Animal editors ignore humans in our 'suburban jungle'

Spotted on Cortland Place, near Newcomb Road, in Tenafly after 8 on Sunday morning.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's editors seem obsessed with animals, the original inhabitants of our "suburban jungle," if you accept the phrase used in a clever Page 1 headline on Monday.

But the sad truth is readers can't bear all of this hype about critters displaced by development in North Jersey -- a story the paper seems to cover ever few years, starting way back in the 1980s (A-1 today and Monday).

Editors go wild 

"Suburbia is growing more wild," Staff Writer James M. O'Neill claimed in Monday's takeout.

But that's contradicted by the A-1 photo caption and sub-headline, both of which report some species are disappearing or are "virtually extinct."

Today's front page holds little interest for the human residents of North Jersey.

And the humans who work at the Woodland Park daily still struggle with preventing error from getting into the paper, especially in the Road Warrior column.

Two more embarrassing corrections appear on A-2 today.

Insulting women

Then, you turn to the Local front today, and wonder why a bloc of female lawmakers calling for financial penalties against the National Football League was deemed less important than another bear running loose in Ridgewood (L-1).

Indeed, some professional athletes have been treating girlfriends, spouses and children like so many footballs.

But sports-loving Editor Marty Gottlieb doesn't seem to notice or care.

Dissing commuters

What is the point or relevance to North Jersey commuters of the Road Warrior column on comedian Tracy Morgan not wearing his seat belt before a truck slammed into his limo van on the New Jersey Turnpike in June (L-1)?

Was Morgan's friend, James McNair, wearing his seat belt? If so, it didn't prevent his death.

The local assignment editors again rely on Law & Order news to flesh out their thin section today (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

Second look

Staff Writer John Cichowski's Sunday column was filled with numerous errors as he attempted to report on a poll about unsafe driving behavior, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

"The Road Warrior reported that a Rutgers-Eagleton poll indicated that 81% of drivers over 64 considered driving while eating, drinking and cellphone yakking to be very unsafe -- a much higher rate than drivers 18 to 29 (45%), drivers 30 to 49 (50%), and drivers 50 to 64 (58%).

"Road Warrior's cited survey statistics were only for talking on a hand-held cell phone. There was different statistics for talking on hands-free cell phones, as well as for eating or drinking."

Cichowski also was wrong on whether driving fatalities are rising: 

"The Road Warrior indicated that the perceptions of New Jersey residents that road safety is improving is wrong because Garden State driving fatalities are rising.

"Residents’ perceptions are correct since fatalities have decreased over the previous four years and the past decade. While fatalities are higher in 2014 than 2013, it is because road fatalities reached a record low in 2013."

For the blow-by-blow on a reporter who is setting a record for inaccuracy, see:

Readers Poll: Get rid of error-prone Road Warrior

Restaurant expose?

I agree that Claire Insalata Poulos, founder and president of the 15-year-old Table to Table, is doing important work by collecting fresh restaurant leftovers to feed the hungry, but why does this Better Living cover story go on and on (BL-1)?

If you bother plowing through all the testimonials, Poulos sounds like she is ready for sainthood (BL-1 and BL-6).

Poulos is a natural for the work; her name "Insalata" means "salad" in Italian.

But in general, shouldn't Food Editor Esther Davidowitz be writing more about restaurants and consumers?

Instead, she makes multimillionaire celebrity chefs and restaurant owners like Mario Batali, Drew Nierporent and Emeril Lagasse seem like such swell guys for donating food they had been throwing away for decades.

Garrett blinders

On Monday, The Record published a Page 1 column on Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, and his opponent in the Nov. 4 election, but failed to report the arch-conservative initially opposed spending $50 billion for Superstorm Sandy aid.

On Tuesday's A-6, Columnist Herb Jackson was outed by the campaign of challenger Roy Cho, a Hackensack attorney.

The six-term Republican's reelection campaign, it turns out, sent out a postcard claiming "Scott Garret worked to bring immediate relief to Sandy victims."

Editors surrender to Christie on taxing the wealthy

The Engine 5 Firehouse on Main Street in Hackensack is one of the most distinctive around.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Democratic lawmakers are renewing the debate over taxing wealthy residents and corporations to balance the state budget at the end of the month, but The Record's editors have already made up their minds.

How can Editor Marty Gottlieb run today's front-page story on a plan to avoid Governor Christie's drastic cuts in the state contribution to the pension system (A-1)?

Only six days ago, an editorial called a millionaires tax "a political non-starter" (A-18 on June 13).

Is this objective journalism or are the editors just taking their marching orders  from the GOP bully and the wealthy Borg publishing family?

Don't expect Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin to revisit the viability of higher taxes on the wealthy, especially if he can't find a Broadway show, book or song to compare them to.

Christie-proofing budget

Today's Page 1 story reports the proposal by Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg would generate $1.6 billion, "which is the same amount Christie has proposed cutting the planned state pension contribution for the fiscal year that begins July 1" (A-4).

