Like pricey defense attorneys, editors try to clear Christie

Numerous projects on Main Street have made driving through Fort Lee agonizing, even when the Port Authority isn't conducting a "traffic study" on the George Washington Bridge. Today's tie-ups looked much like this photo, which was taken last Monday.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The U.S. attorney for New Jersey ended nearly 20 months of speculation by charging three of Governor Christie's allies in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal.

And ex-Port Authority official David Wildstein's guilty plea to conspiring with two others suggested Christie's role in the political vendetta will finally be revealed at a trial in federal court.  

Now, The Record's editor, Martin Gottlieb, is muddling the picture once again by using the front page to rehash the $7.5 million whitewash commissioned by the GOP bully (A-1).

The "ANALYSIS" bug on the story by Salvador Rizzo changes nothing: 

Attorney Randy Mastro's 360-page report is not evidence, and will never be introduced at the trials of former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly or Bill Baroni, the Port Authority's former executive director.

It is merely an elaborate attempt to do what every defense lawyer does in return for obscene amounts of money: 

Put Christie's actions in the best light possible.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman will have to prove his charges before a jury; there were no restraints of any kind on what Mastro's report stated or speculated.

NJ Transit

Is another story on Page 1 today the first time in decades the editors actually asked commuters to comment on the quality of NJ Transit's rail service (A-1)?

Why did the interviews have to wait for a proposal to raise fares 9 percent and reduce late-night service?

It would be hard to find a bigger enemy of mass transit than the Woodland Park daily, which should be calling on Christie to plug the $60 million gap in the agency's budget.

Oh, that's right. Christie's own budget is such a disaster because he's repeatedly vetoed taxes on the wealthy and given hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to businesses.

Drivers rock

The Record's sympathies have always been with drivers, as the Road Warrior column has shown repeatedly for nearly a dozen years.

After all, the region's auto dealers spend millions on newspaper advertising every year.

That's also probably why the editors won't call on Christie to raise the gasoline tax, an action that would make drivers pay to fix the roads and bridges they use every day.

We're no closer to unmasking Christie's lies in GWB mess

Nearly 20 months after the gridlock caused by the Christie administration's political vendetta against the mayor of Fort Lee and other Democrats, all eyes in the borough are focused on Hudson Lights, the massive residential and retail project near the George Washington Bridge.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The most tantalizing headline on The Record's front page today is a partial quote from Bridget Anne Kelly, Governor Christie's former aide, whose email -- "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee -- triggered a scandal that may yet bring down the GOP bully.

"Former aide says

she'll no longer

allow the lies"

If you turn to the continuation page, Kelly says, "I will no longer allow the lies that have been said about me or my role in the George Washington Bridge issue to go unchallenged" (A-11).

She also says, "I have remained quiet while many of the people whom I believed in, trusted and respected have attempted to publicly discredit and even humiliate me."

Is she referring to Christie, who fired her when that infamous email came to light and whose sexist legal team called her "stupid," "weepy" and "unqualified," among other pejoratives?

I guess we'll have to wait for her trial.

Christie's role

Despite two federal indictments and a guilty plea from David Wildstein, the former Port Authority official who put the lane closures into motion in September 2013, Christie's role remains unclear.

The GOP bully would have us believe that without his knowledge or consent, Kelly conspired with Wildstein and others to exact political retribution against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for refusing to endorse the governor for reelection.

C'mon. We weren't born yesterday. That sounds like a whopper of a lie.

Today's coverage

I am not about to wade through all of the stories, sidebars and even three columns on the criminal charges unveiled by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in Newark (A-1, A-8, A-9, A-10, A-11 and L-1).

"They callously victimized the people of Fort Lee, who were just trying to get to school, go to work," Fishman said of the defendants.

But I winced at the front-page description of Bridget Anne Kelly standing "on a purple Fisher-Price step stool in hot pink pumps," especially because none of the male prosecutors, lawyers or defendants are described in any similar way (A-1).

For example, no mention is made of all the weight Wildstein has lost since he left the Port Authority.

Questions

And the nearly 20 months after the four days of gridlock in Fort Lee, The Record has never reported why Christie tried so hard during his reelection campaign to get endorsements from Democrats.

The Woodland Park daily, more than any other newspaper, had published story after story and column after column since he took office in early 2010 on what a great "compromiser" he was, and how he had "reformed" the state pension system -- swallowing whole Christie's own public relations. 

The sad truth, which finally emerged this year, is that Christie has executed more than 350 vetoes to get his way.

Local columns

Don't bother with the tedious columns from Road Warrior John Cichowski and Mike Kelly (L-1).

The brain-damaged Cichowski actually compares the lane closures in Fort Lee to a Russian snowstorm that trapped 10,000 vehicles in January 2012.

Kelly has the nerve to focus an entire column on Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a politician, calling him a victim of the GWB scandal.

The reporter forgets the "people" are the ones who suffered most.

Martha Washington

And the traffic jams that resulted from the closure of two of three access lanes were confined to the upper level of the bridge.

Access lanes to the lower level -- called Martha Washington -- remained open and traffic flowed across the span.

The Record rarely asks the public for their opinion about even the most compelling issues -- such as Christie's inept governance of New Jersey.

So, Cichowski and two reporters getting reaction to the federal charges, as well as recollections of the gridlock, prove irrelevant (L-1).

The only opinions that matter are those of the federal jurors who will hear the charges against Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni, former executive director of the Port Authority, should they decide to go to trial.

Big-name lawyer, gazillions in fees couldn't save Ferriero

The redevelopment of Hackensack's Main Street is underway.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Former Democratic power broker Joe Ferriero is himself a lawyer so perhaps it is fitting he has been exploited so thoroughly by his fellow attorneys.

