Ethics policy is tossed out the window

Image via Wikipedia

The Record today continues trying to manufacture more controversy over the Bergen Community College president's expense account, but nowhere does the paper explain why editors from the Woodland Park daily and (201) magazine allowed Jerry Ryan to buy them breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Publisher Stephen A. Borg and Record Editor Frank Scandale appear to have discarded the paper's ethics policy, which bars accepting anything of value from new sources.

The long, detailed Page 1 story published on Wednesday buried Ryan's meals with the editors near the end. The initial story, today's A-1 follow and an editorial on A-20 today don't mention whether alcohol was consumed or identify the editors. 

And on Wednesday, readers didn't find out Ryan spent far less than his $50,000 annual cap unless they slogged through the story and turned to the continuation page.

'Top-shelf booze'

In trying to put Ryan in the worst light possible, Staff Writer Pat Alex used loaded language, such as: "The tab often included booze -- top-shelf booze."  And she quoted Ryan saying his waistline suffered from all the meals.

"Top-shelf booze?" That's rich coming from a reporter whose salary allows to her to shop only at the Cheap Beer Depot on Route 4. 

And what kind of "booze" do you suppose Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg guzzled at one time? 

What kind of wine do the younger Borg and big sister, Vice President Jennifer A. Borg, sip at Grand Cru, the Englewood wine bar they invested in?

As for Ryan's admitted weight problem, Alex, the elder Borg, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Projects Editor Tim Nostrand -- all easily dwarf him.  

Hogging credit

Governor Christie is taking credit for an unexpected surge in tax revenue. Most other observers point to the success of the stock market (A-1 and A-4).

But students at William Paterson College are no fools, turning their backs to Lt. Gov. Kim Guadano in a protest over higher education cuts (A-1 and L-1).

Adieu to IMF

Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned as chief of the International Monetary Fund, The New York Times reported early today, but kept his membership in the International Mother F-----s (A-5).

Buying votes

Columnist Charles Stile blasts Christie and the Democrats for buying votes with homestead "tax credits," while public education and many other programs suffer (L-1)

This millionaire didn't get away with it

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

A newspaper reports the fall of one of France's most powerful men.

Publisher Stephen A. Borg knows intimately how New Jersey millionaires like himself get away with everything -- from not paying a tax surcharge on their incomes to taking tax breaks and not creating jobs.

Didn't he get away with a $3.65 million company mortgage to buy a Tenafly McMansion, following up several months later with an unprecedented downsizing and the first layoffs in more than 15 years?

Didn't he get away with folding the Food section, and allowing Editors Frank Scandale and Deirdre Sykes to gut local news as they pursued expensive investigations that went nowhere? 

French tickler

Well, at least one millionaire didn't get away it -- Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the wealthy chief of the International Monetary Fund -- who is shown on The Record's front page today awaiting his arraignment in Manhattan, unshaven and in rumpled clothes from a night in the lockup.

The story and photo take up more than a third of A-1, but there's no mention the defendant was handcuffed and forced to take a perp walk in front of the media.

Strauss-Kahn apparently thought having his way with the room maid is included in the $3,000-a-night rate at Sofitel, a French hotel chain. We don't know if the 32-year-old woman is married or a mother.

If she does have children and the sexual assault and attempted rape charges prove to be true, then Strauss-Kahn can joke the initials IMF stand for "I'm a Mother F----r."

The Daily Show on Monday night identified the victim as an African immigrant. The words "DOUCHE, BAGGED" appeared under a picture of an unshaven Strauss-Kahn.

Instant coma

For the third day in a row, Scandale beats readers senseless with another dense, eye-glazing process story on state or federal finances (A-1 lead). How about that embarrassing typo in the A-1 graphic ("ixed income")?

Compare the claim by the teachers union that Governor Christie has a net worth of $3 million to the pathetically vague A-3 story today. There's no explanation why the governor is earning "royalties" from Listerine.

It's good to see some Seton Hall graduates jeered Christie and one told him to shut up (A-3). When is the state's media going to do their own jeering?

Angling for a makeover

Sykes continues to run stories and photos on the front of Local to promote the bimbos on "The Real Housewives of New Jersey." Is she indirectly asking for a free makeover for herself, Liz Houlton and other fashion-challenged editors?

Today also marks the second court story on erectile dysfunction pills she has run on L-1 in the past three days. Maybe what they used to say about her is true: She has a hard-on for some of the news copy editors.

Of course, there's no room to run municipal news from Hackensack, Teaneck or Englewood, even if she had some.

Editor Barbara Jaeger's Better Living front promotes another book-signing today (F-1), but food coverage is from hunger, just two recipes (F-2). 

Frank's Mideast news roundup

Image via Wikipedia

Some restaurant patrons are boycotting dining rooms in Paterson, above, Clifton and other towns where hookah smoking is allowed.

Never mind that readers rarely see anything on The Record's front page about Libyan troops killing rebels and the Syrian military shooting dead an unknown number of protesters.

But when Israeli soldiers kill Palestinians, Editor Francis "Frank" Scandale sits up and takes notice, ordering an A-1 story and photo for today's thin paper.

Like many journalists, Scandale has a limited attention span, but he knows the hot-button issues that inflame passions in the North Jersey Jewish and Arab-American communities.

Smoke screen

And I guess the main A-1 story today -- about North Jersey teens smoking a water pipe called hookah -- is Scandale's idea of a well-balanced Mideast report. 

But the story focuses on teens going wild in nightclubs and ignores restaurant goers in Paterson, Clifton and elsewhere who have begun to boycott hookah smoke-filled dining rooms. 

The lead story today is a real room-clearer: Readers should get a free subscription if they make it to the end of Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson's process story on the national debt (A-1).

Thrifty millionaire

When you blow $3,000 on a Manhattan hotel suite, why pay more for a prostitute? Just get off by attacking the room maid (A-4). 

Dominique Strauss-Kahn denies the sex-assault charges, but a check of French birth records shows his original name is Strauss-Con.

What balls

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section has no Hackensack, Teaneck or Englewood news today, but she found room for a book excerpt from a former sports writer (L-1).

Living large

No food editor in memory has lived so publicly as Susan Leigh Sherrill -- the one-recipe-a-week incumbent -- who frequently sends out tweets on where she goes, who she meets and what she eats.

Here are some recent tweets -- or "brain farts" in the words of political satirist Bill Maher -- from Hawaii, where Sherrill is celebrating her 50th birthday. 

She also provides links to photos of the celebration on her and her husband's Web site, Spoon & Shutter. 

susanlsherrill Susan Sherrill

Birthday Trip to Maui - Part II http://wp.me/pNRsK-XV

13 May

susanlsherrill Susan Sherrill

Birthday trip to Maui - Part I http://wp.me/pNRsK-XA

12 May

susanlsherrill Susan Sherrill

Watching polo in up-country Maui, drinking cava and, oh yeah, celebrating my 50th birthday ...

8 May