'Behemoth at the bridge' could be expose of Gov. Christie

State Street in front of Hackensack City Hall, police headquarters and the city's main firehouse, above and below, is closed this week for replacement of the rough railroad crossing. Next week, Main Street will be closed to repair the section of tracks through the business district.

Banta Place is open for left turns onto Main Street and Central Avenue is open for right turns onto Union Street.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Despite the region's commuting crisis, Editor Martin Gottlieb came up with a colossal waste of time for readers on The Record's front page today.

A gee-whiz story about "oversize trucks" crossing the George Washington Bridge is an insult to bus and rail riders who can't find rush-hour seats, and drivers who pay exorbitant tolls at congested Hudson River crossings.

Which witless editor assigned Christopher Maag, the paper's main transportation reporter, to this monstrosity?

Meanwhile, there is a reference to the real "behemoth at the bridge," Governor Christie, who has been at the center of the state Legislature's investigation of the lane-closure scandal "that has lingered over ... his presidential campaign" (A-1).

Now, Democratic legislators plan to launch two more probes -- into a lottery privatization "that has yet to pay off for the state," and "allegations of cronyism and racism in New Jersey's National Guard."

Carbon in air

The media could be partially to blame for New Jersey's carbon emissions shooting up 14 percent in 2014 -- reversing three straight years of declines (A-1).

Every time the price of gasoline goes down, The Record and other media are filled with stories describing what a boon that is for drivers of gas-guzzling SUVs and other vehicles.

At the same time, reporting on hybrid, electric and other low- or zero-emission vehicles usually emphasizes their higher cost and ignores their tremendous environmental benefit.

Local news?

Today's Local section is once again dominated by Law & Order news (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

The Local front carries a story about Saddle River's small school district, but there is no school news about Hackensack, Bergen's biggest district (L-1).

Why is a story on former Gov. Christie Whitman blasting "hyper-partisan politics and the influx of super PAC-money" that alienates voters buried on L-3 today?

That might have something to do with Editor Gottlieb running so many Page 1 stories on fundraising by Christie, Rep. Scott Garrett and other candidates, completely ignoring the issues that affect voters' lives.

Monday's paper

Today's paper is an improvement over Monday, when The Record's front page was filled with baseball, political fundraising and a long piece on new evidence in the murder of a Passaic woman in Chile more than 39 years ago.

On Monday's Local front, two photos of a car that struck a concrete island, exploded, burned and killed the driver on Sunday morning shows the editors have learned nothing in the decades they have been covering such crashes.

No one asked state police whether excessive speed was involved, a natural question given how the car overturned after striking the island.

A follow-up today reports the driver, John Muller V, 26, of Glen Ridge, was a graduate student and teaching assistant in the creative writing program at Rutgers University-Newark. 

Hackensack school board wages bitter war against council

Before Tuesday night's City Council meeting, Board of Education Attorney Richard Salkin conferred with Lynne Hurwitz, back to camera, the grandmother who heads Hackensack's Democratic Party. Hurwitz has been identified in The Record as "the key strategist behind the Zisa family political machine, which ruled the city for three decades until its slate of candidates was defeated last year [2013]."

Jason Nunnermacker, an attorney, was a member of the losing Zisa-backed City Council slate in May 2013. Now, as president of the Board of Education, he appears at nearly every council meeting, along with Salkin and other board members, to berate officials. Salkin was stripped of his second job, municipal prosecutor, after his allies lost the election.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After their work session was canceled, four members of the nine-member Board of Education, led by their attorney, went on the attack at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

Board President Jason Nunnermacker, members Francis W. Albolino, Joseph Barreto and Daniel Carola; and school board lawyer Richard Salkin took turns at the lectern.

Another member, Mark Stein, was in the audience. 

What residents who attend the meetings witness is the losing side in the May 2013 municipal election, most, if not all, of whom are Democrats, attacking the winners, most of whom are Republicans.

This is the same type of partisan rancor that has paralyzed Congress.

From all the time school board officials spend at City Council meetings, you'd think their own house is in order, but that is far from the case.

The total 2015-16 school budget topped $107 million, exceeding the city's own budget of under $95 million, and council officials are not sure where all of that money is going.

Board members count on voter apathy to keep them in office and to approve their profligate budgets, as they did this year, when fewer than 1,000 of the city's 20,000 registered voters cast ballots in April's school election.

Legal fees

As a former City Council candidate in 2013, I read a statement on Tuesday night concerning Salkin's 2014 legal fees far exceeding the contracted amount; stolen iPads and Chromebooks, two of which were traced to a teacher's house; and rumors of sexual harassment complaints against a board member and others.

In 2013, as board attorney, Salkin turned down a request from Mayor John Labrosse for payment of $1 million the city was owed for supplying a police officer at Hackensack High School.

In 2014, according to documents, Salkin billed more than $153,000 for legal services, even though his contract limits those payments to $95,000.

This year, he billed the board more than $36,000 in the first three months alone.

Stolen tablets

Of 29 iPads and Chromebooks stolen from Hackensack Pubic Schools from April 1, 2014, to Sept. 30, 2014, only two were recovered.

Those two were traced to a teacher's house, but the teacher was not charged or disciplined.

They were among a larger number of devices, valued at more than $35,000, that went missing, but The Record has chosen not to publish a story reporting the thefts, a councilman said.

Complaints

There also are disturbing rumors of sexual harassment complaints against a board member and school employees, and a rumor that one supervisor has falsified time cards for a secretary who went home early.

Complaints about low-quality food in the high school have fallen on deaf ears, even as many students race out to Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, pizzerias and fast-food restaurants for lunch.

And the board has shown no interest in making schools more efficient and saving money by installing solar panels.

Todd South, the reporter assigned to Hackensack, covered Tuesday night's meeting.

Salkin speaking during the public portion of the meeting. Documents show he billed the school board for more than $153,000 in legal services in 2014 (at $150 an hour), and was paid, even though his contract limits him to $95,000 annually. In the first three months of this year, his billings exceeded $36,000.

Another persistent City Council critic is school board member Daniel Carola, 30, who initially covered his face with papers when I tried to take his picture before he approached the lectern to speak.

Francis W. Albolino, a school board veteran, front; and fellow member Joseph Barreto waiting to speak to the council. Barreto was on the losing Zisa-backed council slate in 2013. Albolino wants the city to give the schools half of the taxes collected on new apartment buildings, claiming hundreds of children will be moving into Hackensack.

Also addressing the council on Tuesday night was Howard Hurwitz, executive director of the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority, which operates a wastewater treatment plant. He is the husband of Lynne Hurwitz.