Governor Christie's mouthpiece makes boss proud

This full-size pickup at 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus makes me question whether a driver who can climb up into the seat is, in fact, disabled. One morning last week, every vehicle parked in handicapped spaces in front of the gym was an SUV or large pickup, below. What a racket.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today's Page 1 story in The Record speaks volumes about why Michael Drewniak makes the big bucks as Governor Christie's chief spokesman and spin doctor.

As he has been doing since the GOP bully was elected in 2010, the former Star-Ledger reporter skillfully crafts Christie's image for a mostly compliant media.

Drewniak turned in a masterful performance on Tuesday in front of the legislative panel investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures, backing up Christie, who has repeatedly expressed ignorance of the dirty tricks perpetrated by his closest aides.

Lacks credibility

It almost makes you forget the contempt he has for some of his former colleagues in the so-called Fourth Estate, and how he has used obscenities to describe them.

Of course, Drewniak's credibility is suspect, even though that seems to escape Staff Writers Shawn Boburg and Melissa Hayes (A-1), and Columnist Charles Stile (A-6). 

Check out the first paragraph of Boburg's and Hayes' front-page report: 

It's wordy enough to choke a horse, even though the media swallow it hook, line and stinker.

Word pusher is back

Another stinker on Page 1 today is Columnist Mike Kelly.

Kelly, the burnt-out reporter who lives in Teaneck, attempts to interpret the harsh police response to a senior prank by "mostly non-white" high school students that came close to the 50th anniversary of voluntary school desegregation (A-1 today and Tuesday's A-1 and L-1).

In his first paragraph, Kelly says "messages that cascaded from two meetings in Teaneck the other night could not have been more different."

Do readers really need The Record to tell them that, let alone on Page 1? Does Kelly think we're all morons?

It gets worse, with Kelly comparing "the social and political ebbs and flows in Teaneck" to a "meandering whirlwind."

What a meaningless phrase. Do whirlwinds meander? Kelly doesn't write; he pushes words around to little effect.

Voter apathy?

Today's coverage of local elections in Teaneck, Ridgewood and Paterson give vote totals, but don't tell readers how many people are registered in the respective communities (A-1 and L-1).

Voter apathy likely had a lot to do with the outcomes, but The Record's incompetent local editors are too lazy to tackle the subject or try to explain it, lest many would point to the media's lack of interest in issues that could engage readers.

For example, I can think of a lot of issues in Hackensack that deserve coverage, and settlement of a bizarre lawsuit isn't one of them (L-1).

And why aren't readers told the attorney expects to receive a third of the $50,000?

Readers fume, too

In Better Living today, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz manages to publish a long interview with Thomas Fume, the executive chef of Sear House in Closter, and never ask him how the cattle are raised for the expensive steaks he serves (BL-2).

You can bet Fume and his boss are putting profits over his customers' welfare, if they are serving beef raised on grain, harmful animal antibiotics and growth hormones.