A Christie spokesman referred to millionaires as "overburdened New Jersey taxpayers," and said "raising taxes drives businesses and citizens out of New Jersey and makes our problems worse."

Who in their right mind would move out of New Jersey, which is just across the river from the financial and cultural capital of the United States?

Animal farm

Today's edition is dominated by animal news -- on Page 1 and L-3 in Local.

The A-1 story reports the suspension of mail delivery for more than a month to four homes in Rochelle Park after a dog attacked a mail carrier, "leaving six severe bite wounds up the man's arms."

Why not put down the dog and fine the owners so it doesn't happen again?

Roast duck

Good luck trying to follow the story on "a mama duck and her four ducklings" in Ridgewood (L-3).

A big photo shows four ducklings, and the smaller photo shows a large duck, presumably the mother, and only three ducklings.

But the text says "the mama ... couldn't be found."

This is typical of the sloppy editing under six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton and her sleep-deprived staff.

The village could have saved taxpayers money by alerting the many downtown restaurant chefs and letting them take care of the ducks.  

Another story on the same page reports a house fire in Saddle Brook killed seven cats and an eighth cat is missing.

Pat who?

Meanwhile, more poor editing on the Local front likely puzzled tens of thousands of readers (L-1).

A photo caption reads, "June Nakayama wiping away a tear after Pat Kinney presented her with a bouquet on Wednesday."

Readers learn Nakayama was being thanked for starting a "Pre-Mom Club for young Japanese women who move to North Jersey with their businessmen-husbands."

But Kinney is never identified.

Of course, newsroom veterans know Kinney as a freelancer who once wrote the "Neighbors from Japan" column for The Record.

Consumers lose

Staff Writer Elisa Ung does a poor job representing consumers in her fine-dining restaurant reviews.

So why did the editors think she would do any better on supermarket purchases (BL-1)?

Today, she touts pricey bottled pasta sauce made by Jon Bon Jovi's father, but doesn't mention that you get only 24 ounces for $5.99 or barely enough for a half-pound of dried pasta.

I found the same bottled Bongiovi Marinara, Garden-style and Arrabiata on sale today at the Paramus ShopRite for a more palatable $2.99. 

Editors resume their public relations for Christie

In Fort Lee, construction work is under way on a site across Park Avenue from the 47-story residential tower that is visible from almost everywhere in the borough, above and below. There is no indication whether a second residential tower like the first is going up at the site, which also is across the street from the George Washington Bridge local access lanes that are at the center of the Bridgegate political-retribution scandal.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

All the signs are there that The Record's editors, columnists and reporters are resuming their work of repairing Governor Christie's battered image.

It isn't news that a prominent Republican lawyer Christie hired to conduct an "internal" investigation, and the attorney's staff, which has ties to the governor, may have cleared him, but it is all over Page 1 today.

And what did readers turned off by Charles Stile's political columns do to deserve two "he's-not-as-bad-as-he-seems" columns on the front page today and Monday?

So far, the internal probe has cost taxpayers more than $1 million.

It's hard to understand how the editors and Christie's allies see such positive signs when members of the governor's inner-circle continue to stonewall on turning documents over to the state Legislature's Bridgegate investigative committee (A-6).

Men are animals

If you classify this latest flurry of stories about the GOP bully as "animal news," the Woodland Park daily seems to be devoting a lot of space lately to four-legged species.

Witness Sunday's front page, where a so-called debate over a pro athlete's dog-fighting conviction played out.

Today, the front of Local and L-3 are dominated by tear-jerking horse and dog rescue stories.

I guess nothing was going on in Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns that are missing from today's Local section, which is put out by editors who some would call "horse's asses."

Tesla rescue?

The first Business page today reports a Bergen County legislator wants to make it legal for Tesla to sell its revolutionary electric car directly to New Jersey consumers (L-7).

The company's CEO says Christie and New Jersey auto dealers made a "backroom deal" to stop Tesla from selling its Model S premium sedan from Paramus and Short Hills showrooms.

"The governor talks a big game about attracting innovative businesses to the state, but this move does the exact opposite," says Assemblyman Timothy Eustace, D-Paramus, sponsor of a bill to amend the restrictive law.

The only editorial comment on the controversy came from freelance cartoonist Margulies on Sunday's O-2, which showed Christie telling a kid at a 5-cents lemonade stand he can't sell directly and has to go through "a beverage dealer." 

Funeral home cops

Monday's Page 1 story on retired police officers who work at North Jersey funeral homes may help rehabilitate their image, which the paper savaged in a series of stories on high salaries and pensions when Francis "Frank" Scandale was running the newsroom.

The paper argued that high teacher and police salaries were the chief cause of municipalities' financial problems.

But why does Monday's story have two photos of the same man, Sal Arena, who was a captain on the Pompton Lakes force?