Editors absolve themselves in analysis of low voter turnout

A police investigation of an accident closed all but one lane of the George Washington Bridge's lower level a little after 1 on Saturday afternoon. On the West Side Highway, re-striping of the two-lane 79th Street exit funneled drivers into one lane, causing backups that slowed motorists heading downtown. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In The Record's front-page story on low turnout, you won't find the answer to what really turned off voters, even though it's right there on the same page.

The Woodland Park daily today carries not one but two political columns analyzing the race for Bergen County executive last Tuesday (A-1 and O-1).

The front-page Charles Stile column explores the personal ambitions of three Democrats, who may or may not run in an election three years from now.

Stile sounds much like he does in all of those columns he's written touting Governor Christie as the next Republican nominee for president.

How boring.

In addition to endless stories about politics instead of issues, the editors no longer are exposing the lies in the attack ads that sway so many voters (A-10). 

Is it any wonder, as The Record reports five full days after the election, "nearly seven out of 10 New Jerseyans who were registered to vote Tuesday decided not to" (A-1).

Healing Westwood

Another Page 1 story reports that despite its awkward-sounding name HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley is paying Westwood $1.7 million in property taxes annually.

The mayor says that money has allowed the town to "engage in some significant infrastructure improvements" (A-6).

Conversely, Hackensack University Medical Center's non-profit status denies the city tens of millions of dollars in property taxes, leaving streets like Prospect Avenue looking like cow paths.

The Record has never told that story.

Fierce backpedaling

Road Warrior John Cichowski's column today on the decal law for drivers under 21 carries pretty much the same headline as did his Tuesday column on the same study (L-1).

But Tuesday's column was filled with errors, including the length of the study and the direct impact of the decals on the number of crashes.

Today's piece appears to be the veteran reporter's lame attempt to correct his previous column, which was analyzed by the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers.

Here is an excerpt:

"Road Warrior repeatedly tried to indicate that estimated reductions of 9.5% in crashes over a two-year period after the May 2010 GDL law were solely due to red decal provisions.

"[But] the study repeatedly indicated that while red decals could be an important component, the reductions in crashes could not be solely or primarily attributed to red decal provisions.

"The study repeatedly indicated that some of these reductions also could be attributed to other provisions of the updated GDL law, as well as better education and publicity about its benefits."

See: Road Warrior crashes and burns again

Customers whine

Staff Writer Elisa Ung's Sunday column today reports on the expensive mistakes some customers make when they order wine in restaurants (BL-1).

But Ung never mentions the tremendous markup on bottles and glasses that allows a Bobby Flay restaurant in Atlantic City to charge an outrageous $3,750 for a single bottle of red wine.

She makes the customer seem like a moron, because he thought the waitress' "thirty-seven fifty" meant $37.50. 

Given the ridiculous markup on wine, Ung should urge her readers to seek out BYOs or order the cheapest bottle on the wine list.

After all, as the paper's chief restaurant reviewer, she is supposed to report on issues from the consumer's point of view, and not shamelessly represent owners, as she does here.