When Christie barks, reporters scatter

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Commuters may take to boats to avoid huge Hudson River toll increases.

Have you noticed how many times Governor Christie, agencies like the Port Authority and other news sources refuse to comment on important public issues beyond their press releases and press conferences?


And have you noticed how many times reporters for The Record of Woodland Park obediently quote those refusals and make no attempt to get the information another way -- how they close their notebooks with a sigh and call it a day?


Jeez, is this the first time the Port Authority has proposed a huge toll increase as a bargaining chip and was willing to settle for less?


In Page 1 stories on Saturday, Sunday and today, The Record's reporters and copy editors seem to be stumbling in the dark.


Saturday's two-deck banger headline said the bi-state agency's plan "could double Hudson River tolls," but a chart just about the headline showed some tolls would nearly triple by 2014.


Poker faces


On Sunday, a Port Authority spokesman refused to comment on the possibility the agency would settle for a smaller toll increase, as it did in 2001, or a smaller PATH fare hike, as it did in 2008 (A-4).


Today, in the off-lead story on A-1, , a Christie spokesman declined to comment on the paper's report the new plan had been discussed with the Christie and Cuomo administrations or that the proposed increases "changed several times during the talks."


U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., was upset by the agency's proposals -- in contrast to Christie's response at a Monday press conference: "You're kidding, right?"


Menendez also said it's not credible that Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo were "blindsided."


Also from Menendez today is a powerful OpEd column on Page A-9, slamming the Tea Party for protecting special interests, who receive nearly $27 billion in "unwarranted" oil and ethanol subsidies.


Horse manure


Editor Francis Scandale may be grappling with unfocused Page 1 stories and emasculated reporters, but head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her minions continue to scramble for filler in the Local section.


An update on the Rotary Club's Gift of Life program to treat children with heart disease and its 770th patient (L-1) will appear again when its 820th patient is registered and a third time to herald its 850th patient, and so on and so forth.


Staff Writer Andrea Alexander reports the Teaneck school district still is interested in an $85,000 donation from Cross River Bank, but not whether the bank's officers send their kids to private schools and would refuse to contribute to public education (L-1).


More filler on the future of the state's horse-racing industry appears on L-3 -- once a premier page for local news.


From the laziest assignment desk in the tri-state area, that's all she wrote.

Bear editor attacks readers

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A black bear yearling in Alaska.

At times, The Record has covered bears, bear hunts and related stories better than it has covered Hackensack, Englewood, Teaneck and a lot of other towns.


So, Editor Francis Scandale, if you're going to lead the paper with a sensational bear story, as you do today, make it a good one.


The story by Staff Writer James M. O'Neill is OK, but not as good as the report I saw on the TV news last night (A-1).


The Record story is missing a crucial detail, which was contained in the TV report:  The bear tried to drag at least one of the boys out of his tent. 


And when will the editors stop running a photo of two officers who are standing around and bullshitting, and write a caption saying they are "patrolling"? Here, the officers are called "officials" (A-6).


The other stories on Page 1 today are only there because Scandale didn't have anything better from the crack assignment desk under Editor Deirdre Sykes.


Weighing in


Six days after suffering a Big Mac attack, Governor Christie made a delayed appearance in Somerset County to sign three bills funding open-space preservation (A-3).


Christie singled out U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., for criticizing the debt-ceiling compromise. "I don't know why he's so angry. He's in his 80s and in good health."


If Christie doesn't lose weight, he isn't going to make it to his 80s.


Instead of running story after story on the partisan gridlock in Washington (A-13), please tell readers whether President Obama has executive powers to end the FAA shutdown and if he does, why doesn't he use them?


Amid letters blasting the Repubicans on A-18 is a nonsensical one on budgeting from Mark Kalinowski of Clifton. He's "associated" with "The North New Jersey Tea Party Group."


Unstoppable


Sykes appears unable or unwilling to stop Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski (L-1) from writing about everything but commuting, his original mission.


Here's a question for Sykes' assignment minions:


Why doesn't the L-1 story on Cross River Bank donating $85,000 to restore private-school bus stops in Teaneck -- but nothing for reduced public-school busing -- tell readers whether bank officers live in town and send their kids to private schools?


And while you're at it, are there any ties between the bank and Councilmen Yitz Stern and Elie Katz, who sought its assistance, as reported on L-6?


Although the assignment desk appears to be generating more local news, much of it is inconsequential and reads like the weekly paper Sykes came from. She also continues to rely on photos of non-fatal accidents to fill the section (L-3).


Food snob


As the Second Helpings blog on northjersey.com reports, Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill spends more time hobnobbing with celebrity chefs in Atlantic City than she does publishing healthy and nutritious recipes for readers.