Why are editors building a defense case for Menendez?

What looks like a World War II-era poster in Hackensack's City Hall shows that the benefits of whole grains have been known for many decades.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's lead story today is yet another attempt to build a defense case for Sen. Bob Menendez, who faces a federal trial that is probably more than a year away (A-1).

That means Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson and reporters in the Woodland Park newsroom likely will regurgitate these same arcane legal arguments in the days before New Jersey's senior senator goes before a jury on bribery charges.

The best story on Page 1 today reports that Exxon Mobil regarded the wetlands around two refineries in New Jersey as little more than waste receptacles (A-1).

It's unclear why Editor Martin Gottlieb led with the third or fourth story defending Menendez, and not the Exxon Mobil expose.

Even putting pollution  aside, Exxon's Bayway Refinery in Linden has irreparably damaged New Jersey's reputation with the hundreds of thousands of out-of-state motorists who have driven by the smelly complex on the turnpike. 

Robs readers

For every positive Menendez story, Gottlieb is robbing readers of some hard-hitting reporting on the corrupt campaign finance system and public officials who think nothing of repeatedly violating the public trust.

Gottlieb devotes a huge amount of front-page space to the Germanwings tragedy for the second day in a row, even though readers have tired of the story (A-1).

Local news?

A story about a small goat found roaming Paramus streets (L-1), and a long, wire service obituary on the creator of the Pet Rock (L-6) are clear indications the poor editors who got stuck working on Sunday weren't able to find much local news.

The goat headline and the plays on words attempted by the reporter all fall flat.

One unexplored scenario is that the animal escaped being curried for a family's Easter dinner.

Overplayed, incomprehensible and a huge waste of time

Aggressive police ready to pounce on any driver who doesn't yield to a pedestrian in the many crosswalks are the least of your problems, if you use Cedar Lane in Teaneck as a route to Englewood. The four-lane street through the township's main business district narrows, above, causing conflicts with other motorists, and the many slow, older drivers act as moving road blocks.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Readers who don't choke on the lead paragraph of the overplayed and overwritten turnpike story on Page 1 today are probably scratching their heads, trying to figure out what it says.

Is there something in the newsroom water at The Record or did Editor Marty Gottlieb rewrite Staff Writer Christopher Maag, exposing how out of touch the former Timesman really is (A-1)?

Anyone who has been caught in one of the region's massive traffic jams knows a wider turnpike isn't the "road to the future."

How does the new, 12-lane stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike below Exit 8 show the state remains "confident ... a place still unafraid to etch its belief in a brighter future into the contours of the land"?

A mass-transit corridor down the center of the 35-mile section, not more asphalt, really would have been forward looking.

Too little, too late

Where was Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, when Governor Christie killed the Hudson River rail tunnels in 2010, setting back for at least a decade expanded train travel between New Jersey and New York (A-1)?

The do-nothing six-termer seeking election on Nov. 4 from the 5th Congressional District -- which includes Bergen County -- is facing a formidable challenge from Roy Cho, a Hackensack attorney who has surged in the polls.

In a letter to the editor today, Bruce de Lyon of Dumont notes Garrett ducked debates, adding:

"As long as we allow Garrett to run a dismissive and underground campaign, he will continue to ignore issues crucial to the residents of northern New Jersey" (A-18).

Another Kelly error

Among the many embarrassing corrections published on A-2 this week is the one today trying to fix another Mike Kelly screw-up.

The burned-out columnist "misstated the year of a hazing incident at Holmdel High School" in his boring Page 1 piece last Sunday (A-2).

Desperate editor

A desperate local editor must have written the headline over  today's Road Warrior column -- "A commuter's tale" -- which reports the recollections of a 99-year-old man who took part in the 1931 ceremony opening the George Washington Bridge (L-1).

The rambling piece by Staff Writer John Cichowski has absolutely nothing to do with the ordeal of commuting, and is a colossal waste of readers' time.

Food coverage

Hackensack police should check hospital emergency rooms for two men who allegedly skipped out on a $100 restaurant bill (L-3).

The suspects, who spoke English and Hebrew, ignored Lotus Cafe and the fine-dining restaurants in The Shops at Riverside to rip off Applebee's on Tuesday night, police said.

They likely sought medical help for a huge case of indigestion.

Agita is in store for readers who bother with today's lukewarm, 2-star review of the 14-year-old Martini Grill in Wood-Ridge (BL-18).

Staff Writer Elisa Ung praises "the restaurant's focus on fish," but she chose poorly, "a thick fillet of swordfish flecked by capers and sun-dried tomatoes ($25.95)."

Swordfish contains a large amount of mercury, and isn't recommended for women of child-bearing age.

Editors continue to ignore local Democrat

New Jersey Turnpike near Exit 12 in Carteret. (Wikipedia)

It's been two weeks since The Record published a long profile in radicalism of Rep. Scott Garrett, one of the Republicans responsible for the gridlock in Washington.

But equal time must be a foreign concept to Editor Marty Gottlieb and Alan Finder, editor of the Signature section, which still hasn't published a profile of Garrett's challenger in the 5th District, Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen.

Gussen, a Democrat, was quoted a few times in the long, flattering story about the Wantage Republican, but Finder ran three photos of the congressman and none of the challenger.

More sports news

Today, the cover of the Signature section is dominated by a long story on a football team at a high school apparently named after the Bosco chocolate drink.

Inside, you'll find a report on the Kosher Nosh, a Glen Rock deli whose "high-quality food" includes preservative- and antibiotic-filled hot dogs and mystery roast beef (SIG-4).

Crash editing

The flaw in the paper's transportation coverage is shown on A-3, where Staff Writer Karen Rouse covered a fatal dump-truck crash that closed the New Jersey Turnpike.

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, ignore such commuting problems as horrendous rush-hour traffic and overcrowded buses and trains to focus exclusively on the dramatic.

Editors don't care

Commuters probably have a lot to say about PATH fares going up 25 cents, and the 400 buses that are being rerouted daily between Hackensack and Teaneck, but The Record could care less.   

Sykes and Sforza produced another Local section dominated by court stories, police news and accident photos. 

Gee-whiz photography

Instead of reporting on the challenges facing older drivers and where they can get help, Sykes and Sforza continue to publish gee-whiz photos of accidents involving drivers in their 60s or above (L-1).

There is no Hackensack, Teaneck or Englewood municipal news today.

Zisa case lives on 

But L-1 carries another story on the trial of two former police officers on charges they protected a suspect with ties to former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa.

Surely, Staff Writer Kibret Markos could find something else to cover in one of the state's busiest courthouses. 

Same paper, editors?

It's hard to understand how the same editors who turn out a lackluster local-news section day after day can score a bull's-eye with a special section, such as today's tab, Breast Cancer Awareness.