Look at the convicted racketeer in the photo on the front page of The Record today: 

Ferriero has gained a lot of weight from the stress of fighting federal charges for the last eight years or so, but he blew so much money on defense attorneys he can't even afford to buy a new suit that fits him (A-1).

And the legal bills didn't end with his conviction in Newark federal court on Thursday.

Kelly curse

None other than Columnist Mike Kelly reports that the losing defense lawyer, Michael Baldassare, "promises that Ferriero ... will be vindicated when he appeals and is found to have done nothing wrong" (A-8).

What a joke. Done nothing wrong? Kelly should be fired for even quoting the self-promoting lawyer spouting such nonsense.

The real crime is that reporters endow Baldassare and other big-name defense lawyers with nearly magical powers to save a client like Ferriero, who was convicted on most of the federal charges he faced, including racketeering, wire fraud and bribery (A-1).

Nowhere in the two news stories or column on Ferriero will you find anything reporting just how much the former Bergen County Democratic Organization chairman spent on his defense -- is it tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars -- all in vain.

Ill-gotten gains

It's likely Ferriero, who was convicted of using his power and position to "line his pockets," as U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman put it, already has gone through all of his ill-gotten gains and is spending personal funds (A-8).

If the party organization Ferriero presided over in Bergen County was corrupt, he ended up being exploited by an equally corrupt legal system that denies access to the courts to anyone who isn't wealthy.

A defense attorney like Baldassare, if paid enough money, can keep the Ferriero conviction and coming sentence on appeal for as long as two years, meaning this racketeer isn't going to prison anytime soon.

Editors wanted

The Record's amateurish editing bites readers again today with Staff Writer Lindy Washburn's story on the dramatic rise in the use of electronic cigarettes by high school and middle school students (A-1).

The second paragraph is filled with so many confusing numbers that it stops readers dead.

The third paragraph should have followed the lead paragraph, and all of those numbers could have been left for much later.

Also, the reporter and editors assume readers who might not turn to the continuation page are familiar with electronic cigarettes and whether they contain nicotine or other harmful ingredients.

Local news?

The big local news today is that Ringwood and Ford Motor Co. continue to take the cheap way out of protecting residents from contaminated soil linked to dumping 40 years ago (L-1).

The Record launched an investigation and published a series, "Toxic Legacy," tracing the pollution to paint sludge from Ford's Mahwah plant, where more than 6 million cars and trucks were produced.

The residents sickened over the years are mixed race, and don't have much pull with the Woodland Park daily, officials in Ringwood or Ford.

Liar, liar

A photo from Governor Christie's "town-hall-style event" in Hasbrouck Heights should have been on Page 1 today.

Dan Buckley of Lodi is shown with a large sign, "LIAR LIAR," and a photo-drawing of the GOP bully with his pants on fire (L-6).

Editor Martin Gottlieb still gives a pass to the worst governor in New Jersey history.

Christie's poor job-creation performance is reported on B-1 today.

Sugar high

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung is so enthralled with the souffles and the "tempting" sweets and pastries at Tisha's Main Ingredient in Westwood she gave the Asian fusion restaurant a Good to Excellent rating (BL-16).

But diabetics and others hoping to restrict their intake of sugary food should probably eat elsewhere.

Hillary's biggest obstacle is media's love of controversy

The cellphone lot at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queen is where drivers of limos and black cars go to die. The other Port Authority airports, Newark and La Guardia, have nothing like it.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Now that Hillary Clinton is a candidate for president in 2016 the news media represent her biggest obstacle.

The media's obsession with controversy likely will mean an endless parade of stories like the nonsense from The Washington Post on The Record's front page today (A-1).

I laughed at a story The Record carried last week claiming Hillary will have trouble convincing voters she is "fresh and different."

Voters don't want "fresh and different" candidates like Marco Rubio and Rand Paul.

They want someone like Clinton who is experienced in leading -- she was the first to propose national health care -- not the parade of Republican candidates intent on stripping seniors of their entitlements.

The media are so bored with elections they portray every one as a horse race, and their reliance on the sound bite is irresponsible.

Lazy coverage

You just have to look at what has happened to election coverage at The Record in the last two decades.

Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, the lazy local assignment editors, stopped covering uncontested elections long ago, and school board contests are reduced to briefs.

In Hackensack, less than a sixth of registered voters turn out for council elections and even fewer bother with the April election for school board, ensuring the latter is filled with incompetents.

Herb Jackson and the paper's Trenton staff devote major coverage in statewide and congressional elections to the candidates who have raised the most special-interest money.

In a major front page story last year, Jackson even omitted conservative Republican Rep. Scott Garrett's initial opposition to federal aide for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Rare is a story discussing how the candidates stand on the issues, resulting in tremendous voter apathy, such as the record low voter turnout in the last gubernatorial election in New Jersey.

Think pieces

Three of the four major stories on Page 1 today are speculative "think" pieces that go on and on and on.

Let's hope U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman at leasts names Governor Christie as an unindicted co-conspirator, if he brings criminal charges in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal (A-1).

I know it's only a typo, but how did the editors on the assignment, news and copy desks misspell the name of Bridget Anne Kelly (A-6), the onetime Christie official who sent the infamous email to a Port Authority official, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee"?

The danger of long, speculative stories like this one is that it will put to sleep the underpaid, sleep-deprived copy editor (who also writes headlines and photo captions) long before he gets to its bitter end.

With a bimbo like Joe Giudice for a father, wouldn't his four daughters be better off living with relatives or even in an orphanage while their mother is in prison (A-1)?

Local news?

For the meaning of a "slow news day," see today's Local section.