Christie pushing back against ex-aide on trial in GWB case

"Saturday Night Live" lampooned the third and final debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and wacko racist Donald J. Trump, above and below. When Alex Baldwin's Trump used the phrase "bad hombres," Kate McKinnon's Clinton declared she had won "Trump Bingo" ("rapists," "Miss Piggy," "They're all living in hell" and "If she wasn't my daughter").

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If I didn't know better, I'd think reporters and columnists at The Record are taking sides in the trial of Governor Christie's ex-aides in the Bridgegate scandal. 

Today's lead story by Dustin Racioppi reports the Intergovernmental Affairs department (IGA) "did not become politicized until" right-hand man Bill Stepien left "and turned over duties to Bridget Anne Kelly" (A-1).

Kelly is on trial in Newark federal court, accused of working with Port Authority officials to block access to the George Washington Bridge as political retribution against Fort Lee's Democratic mayor, who refused to back the GOP bully's reelection in 2013.

That clashes with her testimony, including her claim that her email to David Wildstein, Christie's Port Authority crony -- "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" -- wasn't an "order."

Tarring Kelly

Until today, Bridget Kelly enjoyed several days of being portrayed in flattering terms by Columnist Mike Kelly, who profiled her and then wrote a long piece commenting on her Friday testimony, which he called "her side of the story."

But Racioppi quotes a former head of the state Ethics Commission suggesting an investigation into whether the IGA under Bridget Kelly "conducted political activity during state time, using state resources, using state employees to do it" (A-6).

It's also troubling that Racioppi refers several times to an "investigation" commissioned by Christie that eventually cost taxpayers more than $10 million -- the lead lawyer, Randy Mastro, was charging $650 an hour.

That report was widely viewed as a whitewash of the governor's role in the George Washington Bridge scandal -- confirmed by Kelly and other witnesses who said the governor knew of the lane closures in Fort Lee as they occurred.

As an example of how today's piece amounts to major push-back by Christie, Racioppi quotes Mastro's report as claiming IGA "functioned very effectively during the first three years of the governor's first term, both in terms of responsiveness and non-partisanship" (A-6).

"But, then, during the governor's reelection year, under [Bridget] Kelly's stewardship, there was aberrational behavior at Kelly's direction," Mastro claimed.

Bridgegate probe moves one step closer to Christie

An Armed Forces Career Center, representing all of the services, has moved into the space on Main Street in Hackensack once occupied by Prozys Army-Navy Store. The space has been empty since Limon Fine Food Market Place closed in 2010.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Newly released e-mails and text messages show Governor Christie's campaign manager knew about the cover story for George Washington Bridge lane closures in Fort Lee as they were happening in early September, The Record reports today.

Christie fired Bill Stepien, his campaign strategist, and Bridget Anne Kelly, his deputy chief of staff, who sent the infamous e-mail to the governor's crony on the Port Authority, which runs the bridge:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

The e-mails and messages bring the state Legislature's investigation one step closer to the GOP bully, who claims he was lied to by his inner circle during the political-retribution scandal now known as Bridgegate (A-1).

The Record's front pages today and Monday carry too much international news -- on Crimea and the missing Malaysian passenger jet -- for a local daily newspaper in North Jersey.

Tin men

On the first Business page today, the obituary for William "Wild Bill" Perretti recalls a North Jersey auto dealer who gave a bad name to the industry.

The Record's own investigation, by Bruce Locklin, found "a pattern of bait-and-switch ads, misrepresented prices and finance terms, and other deceptive practices" (L-8).

In Local, Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza manages to top previous accident photos that showed car doors had been removed to free victims.

Today, a vehicle involved in a Route 17 collision is shown with its roof peeled back like the top of a sardine can, but as usual, the caption is completely devoid of any real information (L-2). 

Sforza also needed a long Dean's List (L-2) and a truck crash photo (L-3) to fill out the thin local-news report.

Sloppy editing

The high level of editing continues.

A story on Monday's L-5 reported a section of Van Houten Street in Paterson had been renamed in recognition of the city's Bangladeshi community.

In the first paragraph, the street's original name is given as "Van Housten Street."

In Friday's Hackensack Chronicle, another North Jersey Media Group publication, the caption under a large photo of a man climbing over a snowbank in Hackensack said it was taken on "Main Avenue."

In (201) magazine's March 2014 issue, a community profile of Wyckoff lists a farm, a market and restaurants, but omits any mention of the Goffle Road Poultry Farm, which has been raising and selling antibiotic-free birds since 1948 (Page 44).