Lies by mayor, PA official pale in comparison to Christie's

Solar-operated trash compactors and large recycling containers popped up this week at several locations inside and outside Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's coverage of the Bridgegate trial has deteriorated into describing the political pissing match between the governors of New York and New Jersey.

Defendants Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelley, former allies of Governor Christie, are accused of closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 to punish Fort Lee's Democratic mayor for not endorsing reelection of the GOP bully that year.

But the charges against them don't include "playing politics."

The nine-count indictment charges them with conspiracy against civil rights, deprivation of civil rights,  wire fraud and other counts.

Today, Page 1 trial coverage is provided by the reporter who covers the Port Authority, which owns and operates the bridge; a Trenton reporter; and Charles Stile, whose political column often tries to burnish Christie's image.

What experience they have covering criminal trials isn't known.

Much of today's coverage focuses on Christie and two prosecution witnesses -- the mayor of Fort Lee, and the executive director of the Port Authority, none of whom are on trial.

Feared Christie

Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich testified on Wednesday he lied when he denied in a letter to the editor of The Star-Ledger in November 2013 the lane closures were retaliatory (A-1).

"I was petrified of further retribution [from Christie]," the mayor told the jury.

And Patrick Foye, appointed executive director of the Port Authority by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, admitted that before he ordered the lanes reopened on the fifth day of gridlock he OK'd a press release that said the agency was conducting "a traffic study."

Foye testified Baroni, his deputy, said the  lane closures were "important to Trenton," a veiled reference to Christie.

Christie's lies

Of course, the Christie administration has been one big, elaborate lie since he took office in early 2010.

And when you fast forward to September 2013, Christie also lied about what he knew about the lane closings and when he knew it, according to federal prosecutors.

The prosecution witness we are eager to hear is David Wildstein, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority who has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Baroni and Kelly, who was the governor's deputy chief of staff.

Kelly's email to Wildstein -- "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" -- set the political payback scheme into motion on Sept. 9, 2013, a Monday and the first day of school.

Are editors chained to their computers?

Image via Wikipedia

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
says it's a free country and it can charge drivers and
rail commuters whatever the traffic will bear.

The big story on The Record's front page today -- the surge of Hispanics in North Jersey -- is news only to shut-ins, Editor Francis Scandale and assignment editors who never leave the newsroom.


The off-lead main headline from Liz Houlton's news copy desk seems exaggerated or just plain wrong.


One of five commuters using Hudson River crossings come from Bergen County, as the A-1 chart indicates, so you can't say:

Bergen

would take

the brunt

of toll hikes

Tunnel vision


New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was quoted in radio news reports on Wednesday as calling the Port Authority's toll-and-fare hike plan a "non-starter," but I haven't seen anything on that in The Record.


Both Cuomo and Governor Christie can veto actions by the agency's board. 


Christie has called the agency mismanaged, so why doesn't The Record publish Port Authority salaries, including pay for its spokespeople, some of whom are former journalists?


Reader attacks Doblin


In a letter to the editor on Page A-10, Paul White of Ridgewood says parts of Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin's Aug. 8 column on Governor Christie were inaccurate, adding:


"I would love to see Doblin do a column on the incredible inequality in the U.S. and the efforts of the super-rich to increase that inequality."


With Doblin cashing checks signed by super-rich Publisher Stephen A. Borg, what's the chance of that happening?


Back to school


On the front of Local, a story on the Lincoln School site in Englewood doesn't report a previous city administration decided it would cost too much to turn the 100-year-old building into a community center.


Staff Writer Melissa Hayes -- who is newly assigned to the city -- should ask  officials what they propose to do about all the vacant storefronts on Palisade Avenue or segregated elementary and middle-school classrooms.


Let's hope Hayes isn't taking direction from the laziest assignment desk on the Eastern Seaboard.


That desk, working under the burden of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, thought the biggest local news today is an "update" on a 30-month project to expand Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington (L-1).