Editors to blame for the voter apathy they are bemoaning

HOMEOWNER, NOT POLITICIAN: Richard L. Cerbo is the only sensible choice in Tuesday's special Hackensack City Council election, if you are interested in electing someone whose main goal is to reverse rising property taxes and give city residents jobs on downtown renewal projects. An unexpired term is at stake.

The sample ballot mailed to Hackensack residents shows a horizontal column of candidates, as opposed to the usual vertical one. Cerbo's name appears first, in "Column 1."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record and other news media do a terrible job of covering elections.

At the Woodland Park daily, the bored, burned-out editors -- who have been pounding keyboards for decades -- actually reduced coverage of local elections, especially those for school board members and budget approvals.

Much of the other election coverage focuses on boring politics, fund-raising and spending by special interest groups -- but hardly ever on issues and what is good for a town, the state or the country.

Today, Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin has the balls to lecture readers on the importance of voting, even in an off-year election like the one on Tuesday.

Voter apathy

An editorial, "Voting matters," says, "... The truth is that all elections are important, from town council to freeholder to the State House" (A-11).

"Tuesday is the time to show your representatives how you feel. It's also an opportunity to maintain control of your community."

Yet, the editorial doesn't mention the special election to fill a City Council seat in Hackensack, the most populous community in Bergen County.

Voter apathy is high in a city once derided as "Zisaville" after decades of rule by a single family.

School spending

Although Hackensack boasts about 20,000 registered voters, fewer than 1,000 of them voted in April's school board election, and this year, they approved an irresponsible $106.88 million budget, one that exceeds the council's own.

Hackensack spends more per pupil than Ridgewood, where schools are considered far superior.

Despite this, school board President Jason S. Nunnermacker has the chutzpah to run as a fiscal conservative in his second bid for a council seat, while hardly mentioning his affiliation with the schools.

Another candidate, Jason S. Some of Some's Uniforms on Main Street is only 25, yet he was appointed in April to the council seat that is now up for grabs on Tuesday.

Young Some is backed by powerful forces, including the Main Street Business Alliance, business and property owners pushing the city's ambitious downtown rehabilitation plan.

I received two comments in reaction to Sunday's post on the special interests behind Nunnermacker and Some:

peanutNovember 2, 2015 at 10:53 AM

Very sketchy on your facts Victor. Some & Geddis are both backed by Zisas, Geddis is NOT backed by union. Current political climate is strange bedfellows - current council & a Zisa both back Some. Nunnermacker is not backed by a Zisa but by quite a few of former "reformer" supporters. A council meeting is not the place for BOE issues, although you keep bringing the subject up there. Go to a BOE meeting to discuss education. Check NJ ELEC for donor reports.

Steven GelberNovember 1, 2015 at 10:26 PM

Gaddis received no such endorsement.... In fact the union President said so.... http://hackensackscoop.blogspot.com/2015/10/council-candidate-receives-endorsement.html

It is unfortunate that you can take to a keyboard with how off base you are with the actual political climate in this town. You do know that there are 2 Zisa candidates? That the Zisa's themselves are divided? That Nunnermacker is fractured from both Zisa factions? Or was the relevance of "double chins" as far as you got into the issues? 

If true, Hackensack really is in deep doo-doo with more political factions muddying the waters than before.

Hackensack news

The Record's Local section today leads with a story on a new executive director at the Main Street Business Alliance, which despite the name doesn't represent the entire street.

Patrice Foresman of Ridgewood is being paid $75,000 a year by a group that only reluctantly contributed money to the Atlantic Street Park, a downtown amenity for which the alliance lobbied hard (L-1).

Her last position was at Community Blood Services in Montvale, which might be relevant in view of how Hackensack taxpayers have been bled mercilessly by litigation against onetime Police Chief Ken Zisa, who also was a Democratic state assemblyman.

Redevelopment

Today's story by Todd South notes:

"The group has been the driving force and partners with the city administration in promoting redevelopment," which would add thousands of new residents in downtown apartments (L-1).

