Trump's anti-women, anti-black rhetoric will never prevail

On Wednesday night in Las Vegas, GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump showed how truly ugly he is during the third and final debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton, who was the clear winner, above and below, though you won't see that reflected in The Record's Page 1 coverage today.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In anti-women and anti-black comments on Wednesday night, GOP White House hopeful Donald J. Trump again showed he is a truly ugly, unapologetic male chauvinist pig.

His attacks during the final presidential debate ranged from calling Democrat Hillary Clinton a "nasty women" to pledging to appoint right-to-life justices to the Supreme Court to denying reports from women that he groped and kissed them against their will.

In a parting shot designed to appeal to his racist supporters, the wacko billionaire claimed electing Clinton would be the same as returning our first black president to office. 

Today's coverage

Clinton said Trump "thinks belitlling women makes him bigger" (A-4).

"He goes after their dignity, their self-worth," she said.

His "trickle-down economics on steroids," as Clinton called it; his getting away with not paying federal taxes; his business losses of nearly a billion dollars in one year -- all show his economic plan is a sham.

"We have undocumented immigrants paying more in taxes than a billionaire," Clinton said (A-1).

Kelly on Kelly

Columnist Mike Kelly appears to have set a record with his Page 1 profile of Bridget Anne Kelly, Governor Christie's former deputy chief of staff and a defendant in the Bridgegate trial.

This is not only more than he has written about any one person, but it certainly eclipses anything the editors have published about Clinton's long public service and her policy positions in the presidential campaign (A-1 and A-6).

Kelly's largely sympathetic portrait of the defendant, who grew up in Ramsey, clashes with her being portrayed as a central figure in the George Washington Bridge lane closures to punish Fort Lee's Democratic mayor for not endorsing the reelection of Christie.

No one knows how Bridget Kelly, who is scheduled to testify before a federal jury, will try to explain away her infamous email to Christie crony David Wildstein at the Port Authority:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Zisa editorial

An editorial claims Hackensack taxpayers will have to shoulder a $3 million payment to former Police Chief Ken Zisa because of the "mistakes of their city fathers" (A-10).

One so-called mistake was not having Zisa's back pay "accumulating in an account," but the editorial doesn't list any others.

Although all of the charges in a Bergen County grand injury indictment against Zisa have been dropped, the editorial neglects to mention no court or jury has ever said the former chief didn't commit a crime.

Stale news

The front page on Wednesday carried a stale headline.

"Hackensack plans

 $3M payment to Zisa" 

Eye on The Record already reported the payment on Oct. 5, and the Woodland Park daily's John Seasly followed with his own report two days later.

The news is that the City Council on Tuesday night proposed a $3 million appropriation raised through selling bonds "to fulfill a court-mandated payment" to Zisa (A-1 on Wednesday).

Seasly continues to ignore plans by Zisa and other members of his family's political dynasty, which ruled Hackensack for decades, to run a slate and try to regain power in next May's municipal election.

Zisa allies have long controlled the city's Board of Education.

Christie critic

Staff Writer John Cichowski is the latest staffer to pile on Christie since the fatal Hoboken train crash, revelations in the Bridgegate trial, and the biggest bugs up the veteran reporter's ass -- computer breakdowns and long lines at Motor Vehicle Commission offices.

His Road Warrior column on L-1 today breaks years of silent acquiescing to Christie's anti-mass transit policies, and refusal to raise the gas tax to pay for road and rail improvements.

Cichowski even blames Christie for rising traffic deaths this year "after three decades of decline" (L-2).

Columns such as Cichowski's ring hollow in view of The Record being the only major daily paper in the state that didn't call for the GOP thug to resign after he endorsed Trump.

Whole Foods

On Wednesday, retailing reporter Joan Verdon was incorrect in saying the new Closter Whole Foods "will have features not found in other stores, including a juice bar and coffee stand."

The Whole Foods in Paramus has both.

She also omitted mentioning that Costco Wholesale has expanded its organic and natural-food selection far more than the Whole Foods competitors she lists: Fairway, Trader Joe's, Walmart and Target.

Hackensack schools chief is out; wacko Trump taps Plump

Karen Lewis, superintendent of Hackensack schools, has been suspended with pay, according to BergenDispatch.com (Photo credit: Schoolword.com)

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record missed another big Hackensack story today -- the suspension with pay of Schools Superintendent Karen Lewis.

On Monday, Paul Nichols of BergenDispatch.com cited "multiple sources" in reporting that Lewis is out despite a 5-year contract that paid her $167,500 a year starting on Dec. 1, 2013.

With bonuses, Lewis was paid more than Governor Christie, who receives $175,000 a year.

Board of Education President Jason Nunnermacker had no comment, but told Nichols "the matter will be appropriately addressed" at tonight's scheduled board meeting in the high school media room.

The suspension comes about three weeks after the April 19 Hackensack school election.

Two incumbents and a former board member were elected to three-year terms, and a tiny minority of registered voters approved a $79 million tax levy to support a total school budget of $104 million.

Trump and Christie

Since Christie took office in early 2010, the GOP bully has transformed New Jersey into a state of emergency.

So, you have to wonder why the editors are making such a big deal over wacko racist Donald Trump picking Christie to head a transition team in the unlikely event the billionaire and presumptive Republican nominee is elected president (A-1).

Satirist Bill Maher referred to the pair as "Trump and Plump."

Trump's election is as much of a long shot as was Christie's bid for the nomination.

