Was Tony Soprano elected governor of New Jersey?

Welcome to New Jersey: With the Bayonne Bridge closed, people disembarking from a cruise ship at Port Jersey in Bayonne on Saturday faced a 30-minute delay in reaching the New Jersey Turnpike.

After the tollbooths, drivers passed an oasis of beauty next to the turnpike.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Readers with solar panels on their homes searched today's front page in vain for a clue to whether The Record's lead story on the state Clean Energy Program had anything to do with them (A-1).

If they managed to plow through all of the long, densely written paragraphs on A-1 without losing interest -- and that's doubtful -- they turned to the continuation page and saw a big photo of solar panels on a county building (A-6).

But why did Editor Marty Gottlieb think this is the first thing readers wanted to see today?

Staff Writer Jean Rimbach, the least productive reporter in the Woodland Park newsroom, worked on this expose a long time, but it is no easier to get into or understand, and whatever editing it might have received is invisible.

What it means

Has Rimbach's investigation uncovered another one of Governor Christie's failed promises or the well-known revolving door between government and industry?

And I can't see how any of this affects me as a homeowner who has solar panels on his roof or anyone else who took part in the Clean Energy Program.

I'm still getting free electricity more than six months out of the year, and I'm still earning monthly solar credits I can sell to Public Service Electric & Gas for cash.

Despite all of the talent Gottlieb has on his local photo staff, the former New York Times veteran keeps on running wire-service photos on Page 1, such as the silly one today of "pro-Russia protesters."

On A-2, the SHOT OF THE DAY is from Gaza City. Maybe, the real shot of the day is the majestic eagle on the Local front today.

Tony Soprano

A second piece on Page 1 today is clearly about another of the GOP bully's failed promises -- the incredible mismanagement of Superstorm Sandy aid (A-1 and A-7).

On Friday night, HBO satirist Bill Maher suggested Tony Soprano wasn't whacked in the final episode of "The Sopranos" in June 2007, he was elected governor of New Jersey.

After the belly laughs died down, that didn't seem so far-fetched, given how Christie has treated Sandy victims, bridge-and-tunnel Democrats in Fort Lee and other cities, commuters and the middle and working classes on whose backs he is about to balance another state budget.

White and black

Why did the local editors put David Peluso, a heroin addict from Mahwah, on the Local front, and bury a story about Kirk-Andeno Lawrence, 21, a promising college student who worked with an EMT unit?

Lawrence, of Paterson, committed suicide. He was black, as was the reporter who wrote the story, and the heroin addict is white. 

Did that have anything to do with placement of the respective stories?

Inflated salaries

Also on the Local front today is a piece by Staff Writer Hannan Adely on public relations consultants hired by a small number of towns, including Hackensack.

The city, which can't afford to repair potholes, is paying Thom Ammirato $78,000 a year -- a reward for his work as campaign manager to the Citizens for Change slate that swept last May's City Council election.

But Mayor John Labrosse, the top vote-getter, claims he didn't know Ammirato, the city's chief spokesman, already had a full-time public relations job with Bergen County's Republican administrator, plus a few other side jobs.

Ammirato's one-year contract with Hackensack expires in mid-July.

Newsroom changes

Meanwhile, Adely has been pulled off her Hackensack beat, and Kibret Markos has been assigned to the Passaic County Courthouse in Paterson after years of covering state Superior Court in Hackensack.

Staff Writer Peter J. Sampson replaced Markos at the Bergen County Courthouse, where there will a lot less second-hand smoke outside the main entrance the latter favored for his frequent smoking breaks.

Christie is boss and we are his faceless mob

Part of Euclid Avenue in Hackensack before it was patched a couple of months ago. City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono said today that contrary to recent press reports, all 5 blocks of Euclid, between Main Street and Summit Avenue, will be paved with proceeds from a bond. Bids for the work came in lower than expected, he added.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Wilting under the endless coverage of actor James Gandolfini's untimely demise, readers got some good news in The Record today.

A story on A-3 reports his body will be flown back to the United States for services on Thursday.

If he's buried on Thursday, how much longer can Editor Marty Gottlieb keep the story of Gandolfini and mob boss Tony Soprano going?

Mobbed up

Everybody at the Woodland Park daily is getting into the act.

Today, a column by Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin claims Governor Christie "has gone one step too far and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff" to mark Gandolfini's death last Wednesday at 51 (A-11).

Is this really worth a column?

Why hasn't Doblin raised a bigger stink over all of the mean-spirited vetoes Christie is known for -- from shooting down a hike in the minimum wage to killing a tax surcharge on millionaires?

And today's short-sighted editorial, also on A-11, opposes dedicating a portion of sales tax revenue to the preservation of open space.

Give us a break

It was a real stretch on Sunday, when the Better Living cover story compared Christie to Tony Soprano, calling the GOP bully "a governor with a style, theatricality and swagger that Tony would have no doubt appreciated."

OK. Let's get something straight. Someone who is obese can't "swagger;" it's all flab. And Christie doesn't have "theatricality" or "style."

He's a conservative, veto-happy Republican who treats the middle and working classes with contempt, and in less than 4 years, he's proven to be the worst governor New Jersey ever had.

Journalists like Doblin and Bill Ervolino love him, but that tells you everything about the sad state of newspapering at The Record, where editors and reporters fall all over themselves trying to stay in Christie's good graces.

