N.H. paper backing Christie has picked losers since 1988

This Daily News front page from Jan. 9, 2014, is worth running again now that the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper has given its presidential endorsement to Governor Christie, who is last among GOP candidates in state polls.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In case you missed The Record's Sunday story on a New Hampshire newspaper endorsement of Governor Christie, you'll find another one on Page A-3 today.

The Union Leader on Saturday gave its presidential endorsement to the GOP bully, the latest in a long line of losers that paper has backed since 1988.

That means that except for 2004, none of the Republicans endorsed by the Union Leader went on to win the big prize, the White House.

The endorsement went to Newt Gingrich in 2012, John McCain in 2008, Steve Forbes in 2000, Pat Buchanan in 1996 and 1992, and Pete du Pont in 1988.

Christie is running seventh among Republican contenders in state polls of New Hampshire voters leading up to the Feb. 9 primary.

Why did The Record run stories for two days in a row on the same newspaper endorsement?

Rutgers news

The Record today corrects a major error on Sunday's front page, where it named the wrong team in reporting the loss of Rutgers University's football team on Saturday.

However, none of the half-dozen major errors in Staff Writer Christopher Maag's Sunday story on commuter rail in North Jersey were corrected.

Although today's front page is dominated by more news about Rutger's football team, the real crisis is at the Woodland Park daily.

Devoting so much of Page 1 to Rutgers football, and playing the story under a big, black doomsday headline, surely had tens of thousands of readers cursing their misfortune.

This is a non-story for the vast majority of readers, yet it seems to fascinate Editor Martin Gottieb, who left The New York Times to take over the newsroom of the Woodland Park daily.

Local news?

There is so little local news today, Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza had to run long wire-service obituaries about an obscure U.N. official and an even obscurer Japanese actress on L-6.

Meanwhile, freelancer Nina Rizzo must be trying to steer patients to a cardiac-surgery practice with three recipes for macaroni and cheese (BL-1).

They are filled with unhealthy ingredients -- butter, half-and-half, heavy cream, full-fat cheese and bacon.

Cheating local readers: Murder plots! Rutgers scandal!

Colorful train schedules have replaced black-and-white message boards at Penn Station in Manhattan. Commuters keep their eyes on the boards, which post NJ Transit track assignments about 10 minutes before departure, then race to get a seat on the train, giving new meaning to the term "rush hour."

Scenes from New Jersey history adorn the NJ Transit waiting hall at Penn Station.

Washington crossing the Delaware, above, and the manufacture of a submarine in Paterson, below, are among the mobile history lessons behind glass that distract commuters from the ordeal of riding on packed trains and reading about nothing but drivers three days a week in The Record's Road Warrior column.

 

Are you sick yet of reading about Georgios Spyropoulos, the Tick Tock Diner manager whose plate is full of court hearings, an indictment and, possibly, a lurid trial on charges he tried to hire a hit man to kill the boss?

Editor Marty Gottlieb has run this crime of the century on Page 1 three days running, along with continuing coverage of the brouhaha at Rutgers University.

Has anybody read even a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of words reporting the fallout from a video showing the abusive basketball coach, Mike Rice?

Here are two more cases of how irrelevant to most people are the "big stories" Gottlieb and other media leaders chase to electrify their meaningless lives. 

Christie budget plan

Sadly, all of this sensational coverage has distracted readers from hearings on another conservative budget proposal from Governor Christie, who continues to screw the middle and working classes (A-3 today, A-4 on Friday). 

Today's front-page story on the $421,000 payout to John B. Wolf, ousted as Rutgers' top lawyer, suggest that the legal profession -- from attorneys to judges to lawmakers -- is at the root of what is really wrong with our society (A-1).

One bright spot today is the A-3 story reporting the mugging of convicted felon Sharpe James, who held up residents when he was mayor of Newark.

Dissing Hackensack

But local readers again get the shaft.

Today, Hackensack readers finally get a story on the six people vying for seats in the Board of Education election on Tuesday (L-1), but the paper has done a far better job covering the school board contest in Englewood (L-7 on Friday).

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, continue to ignore candidate forums leading up to the City Council election on May 14, the most important in decades.

The election could finally free the city -- widely mocked as "Zisaville" -- from the corrosive rule of the Zisa family, including the disgraced and convicted former police chief, Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa, and his cousin, City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr.

On Friday, Hackensack readers found big news of their city on L-6 -- a seven-paragraph story about a cop who needs leg surgery after a drug arrest.

No relief for commuters

The interesting weather photo on L-3 today shows that Staff Photographer Tariq Zehawi hasn't lost his touch despite being ordered by Sykes and Sforza to chase hundreds of ambulances for fender-bender photos they desperately need to fill Local.

The Road Warrior column on the front of Friday's Local section continues to ignore mass transit.

It's the second time Staff Writer John Cichowski has reported on complaints from a few drivers who can't make a right turn at one of North Jersey's thousands of intersections (L-1).

Befuddled white men suppress local news

Drivers waiting for an NJ Transit train to cross Passaic Street in Hackensack, near a Dunkin' Donuts favored by students who refuse to eat what passes for lunch at the high school.

