Editors come down hard on Christie, but six years too late

Solar panels form the roof of the Bergen County Administration Building's employee parking garage in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In 2010, Governor Christie delayed the first expansion of metropolitan area rail service in ages by at least a decade.

In torpedoing new Hudson River rail tunnels, he ensured that hundreds of thousands of commuters would face increasing traffic congestion, loss of productivity, worsening air pollution, and fewer seats on NJ Transit trains and buses.

But The Record of Woodland Park didn't see the monumental consequences of his actions, and pretty much swallowed whole his claim he killed the project to save taxpayers millions more in cost overruns.

Now, today's editorial is blaming "the Christie administration" for turning NJ Transit "from the jewel of regional commuter-rail systems to the joke of them; it has been a race to the bottom" (O-2).

But Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin has only himself to blame.

He ignored the ramifications of the tunnel decision, then refused to out the governor when Christie grabbed hundreds of millions of dollars in leftover funds to pave roads and fix bridges.

That allowed the GOP thug to impose his conservative fiscal policies on the state, and continue vetoing a hike in the gasoline tax to fund Transportation Trust Fund road and rail improvements.

Doblin didn't even protest Christie slashing state subsidies to NJ Transit by more than 90 percent, triggering fare hikes and service cuts, and delaying an automatic braking system that could have prevented last month's fatal train crash in Hoboken.

Trump, Garrett on A-1

Today's front page is dominated by a large photo of GOP presidential nominee and sexual predator Donald J. Trump bringing his campaign of lies, racism and hatred to Edison (A-1 and A-3).

Leading the paper is an investigative piece on accidental shootings of minors -- one every other day during the first six months of the year (A-1).

So you'd think a Page 1 story on Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, would mention one of the most conservative members of Congress gets an "A" from the National Rifle Association for opposing gun control.

But it doesn't. 

Garrett lies

In Opinion, Columnist Brigid Harrison asks, "Why would Garrett knowingly mislead voters" in ads about his opponent, Democrat Josh Gottheimer (O-4).

"Why would he blame his opponent for ridiculous positions, and mislead voters about his own record?"

She answers her own questions by revealing that in 13 years in office, the 5th District congressman "has successfully had [only] four pieces of legislation become law."

Unbearable

For the second day in a row, The Record is publicizing a protest over the death of a bear named "Pedals," which walked upright and had a Facebook page before he was killed by a bow hunter (L-1).

It isn't known whether the protesters have demonstrated against the mistreatment and death of humans, including the slaughter of innocent children and teens during gang shootouts in Paterson.

A story on a food fest in Clifton notes the city of 86,000 is "among the most diverse in the state and has large Latino, Middle Eastern and Polish communities (L-1).

But Staff Writer Pat Alex neglects to mention African-Americans made up less than 5% of the city's population in the 2010 census, even though Clifton surrounds Passaic city and shares a border with Paterson.

Second coming

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung devotes her entire Sunday column to cauliflower dishes at restaurants, "noting the white flowered vegetable has become one of the hottest trends in the food world" (BL-1).

Ung's column, The Corner Table, appears on the Better Living cover, which two years ago, nearly to the day, carried another story on cauliflower's resurgence under this headline:

"CAULIFLOWER'S COMEBACK"

Bloodthirsty NRA just shrugs off deadliest mass shooting

An image of racist Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was on display in January at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan, where armed National Guard members have been posted since 9/11, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You'll have to search for mention of the evil National Rifle Association in The Record's extensive coverage of the massacre at a gay club in Florida.

An unsigned editorial, referring to the shooting inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, notes:

"The slaughter  of elementary school children was a crime that cried up to the heavens for justice. The National Rifle Association shouted louder" (A-8). 

The reaction of the NRA is so predictable reporters didn't even bother to ask for a statement on a gunman using an assault-style rifle to kill at least 50 people and wound 53 others (later revised to 49 deaths).

Assault-style weapons were outlawed in 1994, The Washington Post reports on A-3 today, but the ban expired in 2004, and Congress apparently caved into the NRA and "opted not to renew it."

More security

After the 9/11 attacks on America, we spent billions on homeland security, including equipping local police departments with armored vehicles, weapons for SWAT teams and other terror-fighting equipment.

But in November 2013, the Paramus Police Department, though armed to the teeth, didn't arrive at Garden State Plaza until after a man with a rifle panicked scores of shoppers and employees by firing rounds into the ceiling before committing suicide in the basement.

In a bottom-line decision, the shopping center, the biggest in New Jersey, didn't employ armed security guards then and doesn't now.

Would more armed security guards at malls, arenas, schools and movie theaters have prevented some of the 14 mass shootings in the past decade (A-3)?

If Pulse, the gay club in Orlando, employed armed security guards, would gunman Omar Mateen have been able to take so many lives?

Offensive column

Veteran reporter Mike Kelly offends readers today with a column that uses plays on words at the expense of the people slaughtered in the gay club on Sunday (A-1).

"And now it's Orlando, Fla., and a nightclub with an ironic name -- Pulse," his Page 1 column begins.

"The latest mass shooting -- the deadliest in U.S. history -- is yet another beat in a disheartening national pulse...."

I'm confused. A mass shooting is a "beat" in a "pulse"? 

Then, Kelly claims "this sort of mass murder may just be America's new normal -- the new pulse of the national heartbeat."

First, the massacre is a "beat," then it's a "pulse." 

This kind of meaningless pushing around of words is typical of Kelly.

