On Page 1, editor focuses on bunch of losers like himself

Late Wednesday morning, traffic lights went dark at Main and Anderson streets in Hackensack, as well as at Anderson and River streets, above, and at Cedar Lane and River Road in Teaneck, below.

On Cedar Lane, drivers were forced to turn right onto River Road.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Oh, there was another GOP debate? Yawn.

Like most North Jersey Democrats, who far outnumber Republicans, I feel Governor Christie and the other GOP presidential hopefuls are just a bunch of losers.

Why is Editor Martin Gottlieb of The Record devoting so much of the front-page to that sorry lot while neglecting local elections?

And I am sick and tired of the almost daily Page 1 analysis of those other losers, the Mets (A-1).

Lazy lifers

Gottlieb is a former New York Times editor who is completing his third year in the job of running the Woodland Park newsroom.

But he seems unsuited for the nitty gritty of covering local affairs in nearly 80 towns in Bergen and Passaic counties.

He leaves that to three lazy, disinterested lifers, local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, and Sunday Projects Editor Tim Nostrand.

On A-3, a story reports the decision to replace the antiquated midtown Manhattan bus terminal is being driven by politics and a rivalry between New York and New Jersey.

But that has been the case for decades. 

In fact, the original name of the Port Authority didn't include "New Jersey," and state officials complained bitterly in the 1980s that New York was grabbing the lion's share of agency resources.

Hackensack news?

If you wonder why there is so little Hackensack news, take a look at six major stories from Passaic County in today's local-news section, including a long report on the Paterson school board election (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

In Bergen County, the bare-knuckle Democratic Party machine in Hackensack is trying to regain a single seat on the City Council in a special Nov. 3 non-partisan election.

Jason Nunnermacker, president of the city's free-spending Board of Education, is the knucklehead candidate supported by Lynne Hurwitz -- the power broker behind the Zisa family dynasty -- and other Democrats, including Hackensack lawyer Roy Cho.

Cho gained the respect of Democrats in 2014, when he challenged Rep. Scott Garrett, the Wantage conservative who represents a good deal of Bergen County in Congress.

But his endorsement of the pudgy school board president shows just how desperate the Hurwitz-Zisa alliance is to regain the power they lost when Nunnermacker and four other hand-picked candidates were defeated in May 2013.

$22-an-hour aides

In an email to fellow Democrats, Cho claims he's seen Nunnermacker's "commitment to the children of Hackensack while vigilantly ensuring that tax dollars are spent wisely."

Cho apparently is unaware the principal of Hackensack High School is paid more than $172,000 a year, only a few thousand less than Christie, or that lunchroom aides at two elementary school are listed in board documents as getting $22 an hour. 

Nunnermacker has three opponents, including Richard L. Cerbo, the son of a former mayor who doesn't have any axes to grind.

Cerbo's motto is "We can do better."

John Molinelli

The lead story on L-1 today reports critics of Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli say a letter the freeholder chairwoman sent this month to Christie "was instrumental in [the governor's] decision to appoint a new prosecutor."

But a few paragraphs later, the story says Christie decided in January 2013 to replace Molinelli, but that the nomination expired.

Can both of those things be true? 

Wednesday's Local 

Passaic County also dominated the local-news section that was delivered to Bergen readers on Wednesday.

At least Sykes and Sforza were able to find a photo showing the face of William J. Bate, a surrogate judge, for a story on the dedication of Paterson's new courthouse plaza.

The best the lazy editors could do on Tuesday was showing the back of the head of James P. Coleman, onetime pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church in Hackensack, where a street was named in his honor.

Coleman was black and Bate was white. Could that have influenced the choice of photos?

Mixed food messages

A day after the World Health Organization caused a media storm by linking cured meats to colon cancer, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz wrote a long column praising Taylor Ham, a pork-based processed meat that is "cured, smoked and pre-cooked" (Wednesday's BL-2).