"Those new residents, business owners hope, will bring new retail and restaurant options to the city's rehabilitation zone, which ... spreads outward to include State and River streets" [and 19.7 acres owned by the Borg family's North Jersey Media Group, publishers of The Record].

"The total number of residential units among the five projects already approved for redevelopment is 1,880," including up 700 on the old Record property (L-2). 

Holes in story

There is much missing from South's story.

For one thing, the strategy of building many hundreds of apartments to revive a downtown has already failed miserably in Englewood.

For another, South and previous Hackensack reporters have shirked their responsibility to identify the members of the Main Street Business Alliance who are profiting from redevelopment.

Finally, South doesn't address statements by Richard L. Cerbo, a homeowner seeking the City Council seat in Tuesday's election, that Hackensack could have attracted developers with 10-year tax abatements, instead of those lasting 25 and 30 years.

Cerbo also has criticized the council for not getting guarantees from developers to provide a good percentage of construction and other jobs for city residents.

Apathetic voters didn't derail Hackensack reformers

During Tuesday's election in Hackensack, a poll worker at the Fairmount Elementary School, above, told a woman who supported Victor E. Sasson for City Council to vote instead for the Citizens for Change slate at the top of the ballot. Sasson wrote a letter to the county Board of Elections, complaining about the alleged voter steering.

Voter apathy didn't stop a slate of reformers from sweeping Tuesday's City Council election in Hackensack.

Only 3,513 out of more than 20,000 registered voters cast ballots on Tuesday -- fewer than in both the 2009 and 2005 elections -- a spokeswoman for City Clerk Debra Heck said today.

In the past, low voter turnout doomed candidates who were seeking to oust the Zisa family dynasty, which has held power since the early 1990s.

But on Tuesday, incumbent Councilman John Labrosse led the 5-member Citizens for Change to victory -- denying a bid by 5 Zisa puppets to hold onto power in what is widely mocked as "Zisaville."

Sasson who?

Independent candidate Victor E. Sasson received 344 votes, some of which might have gone to members of the Coalition for Open Government, which he identified as "the Zisa slate."

The Record of Woodland Park denied Sasson a story announcing his candidacy -- unlike its treatment of the two organized slates -- then virtually ignored the campaign.

The victory of the Labrosse slate took the editors by surprise, forcing them to make it front-page news on Wednesday and to follow today with an interpretative story on A-1 and two related stories from Hackensack reporter Hannan Adely and her predecessor, Stephanie Akin.

'Daunting odds'

Today, the first paragraph of the Page 1 story reports the Labrosse team won "against daunting odds." 

But the total voter turnout, number of registered voters and Sasson's own campaign for reform are nowhere to be found.

Still, the story reveals how The Record and other media cover elections -- by comparing campaign donations, and usually giving more space and more favorable coverage to the candidates who amass the most cash.

Then, reporters call all those pundits and experts they have on speed dial, including a political science professor who also writes an opinion column for The Record.

Weinberg steps up

Even Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, belatedly got into the act, praising Citizens for Change on A-8, even though she had refused Sasson's request to make a robocall on behalf the reform candidates in the election.

That opened the way for Newark Mayor Cory Booker to make his own robocall for the Open Government candidates, bowing to their establishment ties and support from Lynne Hurwitz, Hackensack's Democratic Party boss.

Booker's clueless aide is quoted on A-8 today as calling the Hackensack contest "a tough race with good candidates on both sides, but ultimately the mayor supported what he believed to be the strongest overall ticket."

Christie reforms?

Those experts told The Record the Citizens for Change slate benefited from a reform movement sweeping the state, but how do the editors explain a quote from a professor of government at Fairleigh Dickinson University on A-8.

Prof. Peter Wooley alleges, "We are in reform period here in the sense that Chris Christie made real change the centerpiece of his first term as governor."

Of course, Christie loves to tout his "reform agenda," but the vast majority of his policies have hurt the middle and working classes, and catered to the rich.

The Borgs

So, it's no surprise Christie's war on the middle class is labeled "reform" in The Record, which is published by the elite Borg family.