Editor Marty Gottlieb conspires today with Columnists Mike Kelly and Charles Stile to continue beating to death the Mike Rice-Rutgers scandal on Page 1 of The Record -- the sixth day in a row of coverage for which few readers have the patience or stamina.

Another befuddled white man, Staff Writer Bill Ervolino, steals the rest of the front page for the obituary of Annette Funicello, whose death elicits even bigger "who cares" than Margaret Thatcher.

Gottlieb routinely snubs local obituaries for A-1, arguing they're not in keeping with his world view.

The former New York Times luminary likes to talk about his days as a cub reporter at The Record, but since he took over the newsroom in January 2012, he has simply been unable to find his suburban legs.

North Jersey idle

Gottlieb thrived as a journalist in the rarified air of Manhattan and Paris, but he appears to be choking on North Jersey fumes during his commute to Woodland Park.

You'd think he'd look around at fellow commuters stalled in traffic or packed aboard buses and trains, and the light would go off that this is a story worth reporting.

But many of his front pages are filled with dumb, dull or boring state, national and international news.

And story length has grown to approach or exceed The Times, as readers can see from the continuation pages today (A-6 and A-7).

Local yokels

What about local news under the always inspiring leadership of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza?

There are two major stories from Englewood and Teaneck today (L-3), but nothing from Hackensack.

The forum for school board candidates in Englewood only reminds Hackensack voters that The Record didn't cover a similar forum in their city.

Belated correction

On A-2 today, Stykes and Sforza finally correct an error in Sunday's story about the 19-story Bergen Passaic Long-Term Acute Care Hospital rejected by the Hackensack zoning board.

What is left unsaid is that the story quoted two candidates from one of the slates in the May 14 City Council election, but ignored the views of six other candidates, including blogger Victor E. Sasson.

So far, The Record has given the lion's share of coverage to Councilman John Labrosse, the only incumbent seeking another term.

Hey, Anonymous

Eye on The Record has suspended the ability of readers to comment anonymously on posts and to attack Sasson.

Now, blog readers who want to comment will have to register. 

Readers are welcome to send comments in an e-mail directly to Sasson and ask that their identity be withheld.

The e-mail address appears at the top of this page.
 

The Jets that matter played the Sharks

The only Jets who really interest readers of The Record of Woodland Park once roamed the West Side of Manhattan and rumbled with the Sharks.

Hey, Editor Marty Gottlieb, readers of The Record don't care much for the Jets, another football team from New York that offends us by refusing to adopt New Jersey in its name.


In fact, the Jets we love sang a West Side story:


When you're a Jet, 
You're a Jet all the way 
From your first cigarette 
To your last dyin' day. 

When you're a Jet, 
If the spit hits the fan, 
You got brothers around, 
You're a family man! 

You're never alone, 
You're never disconnected! 
You're home with your own: 
When company's expected, 
You're well protected! 

Then you are set 
With a capital J, 
Which you'll never forget 
Till they cart you away. 
When you're a Jet, 
You stay a Jet! 


Most of the front page is taken up today with another silly column by Staff Writer Tara Sullivan. Who can -- or cares to -- follow this tortured sports tale?


Exploiting the media


Meanwhile, the lead A-1 story continues to promote the rehabilitation of Dharun Ravi after he was found guilty of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation when he used a Web cam to spy on a tryst involving his gay Rutgers roommate, Tyler Clementi of Ridgewood.


This is the 12th story since the Ravi verdict and the second on Page 1 in two days. On Wednesday, The Record discussed Ravi's "strategy" for appealing his conviction.


Boy, Ravi's defense attorney, Steve Altman, is having such an easy time manipulating The Record and other media, but he fell flat on his face with the jurors who convicted his client.


Time to deport Ravi 

What a joke. The main headline is a quote from Ravi: "I didn't act out of hate." Does anybody but Gottlieb believe that?

What about poor Clementi, who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge, and his grief-stricken parents? Can you imagine their rage at all this attention Ravi is getting? Ravi can't get deported fast enough.



Maybe Ravi can try to make up for his crimes by doing community service in India, a turd-world country mired in poverty.

Lazy assignment desk

Don't bother turning to head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, if you're interested in municipal news, whether from Hackensack, Teaneck or many other towns.


Today's 8-page Business section is unusual. Business pages usually appear inside Local, except on Sunday, when a standalone section is published.


Want a good laugh? Check out the B-2 photo of an ancient Datsun 210. Nissan is reviving the brand, so where is a photo of the new car?


The Business section also contains legal notices with local school budgets, as did pages in Wednesday's paper. Take a good look. You'll never see that kind of detail in the news columns from Sykes and her lazy, incompetent minions.

Editors shove sports down our throats

Image via Wikipedia
More than 170 Rutgers University faculty members voted to show their growing resentment of money losing sports programs.

How many of The Record's readers really care about who wins the Super Bowl on Sunday -- 10% to 15%?


To the rest of us, it's just another annual drunken football celebration, and we plan to stay off the roads after the game ends.