Her recipe for N.J. Taylor Ham and Cheese Stuffing includes artery clogging butter, bacon fat and two kinds of full-fat cheeses.

Yuck.

PA backing of rail tunnels is really bad news for bus riders

NJ Transit buses were gridlocked outside the Port Authority's midtown Manhattan bus terminal during the afternoon rush last summer, above and below.

After dropping off commuters in the morning, many NJ Transit buses return empty and park near the New Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel and in other lots until they are needed in the afternoon, causing massive congestion on tunnel approaches.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Port Authority backing for new Hudson River tunnels is great news for rail commuters, as you can see on Page 1 of The Record today.

But it looks like bus riders will be stuck in traffic for the foreseeable future.

The massive bi-state agency has been screwing North Jersey's bus patrons for decades, refusing to add a second reverse bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel in the morning and start a new reverse lane in the afternoon. 

That means city bound NJ Transit riders must scramble for rush-hour seats in the A.M., and wait on long, serpentine lines in an antiquated bus terminal for their home-bound buses in the P.M.

The Record's transportation reporter, Christopher Maag; Road Warrior John Cichowski and all of the other transportation writers in the past couple of decades likely have never taken a bus into the city.

Otherwise, they would be aware of an easy way to cut delays for NJ Transit bus commuters.

Of course, the hitch is all about money: 

The Port Authority doesn't want to add Lincoln Tunnel lanes reserved exclusively for buses, because that would mean fewer drivers paying exorbitant Hudson River tolls and less money to cover cost overruns on such projects as the new World Trade Center.

Ben E. King

If you're black, there are only a few ways to get on the front page of The Record of Woodland Park:

Accomplish what soul singer Ben E. King did (A-1); get shot and killed in one of the drive-by shootings the Paterson police are unable or unwilling to stop; or commit a crime so heinous you catch the attention of Editor Martin Gottlieb.

If you're black or Hispanic, there is even less chance of getting a job in the Woodland Park newsroom.

Correction

For the few history buffs who read Thursday's front-page story on the Lusitania sinking in 1915, a correction on A-2 today tells you the editors still can't get the facts straight even with 100 years of perspective.

Local news?

Is it possible that Scott Garrett, the crackpot Republican in the 5th Congressional District, just held "his first town-hall-style meeting" (L-1)?

The darling of the Tea Party has been in office since 2003, and now represents residents of Hackensack, Teaneck, Fair Lawn and other towns in Bergen and Passaic counties.

Why didn't I read about that when Garrett was challenged by Hackensack attorney Roy Cho last November?

Turkish -- again?

Given the over-saturation of Turkish restaurants in North Jersey, many readers are questioning Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung's decision to praise another one in Cliffside Park (BL-18).

She gives 3 stars to Cinar (Excellent), even though there wasn't enough sugar in the rice pudding ($5.95).

As usual, she tells readers nothing about how the chicken, beef and lamb on the menu were raised.

I also wonder why Ung, in July 2014, wrote a brief about a noodle-and-cheese dish served at Istanbul Borek and Kebab in Cliffside, but never sampled the the new restaurant's dinner menu.

Decades of no change in racism, corruption, judiciary

Let's hope warmer temperatures melt the ice and snow covering the sidewalk on this corner near Target in Hackensack before a pedestrian breaks his neck.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front page today carries three stories that suggest little has changed in decades when it comes to racism, official corruption and high legal fees that deny access to the courts.

Recent attacks on President Obama by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other Republicans show racism is alive and well 50 years after "Bloody Sunday" in Selma, Ala. (A-1).

An indictment naming U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., will expose the corrupt system of campaign financing, but probably not change the way The Record and other media ignore the need for reforms (A-1).

The Page 1 story on the retirement of Bergen County Assignment Judge Peter E. Doyne was written for other judges and lawyers, not for the public, including people who can't afford high legal fees (A-1).

In fact, Doyne is returning to the private practice of law for the "money" -- legal fees of hundreds of dollars an hour that appear to be completely unregulated by the judiciary.

