Governor Christie as leader, his evil twin -- all in one place

In a photo by Mel Evans of The Associated Press, Governor Christie pauses during applause at his State of the State address to the Legislature on Wednesday. Evans is a former staff photographer at The Record.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I can't recall another front page of The Record that showed the two faces of Governor Christie so starkly -- a radical anti-tax politician who thinks nothing of destroying the middle class, and a compassionate leader against drug addiction.

Today's top story discloses a settlement that "exposed private meetings in which unnamed allies of ... Christie planned to divert almost $2 million" from a project to dig two new Hudson River rail tunnels so he could use the money to fix roads and bridges (1A).

That allowed Christie to avoid raising the gasoline tax in late 2010 or 2011 for those repairs, but set back the expansion of mass transit for middle class commuters more than a decade.

But the biggest element on Page 1 today is an upbeat report on Christie's pledge during his final year in office "to combat the plague of heroin and opiate abuse," and expand treatment (1A).

"Our friends are dying. Our neighbors are dying. Our co-worker are dying. Our children are dying. Every day. In numbers we can no longer endure" Christie said during his State of the State address on Wednesday.

Sloppy coverage

There is so much missing in today's news and Editorial Page coverage of the $400,000 settlement with the Port Authority, and Christie's seventh State of the State address (1A, 8A, 9A and 10A).

Nowhere do Record reporters or the paper's Editorial Board recognize that Christie's conservative war against tax hikes, including a surcharge on millionaires, while doling out billions to businesses and other special interests, have wrecked the state economy.

And he's balanced the state budget year after year only by grabbing leftover Hudson River rail tunnel money from both the Port Authority and NJ Transit, under-funding the state employee pension system and using other voodoo economics. 

In a preview of the State of the State speech on Tuesday, Dustin Racioppi buried key paragraphs:

"Christie possesses tremendous power over the budget, over appointments and with his veto pen," the State House Bureau reporter wrote.

But Racioppi long ago stopped counting Christie's more than 500 vetoes, which surely set a record for any New Jersey governor, or chronicling the damage they've caused to working and middle-class residents.

Also on Tuesday, he wrote:

"Property taxes in New Jersey remain the highest in the nation, despite a 2 percent cap," and "New Jersey's pension system is now the worst-funded in the country, with $135.7 billion in unfunded liabilities, according to Bloomberg."

None of those issues are raised in today's news story or political column, which is yet another Charles Stile rehash of Christie's "reputation" and "standing with voters" in the wake of damaging Bridgegate trial revelations (1A).

Christie's State of the State address is no longer Page 1 news

"Trump Hackers" from cartoonist Steve Sack. New York businessman Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as president of the United States in just 10 days.



By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Did you miss the teaser at the bottom of The Record's front page today on Governor Christie's State of the State address?

From the State House Bureau, Dustin Racioppi tries to predict what mood Christie will be in when he delivers his annual address to the state Legislature today (3a).

Most of the focus is on whether the GOP thug will be "combative or compassionate," not on such issues as the "worst-funded" public employee pension system in the country.

By the time the actual speech hits The Record's front page on Wednesday, it will be old news to anyone who watches the TV coverage or follows the governor on Twitter (@GovChristie).

How's that again?

The editors made a mess of Staff Writer Christopher Maag's overwrought story on the 100th anniversary of "one of the largest acts of foreign sabotage ever committed on American soil" (1A).

The man shown in the big photo on Page 1 isn't identified by name, though he's called "Bergen County Fire Marshal" in the caption.

Bryan Hennig of Lyndhurst is planning to celebrate the heroism of Tessie McNamara, who stayed at the telephone switchboard of the exploding Kingsland munitions factory on Jan. 11, 1917, to warn others to evacuate.

No one died, so readers are not sure why so much space is devoted to this anniversary. 

Judging from the dull headlines, the copy editor must have been lulled to sleep by the overly long story, and forced to write the main headline minutes before deadline:

"ANNIVERSARY

OF SABOTAGE"

In the story, Hennig is identified as a 35-year veteran of the Volunteer Fire Department in Lyndhurst, but not as a county fire marshal (6A).

The reporter stops short of comparing the German attack on the Lyndhurst shell factory to Russian sabotage of the 2016 presidential election.

Local news?

In his 14th year as the so-called Road Warrior, Staff Writer John Cichowski continues to give the cold shoulder to all of those long-suffering NJ Transit commuters and even drivers stuck in growing congestion at the Hudson River crossings.

I'm not sure what anyone's reaction to painting a blue line in the street to honor police departments has to do with transportation (1L).

Page 3L of today's Local section speaks volumes about the poorly executed redesign of the print edition by Gannett editors holed up in the Neptune design center.

The page is a mass of type, with only a thumbnail photo and a few headline words to break it up.

Christie finally admits first six years in office are big failure

State Street in Hackensack is among many major thoroughfares that have been torn up for utility work and then left with rough patches. Apparently, payment of local property taxes does not guarantee smooth streets.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

It's right there on the front page of The Record today, one of those pop-out quotes from Governor Christie's defiant State of the State speech on Tuesday.