Maybe, Kelly's insensitivity toward the death of 50 people in a gay nightclub is rooted in the columnist's well-known homophobia, which was evident in his reporting from Asbury Park in 2000.

In a major piece for The Sunday Record, Kelly failed miserably as a journalist by not saying a single word about the urban gays who were leading the way in reviving the faded shore resort -- as reported by The New York Times' New Jersey section, which was published the very same day.

Clifton bigotry

The local reaction story on Page 1 today should have been given a prominent headline. 

Some readers might be shocked that at least one Clifton resident opposed the raising of a rainbow flag at City Hall, and "wondered whether flags for the Ku KLux Klan and ISIS might be next" (A-1).

The rainbow flag was popularized as a symbol of lesbian, bisexual and transgender pride and diversity in 1978.

Headlines, then screams from readers

Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda at Yad Vashem. (Wikipedia)

Readers can't decide what is worse: 

Columnist Mike Kelly pushing around thousands of words in an eye-glazing rewrite of news stories about a hate-filled Polish-American newspaper editor or the stupid headline on top of today's Page 1 story.

Chester Grabowski, the late publisher of the Post-Eagle newspaper in Clifton, is referred to as a "leader" in the main headline.

Where was Editor Liz Houlton, supervisor of the copy desk, out shopping for another schmatta?

And even though Kelly cites Grabowski's anti-black and anti-Jewish remarks in the Polish-American paper, the sub-headline refers to anti-Semitism "claims."

And the long-winded columnist himself cites "an alleged history" of anti-Semitic remarks and support for the Klu Klux Klan. Why "alleged"?

On top of the news

Unfortunately, many eyes fell on Kelly's column, which was displayed on the front page next to a love triangle murder-suicide suspiciously close to the Woodland Park newsroom -- another instance of The Record dramatizing events near its headquarters and ignoring Hackensack and other Bergen towns.

Far better columnist

A far better column than Kelly's was the effort from Staff Writer Harvy Lipman, who writes about John Fugazzie, the founder of a support group for the unemployed who just lost his job (below the fold on A-1).

Lipman's piece is a model of clarity and he gets to the point right away, in contrast to Kelly's endless, overly dramatic, question-filled recounting of events.

"A mystery now hangs over Clifton" is Kelly's lead sentence. 

No. The mystery is how he keeps his job after turning out drivel like this three times a week or more or why Editor Marty Gottlieb thinks this kind of crap is good enough for Page 1.

More road kill

Readers' patience -- tested by Kelly on Page 1 -- really gets a workout on the Local front, where the failed Road Warrior columnist writes off Tuesday's front-page story on free train and bus rides for NJ Transit workers.

Staff Writer John Cichowski's obsession with drivers and the MVC forms the basis of numerous columns, but he appears to have actually left the office for today's piece, in contrast to rewriting reports and surveys or answering inane e-mails from readers with inaccurate or incomplete information.

Cichowski rails against free rides for transit workers, cops and state officials on business, ignoring a crisis in mass transit, as does an editorial (A-8). 

Dissing Hackensack

Meanwhile, Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, worked hard, as usual, to find Hackensack news.


Staff Writer Stephanie Akin, who has more talent in one finger than Kelly or Cichowski have in their entire bodies, turned out eight paragraphs on Fairmount residents who interrupted a car burglary (L-3).

Cholesterol check

On the Better Living front, Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill is back with her let-them-eat-dessert  approach to nutrition (BL-1).

A recipe for Chocolate-Chunk Pumpkin Bread Pudding contains 6 egg yolks, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 stick-plus of butter and 6 ounces of chocolate. 

In response, cardiac units at North Jersey hospitals are warming up their ambulances.

No apology for generic news

Buses carrying New Jersey commuters are backed up during the morning rush hour at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan. Don't expect The Record to report on whether a bigger terminal is needed. The editors have banned mass-transit news.

The Record's front page today carries an apology for problems "with telephone calls to our offices in the 973 area code."

But I didn't see any apology for a dull newspaper from Editor Marty Gottlieb and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes.

The lead story on Page 1 today is about failure of a "river cleanup" in a region where just about all of the rivers are stubbornly polluted.

The biggest element on A-1 is about Halloween in Clifton -- one of an estimated 90 towns in the circulation area.

How does Hackensack manage to pull off an entire block of homes decorated for Halloween while Clifton chokes on just one house?

More sports on A-1

The other Page 1 stories are about the presidential race and baseball.

The lead story on Monday's front page ran under a riveting headline: "Towns buried in paperwork."

The biggest element on Page 1 is about Samantha Oh, a Korean woman who is the first female Asian-American officer on the staff of the Bergen County sheriff.

This is only the latest story about Korean-Americans, who get far more coverage in The Record than North Jersey's larger ethnic groups.

Elephant goes berserk

Local on Monday and today carried little municipal news, and nothing from Bergen's most diverse towns: Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood.

Today, Columnist Charles Stile dissects Governor Christie's appearances for GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney without discussing the elephant in the TV studio (L-1).

Many viewer watching Christie on CBS' "Face the Nation" shook their heads over just how big he has grown -- a subject Stile and the media won't touch with a 6-foot hero sandwich. 

What didn't happen

On Monday, Columnist Mike Kelly bored readers again with something that didn't happen in his hometown of Teaneck, calling it "a story of our times" (L-1).

Somehow, the editors missed reporting the death of international motorsports journalist Chris Economaki of Ridgewood on Saturday or Sunday.

The obituary finally appeared on Monday (L-5).