Staff Writer Kibret Markos, who once covered the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, is himself a lawyer, but you won't find any details his Doyne story -- certainly not his salary as an assignment judge or the hourly fee he is expected to command when he joins a Hackensack law firm.

In fact, in all the years Markos has reported on multi-million dollar legal settlements and jury awards, he never told readers about the substantial amount lawyers always raked off the top. 

Herb Jackson

Another Record reporter is in the news today, Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson, who is described on A-3 today as "a face that has for years struck fear into the hearts of North Jersey politicians."

What a joke. What can you expect? That lead paragraph was written by a Record reporter in Woodland Park, Stephanie Akin.

Jackson's selective memory doesn't strike fear in politicians' hearts; it gladdens them.

That certainly was the case before the November election when Hackensack lawyer Roy Cho campaigned against Rep. Scott Garrett, the crackpot conservative from the 5th District.

In a major front-page story, Jackson somehow forgot to mention that Garrett initially opposed billions in federal aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

To impress Jackson, all you have to do is raise a ton of special interest money to crush your opponents.

In fact, his coverage of an incumbent and challenger is directly in proportion to how much money they raise -- the incumbent usually gets the lion's share of his attention, because the reporter isn't interested in issues-oriented stories.

How else to explain that the first thing Jackson tells you about Menendez today is that the Cuban-American senator is "a prolific campaign fundraiser" (A-1).

Local schools

Readers might be questioning the poor job some school officials do to safeguard students after reading today's Page 1 story on a fifth-grader who jumped to his death (A-1).

The death of a 10-year-old from Dumont follows that of a 7-year-old killed by a falling table in January at a school in New Milford.

Local news

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, continue to struggle to fill their thin section with legitimate news (L-1 to L-6).

Today, they needed two filler photos of minor accidents (L-2 and L-3), and a long wire service obituary for an obscure documentary film maker (L-6).

On the Local front, Staff Writer Melissa Hayes reports on Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg of Teaneck attending "a summit" to develop "policies to bolster the middle class."

That's in stark contrast to Hayes' full-time job of covering Governor Christie, who is famous for policies that are destroying the middle class in New Jersey, though you certainly don't know it from any of her stories.

Voters largely ignored newspaper endorsements

An Ebola virus advisory from Hackensack University Medical Center urges visitors to the Alfred N. Sanzari Medical Arts Building at 360 Essex St. to "tell a member of our healthcare team if you have traveled to areas in Western Africa."

Meanwhile, the sidewalk was closed in front of Starbucks Coffee and Cosi, the latest phase of construction work that rebuilt the parking lot at the busy medical arts building.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today's front page story on why GOP radical Rep. Scott Garrett was elected to a seventh term goes on and on, but doesn't mention The Record and other newspapers endorsed Democratic Challenger Roy Cho of Hackensack.

In fact, voters on Tuesday also ignored The Record's endorsement of two Republicans seeking freeholder seats, and its recommendations for a larger nature center in Tenafly and against a constitutional amendment to fund open space. 

Even in races where voters followed The Record's endorsements, I'm sure the editors would have a hard time showing they had any influence, and they certainly didn't inspire a larger turnout than in previous elections.

In effect, The Record and other newspapers did an awful job covering the campaigns, spending too much time on politics and too little on issues.

The Woodland Park daily's adoring editors also spent too much time promoting Governor Christie's potential White House run and too little on the mess he has made in New Jersey (A-1 on Thursday and A-3 today).

Wait until Jan. 3

The GOP won't regain control of the U.S. Senate until Jan. 3, but all I've heard since Wednesday is endless jawboning on TV and public radio about a renewed confrontation between the Republicans and President Obama.

The Record's lead story today is a warning from the Republican House speaker, who seems to think he is running the country (A-1).

So, Obama has nearly two full months to implement changes in immigration and other policies through executive orders, the only way he has been able to accomplish anything in the face of gridlock in Washington.