"I do believe our best days lie ahead," said the GOP bully, this after six years in office marked by 450 vetoes and pitched battles with Democrats, who hold a majority in the state Legislature (A-1).

What? 

If "our best days lie ahead," as you claim, then our worst days lie behind us, thanks to your mean-spirited rule.

State residents can take comfort in knowing one of your greatest humiliations lies ahead -- you're certain to lose your selfish bid for the GOP presidential nomination.

Around the same time, the list of unindicted co-conspirators in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal will be made public, and I'll bet you're on it.

If that's the case, the Legislature should try to impeach you for all of your lies and deceptions.

Botched front page

Today's front page -- with Christie's State of the State address and President Obama's State of the Union speech played side by side -- is a disaster (A-1).

Six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton, who supervises the copy editors and proofreaders, somehow missed one of the cardinal sins of headline writing -- an "echo" from the use of the word "issues" in big, black type in both the Christie and Obama headlines.

Then, Editor Martin Gottlieb ran yet another Charles Stile column on politics that's as boring as every one he's written since Christie took office (A-1).

And Stile continues to avoid exploring whether Christie's attacks on Obama are racially motivated.

High road in D.C.

While Christie continues to speak harshly of Democrats, Obama called for an end to partisan rhetoric, "better politics" and taking money out of the election process (A-1).

Obama also was critical of Christie's GOP debate comment that "we're already in World War III," and that "radical Islamist jihadists" are "trying to kill Americans."

Christie also said he would shoot down Russian planes over Syria, an act that could certainly start a war.

Christie is at the root of all of those traffic jams

Rush-hour traffic at the Lincoln Tunnel entrance in New Jersey.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The Record has been reporting on The Traffic Jam That Ate Democratic Fort Lee for three months now, but hasn't seemed to notice how Governor Christie's inaction has worsened traffic everywhere in the region.

Today's paper brings a lot of belly aching about the early September gridlock orchestrated by Christie's Trenton aides and Port Authority cronies at the George Washington Bridge (A-1 and L-1).

The befuddled Road Warrior even foams at the mouth about gridlock during a 1971 strike in New York City (L-1).

How can he remember what happened more than 40 years ago, but contradict a column he wrote a few weeks or a few months ago?

Anti-mass transit

Christie's every policy since he took office in January 2010 appears to have worsened traffic and done nothing to improve mass transit.

Killing the Hudson River rail tunnels was bad enough, but then Christie grabbed a couple of billion in leftover tunnel money to repair roads.

The GOP bully put at least three of his cronies in high-paying jobs at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, rubber stamped much higher tolls and ignored the need to expand the PATH commuter rail network and express bus service into Manhattan.

Kelly fails again

Columnist Mike Kelly is wildly inconsistent and his purple prose cries out for editing, as today's piece on the "view from Fort Lee" demonstrates (A-1).

Is "gaze" in the first paragraph the 50th or 51st time he has used that verb in a lead since he started writing columns more than 20 years ago?

The second paragraph merely shuffles around words with little effect, such as "the steep spires of the George Washington Bridge pushed into a weighty curtain of low-hanging clouds."

Since when are clouds "weighty," and what does the description have to do with his report?

That kind of writing has readers gazing at the shit-eating grin in his column photo.

Local front

Staff Writer John Cichowski's rambling Road Warrior column is no winner, either.

Also on the Local front today, Bergen County Democrats could better spend their time getting their own corrupt house in order than in criticizing Republican County Executive Kathleen Donovan for gridlock in Fort Lee (L-1).

This really stinks

The Better Living front carries one of the worst headlines I've seen in months -- an awkward play on words to describe a woman who left the fashion industry to develop her family's online seafood market (BL-1):

The fish-ionista

But the story is even weaker, failing to report on whether the pricey salmon or other seafood sold by ShopFresh is wild caught or farmed raised.

The latter raises the potential use of artificial color (salmon), antibiotics and preservatives.

And why give all this publicity to an online market that charges more than $15 a pound for "Canadian salmon," plus $9.95 for shipping, when there is an abundance of pristine wild seafood offered by Whole Foods Market, Costco Wholesale and other North Jersey retailers?

'Bridgegate' won't be over until the fat guy sings

The owner of an expensive SUV risks a ticket by parking illegally around the corner from the post office in Hackensack -- and across the street from police headquarters. Limited parking at meters and glacial service inside the post office combine to make a visit there as unpleasant as possible.  

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

After days of intensive "Bridgegate" coverage, Governor Christie's State of the State address this afternoon was full of anticlimax.

Christie spent only a few moments on the lane-closure scandal, noting the past week had "tested this administration."

"We let the people down," the GOP bully said, adding he will cooperate in the multiple inquiries into what he called a "breach of trust."

But he vowed the investigations won't be allowed to delay the work of his second term.

"I am the leader of this state and its people," he said firmly.

