As state economy implodes, Christie tries to hide the truth

A photo caption in The Record's Better Living section on Thursday incorrectly locates the statue of General Enoch Poor "at the Bergen County Courthouse" (BL-8), contradicting the caption on the section cover, which gives the correct location, Court and Moore streets in Hackensack, below, across the street from the courthouse.

For some reason, The Name-Dropper column on the Revolutionary War general doesn't mention General Poor's Tavern on Main Street, a watering hole that was the scene of many newsroom going away parties before The Record left Hackensack in 2009. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today's front-page news that Governor Christie is hiding lagging tax-revenue data follows by one day The Record's lead story on New Jersey's weak job market, lower incomes and higher poverty rates:

N.J. recovery lagging

Yet an editorial today doesn't even mention Christie's name, but urges "New Jersey lawmakers to put politics aside" (A-12).

Nor does the editorial question any of his policies, such as giving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to wealthy business owners and getting little job creation in  return.

If the Christie administration is hiding "precise figures for how much the state expected to see in taxes compared with what was actually collected" (A-1), then The Record's editorial also seems to be hiding the truth.

We know from a Page 1 story in The Record on Wednesday the GOP bully's conservative pledge not to raise taxes on his rich supporters has made him desperate to balance the state budget:

"Last year, Christie used $147.5 million of the $165 million from two previous Passaic River [pollution] settlements to balance the budget," Staff Writer Scott Fallon reported.

"And since becoming governor in 2010, Christie has taken $1 billion from clean energy money for the general fund."

Here's come the judge

A state Superior Court judge was making $165,000 a year in 2012, but today's story on judges coming in as early as 6 a.m., staying as late as 9 p.m. and working weekends doesn't say whether they are being paid overtime (A-1).

Assignment Judge Peter E. Doyne has blamed the problem on a quarter of the Bergen County judgeships going unfilled.

But what about litigious lawyers clogging the court docket with frivolous cases just to boost their already considerable annual incomes?

Editor dons kilt

Today's story on Scottish independence is a total waste of front-page space in a local North Jersey daily (A-1).

But Editor Marty Gottlieb actually sent a reporter to interview  "expats" in Kearny, way outside the circulation area, and ran another Page 1 story on Thursday.

Gottlieb, who came to The Record from a lofty position as international editor of The New York Times, has never understood the role of a local newspaper, especially in view of saturation coverage of international news by the electronic media.

Stomach turning

The Record's editors have turned their back on the consumer when it comes to covering restaurants and chefs.

Keeping restaurant ad revenue flowing into the coffers of North Jersey Media Group seems to have blinded them to restaurant patrons' many gripes, which I never see in the paper.

Look at today's rave review of Due in Ridgewood, described as "a refined Italian BYO," even though Chef Adam Weiss serves an inauthentic shrimp and grits, and charges $30 for the dish (BL-18).

Staff Writer Elisa Ung devotes two full paragraphs to Due's artery clogging desserts, which many readers avoid like the plague.

And the restaurant's supposed turnaround is actually heralded on Page 1 -- a first. Can the place really be that good?

Clueless food editor

More breathless coverage was published on Wednesday from none other than Food Editor Esther Davidowitz.

On the Better Living cover, Davidowitz's Behind the Kitchen Door praised Andiamo in Haworth and owner Don Dickstein.

On the next page, Davidowitz interviewed John Halligan of Park Steakhouse and Park West Tavern for Coffee with The Chef.

Davidowitz allows Halligan to say "the dish I'm most proud of" are "our steaks," but doesn't dare question him on whether they are raised naturally.

Later, he claims "we don't make a dime on the steaks we serve," and "I spend $100 a day on bread that we give away."

But there is nothing in the interview about the low wages he pays servers, putting the burden on customers to tip well or else, or the outrageous markup he takes on a glass of wine.

On the same page Wednesday, the FYI column appears to reprint a half-dozen restaurant press releases verbatim.

Restaurant gripes

See the August 2014 issue of Consumer Reports on the top gripes of people when they are dining out, including dirty tables, utensils or restrooms, and gratuities of 18% or higher automatically added to the bill.

The Consumer Reports National Research Center surveyed 1,003 adults nationwide in March 2014.

Ung, the paper's chief restaurant reviewer, recently dismissed Consumer Reports as the magazine "many of us use to buy a washing machine."

Hackensack news

On Wednesday's Local front, The Record reported the hiring of David R. Troast, 54, of Hawthorne as Hackensack's new city manager at a salary of $152,700.

The story doesn't say how much Troast's predecessors made, nor does it report that unlike them, Troast won't be commuting in a city owned car.

Former City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono was paid about $167,000.

Todd South, The Record's new Hackensack reporter, published background from previous stories, including errors and omissions.

He describes Troast from 2010 to 2013 as "city manager of Sparta," which is a township (L-1 on Wednesday).

Later, he reports, Troast was a "city planner" for the township of Sparta from 1996 to 2010, instead of the correct "township planner."

South also cites complaints from "many residents," without identifying some of the most vocal critics as being affiliated with the city Board of Education, including two members who ran unsuccessfully against the current City Council in 2013.