Rep. Donald Payne Jr., the black Democrat from Newark who was reelected on Tuesday, told WBGO-FM news he fears congressional Republicans will try to impeach Obama.

Mandatory voting would give us much better government

Leaves turning in Hackensack's quiet Fairmount section, where several streets are named after trees. Residents vote at the Fairmount Elementary School on Grand Avenue.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

One of the key reasons Governor Christie won a second term a year ago was low voter turnout, setting a dubious record for a governor's race in New Jersey.

Of course, the other was the media, which failed to uncover the role of key Christie aides in the George Washington Bridge lane closures two months before the election. 

Fewer than 39.6 percent of registered voters cast ballots last November, and a few weeks earlier, only 24.5 percent -- one in four -- voted in the special U.S. Senate election.

National news

On Page 1 today, The Record reports get-out-the-vote drives in North Carolina and other states, but where is the local version of that story?

As usual, the lazy local assignment editors can't wait until Tuesday's election is over so they can go back to sleep.

As for Editor Martin Gottlieb, a carpetbagger from Manhattan, he could care less about what happens in New Jersey, as his front pages clearly show.

Today, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa again leads the paper, and there is a takeout on sports betting in Delaware (A-1).

The front-page story on chronically absent students continues the paper's practice of reporting more on schools in Paterson than in Hackensack (A-1).

Voting as duty

Voter turnout in Hackensack is even lower than in the state overall.

In May 2013, when a reform City Council slate triumphed, only 3,513 people or 17.2 percent of registered voters cast ballots.

Turnout in the April 2013 school board election was even lower.

Mandatory voting is the only solution, with fines or other penalties for those who don't cast ballots.

Politics wouldn't have as much influence, and candidates who use inaccurate attack ads wouldn't be as effective.

We might even be able to get rid of mean-spirited political hacks like Christie and Rep. Scott Garrett, the Tea Party Republican from Wantage who has managed to stay in office for close to 12 years.

On Tuesday, voters in the 5th Congressional District, which runs from the Delaware to the Hudson and includes Bergen County, have a chance to deny Garrett a seventh term.

Ebola is getting bigger play than the upcoming election

On Friday night, the streets around Clinton Place in Hackensack were packed with cars and costumed children making their trick-or-treat rounds as police directed traffic and watched over pedestrians. Bad weather cancelled Halloween festivities in 2012 and 2013.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Despite all of the front-page headlines, New Jersey still hasn't had a single confirmed case of Ebola.

Yet, Governor Christie and other politicians continue to run off at the mouth, and The Record continues to cover the epidemic that isn't.

Here comes Charles Stile to bore readers with another political column on the Ebola response of the GOP bully and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (A-1).

Another columnist, Mike Kelly, pushes hundreds of other words around on the Obama administration's response to Ebola, but loses readers almost immediately by flashing a shit-eating grin in his thumbnail photo (O-1).

Any journalist who allows his editors to use a dated photo that makes him look like a fool can't be taken seriously.

These Halloween scenes on Clinton Place were photographed on Thursday afternoon, above and below.

What about the election?

The editors haven't been paying as much attention to Election Day on Tuesday, when residents of the 5th Congressional District, which includes Bergen County, can get rid of Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, a Tea Party idol who is against just about everything (L-3).

An e-mail from challenger Roy Cho, an attorney in Hackensack, notes:

Daylight Savings Time Begins Today!

Make Sure You Set Your Clock Back One Hour

Election Day is Tuesday!

Make Sure You Don't Let Scott Garrett Set the Country Back

 

Since Elected in 2002, Garrett Voted Against:

 

Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act

Equal Pay for Women

 Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Protecting the Medicare and Social Secuity Guarantee

Reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act of 1973

Raising the Minimum Wage

Ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell

and a whole lot more...

Cho has been endorsed by The Record, The Star-Ledger, the New Jersey Jewish Standard and other newspapers, but Garrett hasn't received any editorial support in his bid for a seventh term.