He used the word "bipartisan" a half-dozen times or so, but didn't mention any of his first-term vetoes. 

Boring.

Today's paper

The Record today delivered another wave of stories, columns and letters to the editor on the Christie administration plot to tie up traffic at the Fort Lee end of the George Washington Bridge in early September (A-1, A-5, A-6, A-8 and A-9).

The package is poorly edited.

On Page 1, the lead story on the state Legislature's investigative panels asks "whether the action was ordered to punish the mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing" Christie's reelection campaign.

On A-5, Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, finally recalls being called at least twice last year and asked whether he could ever endorse Christie, a recollection backed up by two colleagues.

And a story on the same page -- reporting a damage lawsuit by cabbies caught in four days of upper-level gridlock -- states "the governor's staff and bridge executives backed up the George Washington Bridge as payback against a political opponent [Sokolich]" (A-5).

Bodies galore

Deputy Assignment Edtor Dan Sforza assembled a Local section filled with sensational news:

A coffin contained the wrong body, a Lodi man was dropped off at a hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and a young Leonia man was killed in the collapse of a Philadelphia apartment fire escape (L-1 and L-3).

Christie bullshits the media, public

Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Chris Christie was considerably slimmer when the Republican ran for governor in late 2009.

Governor Christie's proposal for a 10% tax cut would put $80.50 in the pockets of anyone with taxable income of $50,000 -- or what you'd blow on a single visit to ShopRite.


But the plan would cut $7,265 from the tax a millionaire pays -- as if they need the money.


Yet, editors at The Record were so eager to sell Christie's fictional State of the State address on Tuesday, they stepped all over each other with redundant front-page headlines today:

CHRISTIE WOULD SLASH 10% ACROSS ALL INCOMES

Tax cut for 'everyone'

"Slash" and "cut" are bad echoes, and "everyone" and "across all incomes" say the same thing. Why is the word everyone in quotes? 


Sadly, the plan would deprive the state of about $1 billion in revenue, so more public-school cuts are feared. 


Interim Editor Douglas Clancy muted any criticism of Christie's many lies by burying it on the continuation page. An editorial was labeled, "Christie comeback." 


From what? Binge eating over the holidays? Hoodwinking Oprah Winfrey, a fellow food addict, on the governor's compulsive eating habits?


If Clancy had any objectivity, he would have ordered a sidebar on Page 1 with Democratic criticism and a side-by-side comparison of Christie's claims and reality.


But what can you expect from a glorified newsroom bookkeeper whose days in the editor's job are numbered?


On the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, a Road Warrior column on how to set your parking brake leaves readers shaking their heads (L-1).


As does the absence of Hackensack news for another day.


Teardown


The distinctive, half-timbered building off Route 46 in Ridgefield Park, where a Gasho of Japan hibachi steakhouse once operated, is being demolished.


"This unique ... multiple-family farmhouse is typical of those found hundreds of years ago in certain regions of Japan," according to the Gasho Web site.


Related posts

• The GOP's Laurel-and-Hardy campaign (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• Christie rolls over on the editors (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)
• The year ends on a selfish note (eyeontherecord.blogspot.com)

Partisan politics -- in death as in life

Image via Wikipedia
Would Governor Christie have made such a big deal if a Democratic lawmaker died on Monday night in a State House bathroom?

I was surprised to hear Governor Christie postponed his State of the State address to the Legislature on Tuesday and even more surprised by the lavish coverage in The Record of his 9-minute eulogy for Republican Minority Leader Alex DeCroce.


DeCroce and Christie served together years ago on the Morris County Freeholder Board, and the senior Republican in the Assembly presumably spearheaded the GOP governor's mean-spirited budget cuts in 2010 and 2011.


Would Christie have postponed the business of state if a Democratic legislator died?


The Record's coverage is ridiculous, especially the feature-like first paragraph of the lead story on Page 1: "The first day of a new legislative term is traditionally filled with ceremony and festivity ...."


No cause of death


Give me a break. The reporting is awful, with the stories failing to list a cause of death for the 75-year-old DeCroce, who collapsed in a State House bathroom on Monday night.


Columnist Charles Stile actually has the balls, in a second A-1 piece, to call the State of the State address a "triumphant moment" for Christie, ignoring all the pain the governor has visited on the middle class in New Jersey.


More errors


An embarrassing correction on A-2 today is the latest in a string from the lazy local assignment desk and the news copy desk: There were three corrections on Tuesday and two on Monday, and last week, three on Friday and three on Thursday.


When you consider that many errors go uncorrected, you can only assume accuracy is no longer a priority at the Woodland Park daily under interim Editor Douglas Clancy, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Production Editor Liz Houlton.


Teen theme


On Sykes' Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski sounds a favorite theme: teen driving deaths (L-1). Readers of the column die silently.


Judging from Hackensack news, the city is at a standstill. Staff Writer Stephanie Akin has yet another story about police officer lawsuits against suspended Chief Ken Zisa (L-1).


Six related stories have run since Dec. 3.