The Borgs shut down the headquarters of The Record in 2009, abandoning Hackensack and dealing another blow to a struggling Main Street.

Their 20 acres along River Street have become an eyesore, and they haven't disclosed plans for the property. 

Hackensack's 'undercover' firefighters

Two unmarked SUVS were parked on Tuesday in a city owned lot next to Hackensack Fire Department headquarters on State Street.

 

Is Hackensack using undercover firefighters in unmarked vehicles to roam neighborhoods in search of homes without smoke alarms or overloaded circuits? 

That might explain two white SUVs parked in the city Fire Department's parking lot on State Street.

But the truth is the unmarked SUVs are among as many as 15 city owned gas guzzlers driven home by employees, only a few of whom are on 24-hour call.

City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono says one of the SUVs is driven home to Maywood by the fire chief, and that the chief's vehicle is "traditionally" unmarked.

Lo Iacono told independent City Council candidate Victor E. Sasson he had no information about the second unmarked SUV.

The second SUV is rumored to be driven home by a deputy fire chief who lives far from Hackensack, and that is why the vehicle is left unmarked.

City passes budget

The Hackensack City Council voted, 4-1, on Tuesday night to approve a $91.9 million budget that calls for a 3.3% hike in property taxes.

Landlords who pay property taxes will undoubtedly pass that increase along to renters, many of whom don't vote in the quadrennial municipal election.

There appeared to be no major changes in the budget, which was introduced on March 19.

The Record didn't cover the meeting, and no story appears in today's Local news section. 

Squelching dissent

Councilman John Labrosse, the only incumbent seeking another term on May 14, voted "no," and his running-mate, Kathy Canestrino, identified budget cuts of about $1 million the city could have made. 

After Canestrino spoke, the city manager said her proposed cuts weren't possible.

When Canestrino wanted to speak again, Mayor Michael R. Melfi said she couldn't, and ended the public hearing on the budget.

Candidates from the Coalition for Open Government -- "the Zisa slate" -- didn't speak during the hearing.

A budget summary listed the "general state of the economy" and "impact of tax appeals" among factors affecting the budget.

But it ignored the tremendous amount of tax-exempt property owned by Hackensack University Medical Center, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Bergen County, and how little they give back to the city.

Hackensack school board is a lesson in politics

Hackensack Board of Education member Jason Nunnermacker, center, is running for City Council in the May 14 election on a slate that has sent out false attack mailings about its opponents. He is flanked by interim Schools Superintendent Joseph Abate, left, and Timothy J. Hoffman, 19, who was elected to the board on April 16 by a ridiculously small minority of registered voters.

The superintendent of Hackensack schools and his staff moved to a building at 191 Second St. about 3 years ago, but the sign out front, above, still does not reflect their occupancy, as if they are deliberately trying to hide from parents, and there are no visitor spots in the parking lot.

The word "SUPERINTENDENT" on the door isn't visible from the street. Parents have to play "find the superintendent," because older phone books still list 355 State St. (the Middle School) as his address and contain obsolete phone numbers. A current phone book doesn't even list the superintendent's office under Hackensack schools.

The Hackensack Board of Education's policy on political activity doesn't bar an active board member from running for City Council, the board's attorney said Monday night.

School trustee Jason Nunnermacker is a member of the Hackensack Coaltion for Open Government, a slate of candidates seeking election on May 14.

There is plenty of evidence the slate is backed and financed in part by Lynne Hurwitz, the city's Democratic boss and the power behind the Zisa family dynasty that is so desperately trying to hold onto power in "Zisaville."

At the board's meeting in Hackensack High School, attorney Richard Salkin objected when independent City Council candidate Victor E. Sasson accused Nunnermacker and his slate of lying about their opponents in attack mailings.

Sasson asked if that was appropriate behavior for a board member, who is supposed to set an example for students.

The Open Government slate already set a poor example for children when its lead candidate -- former high school resource officer and retired police detective Kenneth Martin -- was caught by a store surveillance camera stealing signs put up by the Citizens for Change slate.