Losing facts in the dark

Today, Road Warrior John Cichowski reports on dark street lights and highway lights, suggesting they are the reason he has completely lost sight of accuracy (L-1).

In his column last Sunday, Cichowski discussed reports of "teen violence" when he meant to say "violence against teens" tied those red decals on the license plates of young drivers, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers.

The page pits a fact-loving retired engineer against an addled columnist who has failed miserably to focus on issues important to commuters:

"In his Sunday column [Oct. 26], the Road Warrior continues to repeat mistaken and meaningless information and deadly, unsafe, and illegal advice for parents and teenagers about New Jersey's Graduated Driving License (GDL) laws and its impact on young drivers.

"Road Warrior indicated that GDL safety restrictions bar teenage drivers from loading cars with more than one teen passenger only if another experienced driver is present.

"The GDL law only allows for more than one passenger (teenage or otherwise), who are not dependents, only if a parent or guardian is present.

"He stupidly indicated that New Jersey has not documented any reports of 'teen violence' related to the GDL red decals on their cars.

"He should have stated there were no documented reports of violence against teenagers rather than teen violence, which means violent acts committed by teenagers."

See: Confusing teen drivers and parents

Why no one votes

A page and a half of Local is filled with the names of candidates in municipal, county and school board races, but for the vast majority, the paper hasn't reported what issues are at stake or what they stand for (L-6 and L-7).

Christie coverage

Staff Writer Melissa Hayes, who is traveling with Governor Christie's entourage, continues to report on his out-of-state fundraising in the same, breathless tones you'd find in a press release from the Republican Governors Association (Page 1 on Saturday).

Hayes quotes so-called experts as she tries to nail down whether Christie, who heads the group, is going to seek the GOP nomination for president in 2016.

What about the perspective of environmentalists, mass-transit advocates, women and Democrats in the state Legislature who have been stiffed big time since Christie took office in 2010?

What about voters in northern New Jersey? Do The Record's editors ever think to ask them who they want as their next president?

Christie's frequent hand jobs are the only 'job' he is doing

A smaller number of homes on Clinton Place in Hackensack have been decorated for Halloween than in past years. Does the addition of a lawn sign suggest that this candidate's campaign is dead or that he wants the dead to vote for him?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record keeps on quoting Governor Christie as saying he is doing his job, but his constituents are baffled by the claim.

On Wednesday, Christie bullied a former Asbury Park councilman who protested the glacial pace of Sandy recovery two years after the superstorm hit New Jersey.

On Thursday, the GOP bully said, "It's just another day at the ranch, the Rancho Christie, and so we'll keep doing our jobs" (A-3).

"Rancho Christie"? Is that the governor's way of trying to appeal to Hispanics in his quixotic bid for the White House?

Sloppy reporting

The Record's story on Thursday didn't mention that protester Jim Keady is a former councilman and part of a Sandy victims advocacy group called Finish the Job.

Nor did Staff Writer Melissa Hayes report how angry and unpresidential Christie was when Keady stood up and kept talking over the politician, as you could clearly see if you watched TV news on Thursday.

The Record's Christie-friendly filter is evident again today in an editorial noting that only half of the 8,800 homeowners approved for relief money have received it (A-20).

The editorial doesn't even come close to saying Christie bears some of the responsibility.

One of the trainers at 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus this morning.

How is Christie doing?

Shouldn't the taxpayers dock Christie for the more than 65 days he has spent out of state this year to raise funds as head of the Republican Governors Association?

He's visited 36 states and Washington, D.C., according to what reads like one of the governor's press releases on The Record's A-3 today.

Besides hand jobs, has Christie done the job of expanding mass transit in one of the nation's most traffic-choked regions or cleaning up the environment?

Christie can't even figure out how to fix the bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund for infrastructure and mass-transit improvements.

What else has he accomplished besides vetoing numerous initiatives from the Democratic-controlled state Legislature -- from raising the minimum wage to open space preservation? 

Election coverage

For the second day in a row, The Record questions the viability of a candidate based on how much he or she has raised in contributions (L-1).