But the editors love big sports events, if only because it allows them to print something positive after all those stories about perverted coaches who abuse young athletes or fan riots, such as the death of 74 at an Egyptian soccer match on Wednesday.


I couldn't even find a story about the Port Said tragedy in today's paper, but there's lots of stuff about the Super Bowl in several sections, as there was on Wednesday.


Football poster


Another Giants poster is promoted on Page 1 of the Woodland Park daily, the fourth in a "collectible series" that I'm sure is a big hit with gay staffers.


Still, Editor Martin Gottlieb, who is in his second week on the job, apparently can see the other side of sports glorification.


He should have run the full story of a Rutgers faculty protest over money losing sports programs on the front page, but at least he promoted it outside (A-1 and A-4).


The university's athletic department spent $28.7 million more than it generated in revenue in 2011, according to a report released Wednesday. What a shocking waste of money.


More about the Giants appears below the fold, where a photo shows some moron who makes license plates, even though he isn't in prison.


Death by auto


Is Gottlieb responsible for running one of the best sports-related stories I've seen in a long time on A-1 today?


It's next to the license-plate photo -- the heart-warming obituary of Dan Glover, a Bergenfield High athlete whose liver was given to Ed Mooney, Glover's former Little League baseball coach.


Glover was killed when his 13-year-old car struck the rear of a stopped tractor-trailer on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. (He might have survived if he was driving a newer car with multiple airbags.)


Two more local obituaries by the same reporter, Staff Writer Jay Levin, appear  on Page L-6 today.


Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes directed reporters to cover two events in Hackensack for today's Local section, but there isn't any actual municipal news from the city.

Jock editor finds his soul mates

Image via Wikipedia

Editor Francis Scandale leads The Record today with Rutgers University officials he can call soul mates: Blinded by their obsession with team sports, they threw money at athletics while cutting academics (A-1).


Scandale hypes sports on Page 1 to fill local news columns head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her minions can't.


Or he grabs desperately at Law and Order news as a substitute for local news, as he does today with the A-1 story on an 84-year-old psychiatrist charged with illegally issuing pain-killer prescriptions.


Hyping the case


It's readers who need pain killers -- to deal with the clunky main headline from Liz Houlton's news copy desk, which suggests the Wayne suspect is a drug "dealer."


And what purpose does the map of Wayne and Lincoln Park serve except to fill space? Why did three reporters work on this exaggerated story? Why is this on Page 1, except as another example of the editors' shoddy treatment of seniors?


How did one of the insensitive reporters get away with saying the woman -- handcuffed and in leg irons as she stood before a federal judge -- answered with "a meek 'yes'"?


The Record and other media have succeeded in making "unions" a bad word, but why do commuters have to subsidize workers' jobs by paying higher tolls (A-1)?


Are the media suggesting voters choose their president on the basis of how quotable he or she is (A-1 and A-5)? They seem enthralled with that Texas bigot, Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who loves to talk about guns and shooting.


Absentee reporter


There's no substitute for on-the-spot reporting, as readers can see from the sixth or seventh Road Warrior piece in recent weeks on long MVC lines, this one an interview with the head of the state Motor Vehicle Commission (L-1).


On Tuesday, I spent nearly two and a half hours renewing my license in Lodi, and noticed a few things I haven't seen in John Cichowski's many columns:


The building has a capacity of only 80, so people have to line up outside. Two of the eight cameras weren't staffed, and you have to wait even longer, if you don't re-use the photo on your old digital license and want a new one.


It's not clear why your I.D. documents are checked three separate times, but this is the drill: 


You wait outside until you and about 20 to 25 others are told to go inside and get on another line, where your credentials are checked two separate times.


Then, you're given a number and told to sit down and wait some more -- until three to six of you are called up to get on a third line to have documents checked a third time, get your photo and pay.


If you want a new photo, you have to sit down and wait some more, up to 30 minutes, before your license is ready.


New Jersey residents have to endure this every four years, but in New York, license renewals are good for eight years. How backward can we be?


More Law and Order news


Besides the same-old Road Warrior column, every other story on the front of Sykes' Local section is a police or court story -- cementing the assignment desk's reputation as the laziest east of the California coast.


More police and court stories appear on L-2 and L-3, including major Fair Lawn news: a car crashed, causing minor injuries. 


Two stories from Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado riff on the same subject, the Police Department.


Alvarado covered the City Council meeting Tuesday night, but only reported comments about the police (L-6).


On L-7, Your Money's Worth Columnist Kevin DeMarrais recommends drivers use off-brand gasoline to save money. But has he researched whether cheaper gas is harmful to car engines?


Bring home the bacon


In Better Living, Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill promotes a shrimp recipe that calls for 10 strips of artery clogging , preservative-laden bacon and 10 ounces of beef broth filled with antibiotics and growth hormones.


So, the recipe she ran a week earlier for a healthy cold vegetable soup
was a fluke.


On F-1, a story reports food at a Demarest wine festival costs extra -- something omitted from an ad that ran last Friday in Better Living.