wigenton had ruled the jury could find the defendants guilty of conspiracy even if prosecutors didn't prove the motive was to punish Fort Lee's mayor.

Novice reporters

Sadly, the Gannett-owned Woodland Park daily put coverage of one of the biggest trials in decades in the hands Dustin Racioppi and Paul Berger, reporters who had little, if any, experience covering federal criminal cases.

That resulted in an unusually heavy focus on the two defense teams -- headed by Michael Critchley and Michael Baldassare -- which likely have bankrupted the defendants with their endless motions and delaying tactics.

Now, after the pair are sentenced, those same lawyers will be demanding even more money to bankroll appeals and keep Kelly and Baroni out of prison for as long as possible. 

Meanwhile, readers are questioning why Columnist Mike Kelly wrote such a long, flattering profile about Bridget Kelly during the trial, emphasizing her roots in Ramsey, her Catholicism and her four children.

The Record didn't give Baroni anywhere near the same sympathetic treatment.