The story makes no mention of the many Democrats who voted for Kathleen Donovan, a Republican who is seeking a second term as county executive on Nov. 4.

I am among those Democrats who split their vote and chose Donovan then and again on my mail-in ballot for this election, because I am repelled by the practices of the county and local Democratic organizations.

Are polls reliable?

Another story on the election appears on L-3, a poll that purports to show that Rep. Scott Garrett, the Tea Party icon from Wantage, is leading challenger Roy Cho by a wider margin than before.

With about 70 percent of the voters living in Bergen County, only widespread voter apathy could derail Cho's momentum in the 5th Congressional District.

Recall the polls that said the race between President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney was too close to call. 

If fact, the president's resounding victory embarrassed the candidate of the 1 percent.

The rest of Local today is filled with an inordinate amount of Law & Order news.

Too sheepish

Despite the poor preparation of entrees and a dessert, Staff Writer Elisa Ung gives a rave, 3-star review to The Plum & Pear in Wyckoff (BL-1).

She again touts the "quality of the ingredients" and praises the restaurant's global focus, but doesn't say why the owner chose domestic chops over naturally raised Australian lamb in a $34 special.

And she was bowled over by three desserts, which many health conscious customers never eat.

Why didn't she report on the taste of the house-made whole wheat linguine or a popular "greens and grains" salad? 

A fading Christie lacks the temperament to be president

On Saturday, The Record reported twice on the front page that Hackensack University Medical Center's mobile treatment unit for potential Ebola cases is "behind" a McDonald's on Essex and South Newman streets in Hackensack. But that's not the case. The hospital-owned lot is actually between the McDonald's and NJ Transit's Essex Street Station.

In today's paper, a front-page photo caption says the mobile treatment unit is "near a McDonald's." City officials want the hospital to move the unit, above. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

"Sit down and shut up."

With those words, Governor Christie dismissed another protester, even though everyone but The Record thinks the GOP bully has bungled the recovery two long years after Superstorm Sandy (A-3).

"Why isn't he [Christie] in Ship Bottom today?" protester Jim Keady of Spring Lake said. "Why isn't he in Ortley Beach, where people aren't back in their homes? He's got to finish the job."

Keady held up a sign -- "STAY IN NJ & FINISH THE JOB" -- an apparent reference to Christie's travels raising money for conservative politicians like himself who have been waging war on the middle and working classes. 

Well, is there really any chance Christie will even get the nomination, given his far-from-presidential temperament and his low approval ratings in New Jersey?

If he can't veto bills, he just tells his critics to shut up and sit down.

Voter apathy

He was elected to a second term last November, but the turnout was the lowest for any gubernatorial election in state history.

Christie won, because droves of voters stayed home.

In fact, none of the election coverage so far has addressed how much voters are turned off by the partisanship in New Jersey and Washington, and the Woodland Park daily's relentless focus on politics.

Take today's Page 1 column on the challenge to Rep. Scott Garret, R-Wantage, in the 5th Congressional District, which includes Bergen County (A-1).

Columnist Charles Stile and other staffers give the most coverage and credibility to the candidate who raises the most money, but never say why that is so important.

And this year, I haven't seen one analysis of the distorted and false attack ads big campaign money buys.

Even such an eminence as Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson left out damaging information about Garrett in the first front-page piece on the challenge posed by Democrat Roy Cho, an attorney who lives in Hackensack.

What The Record reported as Garrett's initial opposition to federal Sandy aid is now being called  "raising questions about the potential for wasteful spending" (A-11).

Wednesday's paper

High school football has such a grip on Editor Martin Gottlieb that he ran a two-year-old story about a Paramus Catholic player and his mother all over Wednesday's front page.

Gottlieb again led the front page with lots more on Ebola, even though not a single case has been confirmed in New Jersey.

Two more embarrassing corrections appeared on A-2.

In Wednesday's Better Living section, clueless freelancer Kate Morgan Jackson continues to recommend recipes that turn healthy ingredients into artery clogging nightmares (BL-2).

