Kean's Rutgers speech ignores gridlock in Trenton

Spring has sprung in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Former Gov. Thomas Kean looks awfully pleased with himself in the photo on Page 1 of The Record today.

And Staff Writer Mike Kelly heaps praise on Kean's message to Rutgers University graduates: 

"We need to restore the fabric of our society. Our country is becoming ... more and more divisive" (A-6).

But Kean was referring to Washington, not Trenton, where a fellow conservative Republican, mean-spirited Governor Christie, rules with a veto pen.

What compromise?

The GOP bully also remains locked in battles with Democrats over education funding, appointees to the state Supreme Court, a tax surcharge on millionaires and other issues.

State finances are a disaster under Christie, as is job creation, mass transit and pride in our Garden State -- even as he courts wealthy donors for a possible
White House run (A-1 and A-3).

Did Kean ignore Trenton's dysfunction lest critics jump all over the deficits he ran up when he was governor from 1982 to 1990?

Kelly and pal Kean

Kelly wrote numerous columns lionizing Kean when the former governor was co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission.

In view of that pronounced bias, why did Editor Marty Gottlieb think Kelly was the best reporter to cover Kean's speech? 

In Kelly's thumbnail photo on A-1, his shit-eating grin tells you as much: The reporter seems to be saying, I got away with another Kean love fest.

Guns in Paterson

Oneil "Fuzzy" Linton, 23, survived the island of Jamaica's notorious gun violence, only to die in Paterson, where he was beaten and shot early Sunday morning (L-1).

The story sends the message that if you live in Paterson or visit Silk City, you can't rely on the police to protect you.

Noisy pigs

On L-5,  A photo of the Renegade Pigs, a club that rides noisy Harleys, appears under this over line:

 "RENEGADE PIGS HAVE A HEART

It should read:

"AT LEAST SOME OF US HAVE EARPLUGS" 

Do all N.J. governors lie?

Image via Wikipedia
Jon Corzine, in suit second from left, in far better days. 

Why doesn't the Page 1 story in The Record today report that either former Gov. Jon Corzine is so incredibly wealthy he didn't notice where $1.2 billion in clients' funds went or he lied to Congress on Thursday?


And why doesn't the Woodland Park daily put all of Governor Christie's lies on the front page -- or at least explore for readers which of his statements are true and which aren't? He's uttered some whoppers.


Didn't Tom Kean Sr. hide a huge deficit when he left office, setting up Democrat Jim Florio for the fall after the latter raised taxes? Don't all governors lie?


I guess interim Editor Doug Clancy and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes came up empty when looking for North Jersey news to put on Page 1 today.


Why waste the front page on two crime stories -- a shooting at a college in Virginia, and the murder trial of an Elmwood Park woman who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity?


If The Record and other media exposed the special interests that prevent effective gun control from becoming law, it would certainly go a long way toward cutting down on school and college shootings.


Instead, the media love to practice "body count" journalism.


Readers salute paper


On A-13, a story reports texting while driving is on the rise, but the national survey mistakenly included thousands of Route 80 drivers who were giving the finger to 1 Garret Mountain Plaza, home of The Record, Herald News and North Jersey Media Group.


Hundreds of those fingers were intended for Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski, who today re-hashes the new crosswalk law instead of exploring commuting problems (L-1).


Staff Writer Stephanie Akin reports strong neighborhood opposition at a hearing on a proposed 19-story acute-care hospital in Hackensack (L-1). She previewed the hearing  in Thursday's paper.


Go for the agita


Twenty dollars worth of under-seasoned, rubbery seafood. Eighteen dollars for an overcooked, dry breast on a naturally raised half chicken. A waitress who refers to extra place settings as "crap."


Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung overlooks all of that and more at Osteria La Fiamma in Ridgewood -- calling it good to excellent -- apparently because the desserts more than satisfied her obsession with sweets (Better Living centerfold).


She calls one dessert "lovely." Another is "perfect," and a third is "gigantic," though she doesn't tell readers whether she shoved all of it down her gaping maw.


Except for the roasted vegetables that came with the half chicken, Ung didn't sample any healthy salads or sauteed greens.

But where is the local news?

Image via Wikipedia

Bloated county payrolls, a tax-evading mayor and wife, and a politically connected insurance broker make up a classic North Jersey front page today, but they only distract readers from the continuing lack of news from Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood in The Record of Woodland Park.


The story on the North Arlington mayor facing a judge for evading a measly $5,300 in federal taxes doesn't really deserve A-1 play, but apparently the editors didn't have anything stronger.


With all those weighty stories out front, the Local section is almost completely devoted to non-profits and fund raising. Memo to editors: Another story about the Hackensack Police Department isn't news to residents.


Check out the lead paragraph of Mike Kelly's column on L-1. What can he possibly mean by the "uneven history of America's environmental movement"? Don't all movements have uneven histories, especially his journalistic bowel movements? This is a veteran journalist who cannot manage anything more than banality.


But I have to at least give him some credit for doing a decent job on this heart-warming subject (monk parakeets) -- which is basically a repeat of a column he did last year -- in contrast to all the drivel he has turned out about homeland security, Tom Kean Sr. (photo), Bernard Kerik and the Times Square bombing suspect.


Does The Record need Bill Pitcher, the $70,000-plus food editor, to produce a couple of vegetarian recipes for Better Living today? That's all the food coverage you'll find. What a waste of money.

Giving Whitman free reign

The Record today carried another opinion column by former Gov. Christie Whitman, but the editors made no attempt to ensure it was complete or accurate.

In giving fiscal advice to Governor-elect Chris Christie (The Other Christie), Whitman slammed the Democrats for allegedly doubling state debt after she left office in January 2001. But she conveniently fails to mention how she plundered state pension funds and borrowed heavily to make ends meet after she became governor in 1994.

In the same way, The Record has rarely, if ever, mentioned in writing about former Gov. Jim Florio that Tom Kean Sr., his predecessor, hid a massive deficit from the incoming Democrat, forcing Florio to raise taxes. He was driven from office after one term.

I recall that The Record's coverage of Whitman as governor amounted to a love fest, under the direction of News Editor Deirdre Sykes, now head of the local assignment desk. It was only after Whitman gutted the Department of Environmental Protection (in what I believe was her second term) that the paper took notice, putting together a series of critical articles.

Note: If  The Record's owners, editors or reporters take issue with anything that appears in "Eye on The Record,"  they are free to comment, and they can do so anonymously by clicking on the word "comments" at the end of each post.