Sasson and other members of the public get only 3 minutes to speak before the board, compared with 5 minutes before the council.

Public jobs 

Salkin has a second public job -- municipal prosecutor. And he's a former city attorney, a position he was appointed to by the powers that be.

The attorney also has escorted Nunnermacker and his running-mates to at least one council meeting, where the candidates were overheard discussing where to get the best empanada in Hackensack.

When they encounter Salkin, many taxpayers see red -- the color of his modest Toyota SUV. 

Do they have a minyan?

Sasson also asked if Nunnermacker's colleague on the board, former Councilman Mark Stein, is an official at Temple Beth El on Summit Avenue, but Salkin again objected, saying that was "personal."

The synagogue apparently has been rented by Nunnermacker and other members of his slate to meet congregants on Thursday night, and the other six council candidates are excluded. 

"The board prohibits the use of school premises and school time ... for political purposes," according to board policy.

Nunnermacker appears to have violated the spirit of the regulation when he and other members of his slate mailed campaign material to an unknown number of teachers and support staff on a "confidential" list.

Is there any good reason to vote for Nunnermacker? Hackensack's board spends more per student than Ridgewood, and has little to show for it.
 
'Instant' heroin series

Beginning with Friday's "major heroin bust" on Page 1 and ending with today's report on parents facing "the agony ... of a child's heroin addiction," The Record appears to have come up with an "instant" series.

Were all of the stories coordinated with Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli, who erroneously released a photo of a Fair Lawn woman who was not charged with any wrongdoing (see the embarrassing "Retraction" on A-2 today)?

Two corrections also appear on A-2 today, but the paper can only blame them on the incompetence of Production Editor Liz Houlton and her sleepy copy editors.

Dog news

A photo on L-2 today seems to say Teaneck spent $20,000 on a dog park, but nobody -- and no canine -- is using it.

Were the editors so desperate to fill space in the Local news section that they couldn't send the photographer back for a shot filled with people and dogs? 

City employees get a free ride to the polls

Candidates from opposing slates chatting amiably this afternoon in front of Hackensack's Fairmount Elementary School on Grand Avenue, one of the polling places for today's school-board election. The Ford Crown Victoria parked at the curb carried a license plate with the letters "MG" (Municipal Government), and a man soon left the school, got in and drove away.

At least two Hackensack employees used city owned vehicles to drive to the Fairmount Elementary School to cast their votes in today's school-board election.

The polls opened at 2 p.m. and were to remain open until 9 tonight. 

Six candidates, including two incumbents, were vying for three vacancies on the Board of Education, which has been divided by politics.

Sasson campaign

Victor E. Sasson, an independent City Council candidate in next month's non-partisan election, voted in the school cafeteria, then returned about 15 minutes later with copies of his platform folded inside official applications for mail-in ballots.

Sasson was careful to stay at least 100 feet away from the school entrance, as the law requires, before approaching voters.

Still, a car pulled up and City Clerk Debra Heck got out and handed Sasson a copy of the law on "prohibited actions in polling place on election day."

Heck said she received a report that Sasson had approached voters within 100 feet of the polling place.

Mrs. Heck also was upset that in proposing a residency requirement for city employees, Sasson had mistakenly told voters at a recent forum for council candidates that she was one of the city officials who lived outside Hackensack.

The candidate apologized. 

Dissing Hackensack

The Record's coverage of the contested school-board election in Hackensack was weak, typical of its famously lazy assignment editors, who long ago developed a distaste for covering local contests.

Today's front page again shows that Editor Marty Gottlieb continues to ignore the needs of North Jersey readers.

Christie mismanagement

Why relegate to A-3 the latest version of Governor Christie's irresponsible tax-cut plan?

Three corrections run on A-2 today, including fixes to a misspelled name and an incorrect Page 1 map -- basics that a daily newspaper should be getting right.

Local yokels

In head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' thin Local news section, the only Hackensack news is a follow-up to charges against City Council candidate Kenneth Martin, a retired cop, who is accused of removing his opponents' campaign signs (L-3).