Her Lobster Frittata includes five whole eggs, a half-cup of cream, 2 ounces of cream cheese and 4 ounces of Swiss cheese.

Jackson should visit a hospital cardiac ward, and talk to patients who have had heart attacks from clogged arteries before she pushes another unhealthy recipe.

Third look

How can Road Warrior John Cichowski be so wrong about so many things in column after column, escaping even basic fact checking by his assignment editor, the copy desk and six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton?

In last Friday's column, which I discussed on Tuesday, Cichowski was relating the history of George Washington Bridge construction.

Then, the clueless transportation writer said:

"Until the Holland Tunnel was completed in Hoboken in 1927, the main method for drivers to get their cars across the Hudson River was by ferry...."

Of course, the New Jersey entrance to the Holland Tunnel is in Jersey City, not Hoboken.

And, of course, no correction appeared.

Ebola hits newsroom, editors feed media hysteria

Park Avenue in Park Ridge also is called James Gandolfini Way. The Ridge Diner's coffee is good enough to drink black, but if you order a cafe latte, it will be served sweetened and with whipped cream on top. Yuck.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The irresponsible editors at The Record aren't even waiting for the first confirmed case of Ebola in New Jersey.

Joining the electronic media's hysteria, the Woodland Park daily today and Saturday broke out the big, black, doomsday headlines.

Transportation reporter Christopher Maag is back on the Ebola beat today, and the paper's medical writers also have entered the fray.

If you are already tired of Ebola stories, there isn't much else to on Page 1 today -- except another pedestrian political column, and a pissing match between two New Jersey architectural schools.

Is Editor Martin Gottlieb, the worldly former Timesman, this boring in person?

Joining Maag in not covering his beat is Road Warrior John Cichowski, whose L-1 column today again strays far from commuting issues.

Last Sunday, the Road Warrior column predicted Route 20 construction could be finished by December, as reflected in the headline and text, but others believe it will take longer.

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Road Warrior issues another dumb prediction

Noise makers

I get a kick out of photos The Record runs publicizing the charity work of Harley-Davidson owners, who cavalierly break every anti-noise ordinance on the books.

Today, the Bergen County Harley Owners Group is shown "during a benefit for the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals" (L-2).

So, modifying their motorcycle mufflers to be as loud as possible and cruelty to the eardrums of humans is OK. 

Word pusher

It must be hard being Mike Kelly, to echo the first line of the reporter's piece on Governor Christie (O-1).

Kelly rehashes the controversy over Christie's insensitive remarks about being tired of the Washington debate over raising the minimum wage.

But the burned-out columnist can't muster an opinion, and is reluctant to condemn the GOP bully, who has waged war on New Jersey's middle and working classes, and even vetoed a hike in the state's minimum wage.

"He needs to open his eyes," Kelly says lamely about Christie.

Kelly will be celebrating his 4oth year at The Record next year, if you can believe that.

'Cho in the 5th'

The Record's Editorial Board has finally come to its senses about Scott Garrett, the conservative Republican who has represented the 5th Congressional District for the past 12 years.

Today, an editorial endorses Democrat Roy Cho of Hackensack on Nov. 4 (O-2).

The district runs from the Delaware to the Hudson, and includes Bergen County.

Garrett voted "no" on the Violence Against Women Act and to end the government shutdown last year.

He also initially opposed federal Sandy aid, but lied about it in campaign literature.

Cho's highest priority as a freshman congressman would be transportation, an issue that has been neglected by The Record and ignored by Garrett and Christie.

Saturday's paper

The Ebola coverage on Saturday's front page mentioned twice that Hackensack University Medical Center's mobile satellite emergency department is parked "behind a McDonald's, in fact."

Is there a connection?

Symptoms of the African virus include "diarrhea, vomiting [and] stomach pain." 

They sound a lot like what McDonald's customers experience after eating the low-quality beef and other food.