Page 1: Dead and dying politicians, murder and mayhem

In the Fort Lee Public Library, a display on the bitter World War II battle against 21,000 Japanese troops dug in on Iwo Jima notes that "256 men [U.S. Marines] went up to Mount Suribachi to place the flag on top" and "only 22 men came back down."  In the 2010 census, about 1,300 Japanese residents were counted in Fort Lee.

By VICTOR SASSON
EDITOR

Nearly the entire front page of The Record today is devoted to dead and dying politicians, a motorcyclist who lost part of a leg on a poorly engineered highway and a businessman murdered in South Hackensack.

What was Editor Martin Gottlieb thinking when he assembled this schlomozzle?

I can certainly see the obituary for Gerald Calabrese of Cliffside Park, New Jersey's longest serving mayor, as front-page news (A-1).

But it doesn't look like his death will bring to end the Calabrese family dynasty that continues to rule the borough, and that point isn't made forcefully enough.

Look what a sorry mess the Zisa family made of Hackensack, where reformers struggle to repair the damage to the city's treasury from defending and settling lawsuits filed against a corrupt police chief and former state assemblyman.

But what about the lawsuit over a poorly engineered stretch of S-curves on Route 23 in West Milford, where Jim Smetana crashed his motorcycle and lost part of his left leg (A-1)?

Why is that on Page 1 today? 

Ditto for another boring Charles Stile political column, this one on twice-failed former presidential candidate John McCain, a war hero long past retirement.

Corrections

Two major editing errors are corrected on A-2 today. 

In one, the lame assignment and copy editing staff couldn't get right the name of a kid who donated his organs to three others after his death in October.

Local news?

Most of the stories on  the Local front today are from the courts or the police blotter (L-1).

Instead of according Mayor Calabrese a privileged place on A-1 today, the editors could have given better play to the death of actress and director Judith Malina, whose credits include "Dog Day Afternoon" and "The Sopranos" (L-1).

You'll find more Law & Order news inside the local-news section.

Hard landing

As an example of how out of touch the editors are, a photo caption on L-3 today of a corporate jet landing at Teterboro Airport notes low aircraft are "an all-too-common site for motorists."

But it's homeowners in Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns near the airport who endure the noise of those jets around the clock, a quality of life issue The Record has ignored for many decades.

More Christie P.R., LTACH and the Zisa curse

Patrons can park for free in a lot or at the curb when using the U.S. Post Office in Teaneck, above. In Hackensack, the post office has no parking lot and patrons have to fight over 4 metered spaces out front or for others around the corner. The Hackensack Police Department is across the street, and tickets are not uncommon.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Check out the phony photo of Staff Writer Herb Jackson with his NJ/DC political column on The Record's front page today.

Jackson -- the Woodland Park daily's so-called Washington correspondent -- is trying to give the impression he carefully considers every word, when, in fact, he writes off the top of his highly partisan head (A-1).

Jackson is part of the paper's public relations machinery for Governor Christie and other conservative Republicans.

Who can forget his Page 1 story on a Tea Party rally in Washington a few years ago, when Jackson conveniently ignored a large photo of dead Jews the Republican crackpots were using to compare health-care reform to the Holocaust?

Despite what Jackson says, Christie's true, partisan  nature is well-known. 

He set back a mass-transit expansion by decades when he killed two Hudson River rail tunnels.

And the GOP bully went to bat for wealthy business owners by vetoing a hike in the minimum wage (A-3).

Hackensack updates

Two Hackensack stories on the front of Local today update readers on long-running controversies (L-1).

As expected, a Superior Court judge ruled the developer of a proposed 19-story hospital on Prospect Avenue got "a fair hearing" before the city's zoning board turned down his application, 5-0, in January 2012.

A lawyer says the backer of the Bergen-Passaic Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTACH) will appeal the decision (L-6).

The Borgs, Zisa curse

Of course, the Borgs and North Jersey Media Group could have offered to sell their 19.7 acres along River Street to LTACH's developer, defusing the long-running controversy.

But the greedy publishing family has chosen developer Fred Daibes, who promises to flood the area with luxury apartments, putting further strain on the city's public schools.

In return, The Record fills its news columns with favorable coverage of Daibes, a multimillionaire from Edgewater.

The second story amounts to the curse of former Police Chief Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa returning to haunt Hackensack.

Another lawsuit

Zisa is under house arrest while he appeals convictions for insurance fraud and official misconduct, but now he is suing the city and the former president of its police union.

It is city residents who should be suing former City Council members and other city officials for not firing Zisa years ago, when problems in the Police Department first surfaced.

As it is, the LTACH and Zisa cases prove once again only the lawyers win as they rake in unconscionably high legal fees from both sides.