Second look

Although I didn't care for the dated subject, Staff Writer Jeff Pillets turned in a beautifully written story on Sunday's front page: "Not the same old Jersey mob."

But that couldn't save the paper from wallowing in mediocrity by publishing more crap from Columnists Mike Kelly and John Cichowski.

In trying to pillory Paterson Mayor Jeffery Jones for traveling to India in search of investors, Kelly offended readers and all Asian Indians:

"Can we all say 'Huh' -- in Hindi?" Kelly wrote on O-1.

Bad writing is one thing. But bad reporting is unforgivable, especially from a columnist who has been at this game for so long.

Kelly blames Jones for the layoff of 125 police officers 2 years ago -- roughly 25 percent of the force -- conveniently forgetting that it was Christie's cuts in state aide to Paterson and other poor cities that forced the layoffs.

Just hang it up

As for Cichowski, his exaggerated Sunday column was full of sloppy reporting on a bill that would allow police to check a driver's cellphone after an accident, according to a concerned reader:

"In his June 23 column, the Road Warrior leads readers astray with false worries about a preliminary bill, laws and potential limitations for cellphone activities and voice-to-text technologies.

"Road Warrior is frequently unable to comprehend most state statutes since he provides information that contradicts, misrepresents, or exaggerates issues related to bills or approved laws. 

"He repeated these types of mistakes with a bill under preliminary consideration to allow police to review a driver's hand-held cellphone call records at the scene of an accident, if they have reasonable grounds to suspect a violation of cellphone law.

"He incorrectly reported that hand-held and hands-free cell phones could be subject to this bill. He reported new driving points and higher fines would be imposed on all cellphone violations when it would only be applicable for texting.

"He failed  to mention current law, which imposes imprisonment up to 10 years or fines up to $150,000, depending on whether it was a fatality or serious injury, due to a crash caused by a cellphone violation.

"That information could persuade drivers to restrict their cellphone use."

To read the full e-mail, go to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Does anyone check the Road Warrior?

Low-rise reporting

Basically repeating an earlier Road Warrior column quoting hysterical readers, a Star-Ledger story published on A-3 of The Record today exaggerates the impact of an apartment building going up near Route 495 to and from the Lincoln Tunnel.

The building will only partially block the Manhattan skyline, but leave plenty of unobstructed views. 

Most of the view is already blocked by rocks, trees and other natural phenomena. 

We all go begging in Christie's New Jersey

Image by mali mish via Flickr

Governor Christie is the new Tony Soprano, says Columnist Charles Stile.

Living in a state ruled by Governor Christie is getting more unpleasant by the day. 

He has reduced the disabled and poor to begging for crumbs from his insensitive budget proposal and the middle class to defending their union pay and benefits -- part of his successful strategy of preserving the wealth of his supporters.

Of course, his biggest coup is winning over The Record of Woodland Park and other New Jersey media, who love doing public relations for a politician basking in the adoration of a recession-wracked nation. 

Who loves Christie?

But who exactly loves this Republican bully, who exactly thinks he's "hot" (see A-4). That's never reported, just as we probably will never learn how many of the millionaires he refuses to tax are supporting him financially.

No. Christie and the media prefer the pathetic tales of the disabled and others who can't defend themselves from his budget ax, as readers learn from the story on Page 1 today:

Patients' allies split

on disabled care

(The news copy editor wastes space in the drop headline by saying the hearing was held "at college." What does that add?)

Staff Writer Elise Young, from the paper's State House Bureau, covered the hearing, as did Columnist Charles Stile, who weighs in from the front of Local.

You've got to read Stile's column all the way through to realize he has lost his balls: Social advocates steer clear of Christie

He seems to relish telling readers how Christie stands ready with an ax to cut off outstretched hands and how it would be "suicidal" for social service groups to attack the governor.

However, what he never says is why he and other journalists rarely criticize the thug.

 "Mocking Christie's shared-sacrifice mantra or highlighting the hypocrisy of letting millionaires off without a tax increase for the second consecutive year, while these social service groups skimp and limp along with scaled-down state investment, would be suicidal.

"They run the risk of Christie's countering with his scalding brand of mocking. And criticism in Christie's world is tantamount to disloyalty. Critics are traitors. Or as Tony Soprano, whose Jersey Tough Guy persona Christie sometimes personifies, often said of his exiled allies: "You're dead to me."

It goes beyond that, as viewers of the CBS Evening News know. They saw Christie tell a reporter that a New York Times/CBS News poll that found strong opposition to his anti-union policies must have been worded to get the results the media wanted.

Usual mishmash

The rest of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local news section is a mishmash of police and fire news, government grant news and human-interest stories, with a local obituary thrown in for good measure.

But if you're looking for municipal news from major communities, such as budget deliberations in Hackensack, you won't find it.  

Water, water everywhere

After Monday's deluge, you'll find the misery of people who live in flood zones all over the front-page today. But flooding is not news; it's the decades of inaction by federal, state and local officials the paper should be exposing.

The sidebar on Page 1 about Pascack Brook flooding is written so poorly, readers aren't told until the 13th paragraph -- on the jump page -- that water is released to prevent the Woodcliff Lake reservoir from overflowing.