Women to bury him

The billionaire racist likely will be buried under the votes of millions of women for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

One thing Trump and Christie have in common is their hatred of Muslims, and both have tapped into the deep-seated racial animosity toward our first black president.

In New Jersey, not only has the governor been waging war against New Jersey's middle and working classes, but his cancellation of the Hudson River rail tunnels has really screwed up mass transit -- as another Page 1 story reports today.

The story on the Gateway Tunnel project carries a dual byline -- Christopher Maag, who covers NJ Transit, and Paul Berger, the Port Authority reporter.

But the first paragraph is overly long, and contains the phrases "environmental permits" and "environmental regulations."

Federal agencies are said to want to "rush through environmental regulations" -- whatever that means.

Local news?

From the looks of the local-news section, there was plenty of room for a story on the Hackensack schools superintendent.

The only other Hackensack news is a huge photo of two vehicles burning on Byrne Street after a power line fell (L-6).

Below that is another filler photo, this one about a stove fire in Paramus.

'Army of hacks'

A brief on Uber drivers forming a new labor organization in New York City to win better treatment and pay refers to them an "army of homemade hacks" (L-9).

Surely, that's an insult, considering that many Uber drivers in the city have years of experience as livery drivers or work for Uber to supplement their income from other driving jobs.

The true hacks are the reporter and editors who handled the story, which is from an unnamed news service.

Better Living

What are readers to make of today's Better Living cover story on grown men racing miniature radio-controlled racing cars in Hackensack (BL-1)?

And why does the piece carry the byline of Maag, a transportation reporter?

On BL-2, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung promotes another spot for Callahan's mystery meat hot dogs.

Trump, world's richest racist, brings out worst in media

A Honda Accord with an "OP ED" license plate was parked in a reserved space at an upscale residence for seniors in Teaneck on Tuesday. In The Record today, you'll find the op-ed page on A-11, opposite the editorial page, filled as it always is with commentary on the news.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Is U.S. Sen. John McCain's Vietnam War record an issue in the 2016 presidential race?

Of course not, but that doesn't stop The Record of Woodland Park from putting Donald Trump's irrelevant and outrageous comments all over Page 1 today and Sunday.

The Borgs are actually wasting a ton of money on sending Staff Writer Charles Stile to South Carolina to assess Trump's impact on Governor Christie's long-shot campaign for the GOP nomination (A-1).

Political Stile is a column only politicians read; North Jersey readers are bored to tears with it, and their eyes roll every time Editor Martin Gottlieb puts it on the front page.

Failed reporters

Stile is a weak reporter because he completely missed the signs that Christie's White House bid was doomed to failure after all the years the GOP bully mismanaged New Jersey.

Instead of a serious discussion on immigration, Trump denounced Mexicans who come to the United States as rapists, drug dealers and criminals.

What I am sure followed were Mexican-American cooks and other Latino workers in expensive restaurants spitting in Trump's food every chance they got. 

Garrett v. Jackson

Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson is another incompetent reporter.

For years, he's been relaying one "no comment" after another from Rep. Scott Garrett, the Tea Party idol and conservative crackpot who is so completely out of step with his Bergen County constituency.

Today, he reports the Wantage Republican cast two votes in Washington, "but ... continued to avoid public comment about his own controversial opposition to financing gay Republican candidates" (A-1).

Garrett "has not responded in any way to numerous requests to his office for comment," the exasperated reporter says on Page 1 today, as he has done in so many previous stories.

Yet, every time Garrett runs for another term, Jackson seems to forget what a cowardly politician he is and heaps praise on his fund-raising ability, completely ignoring his stance on issues or on making himself accessible to the media and by extension the public.

Doesn't The Record's editorial board have any leverage with Garrett's stone-walling staff in D.C.?

Jackson certainly doesn't.

No horse race

The Record and other media are bored with the issues that engage many voters.

Yet, they are desperate for a horse race in the 2016 presidential race, and if it doesn't materialize, they will manufacture one, as they are trying to do now.

When the Republicans put up Mitt Romney against incumbent Barack Obama in 2012, the media were reporting one poll after another that showed the elitist clown was a serious threat.

But the president won a second term by wide margins in both the popular vote and in the Electoral College.

It was, as they say, no contest. The irresponsible media let us down once again.

Editors go from mindless P.R. to calling Christie 'long shot'

Only one side of the Route 46 bridge in Little Ferry has been rebuilt, including a new sidewalk and  guardrail to protect pedestrians, above. And the accident-plagued former Little Ferry Circle still has the look of a construction zone, below. The work began in June 2014.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you thought Saturday's front page was boring, Page 1 of the Sunday edition delivers a tedious retrospective on home foreclosures and an "Analysis" on spending at public colleges.

Even today's bright headline and story on lawyers who wear bow ties can't lift Editor Martin Gottlieb's front page out of the doldrums.

I would have liked to see Stephanie Akin's story at least mention the exorbitantly high legal fees that allow bow-tied lawyers to exhibit such sartorial splendor (A-1).

GOP clowns

And why did Gottlieb lead with that clown, Donald Trump, questioning the war heroism of Arizona Sen. John McCain (A-1), and not Governor Christie's defense?

Then, the real "news" in today's paper would have been on Page 1, not on A-8, a declaration by The Record that Christie's presidential campaign "is viewed by many as a long shot."

That's fortified by an Opinion column (O-2) noting Christie is a "third-tier GOP presidential candidate who was tied with Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum, each of whom netted 2 percent in a nationwide survey of GOP voters ...."

Next step

Of course, The Record's editorial board needs to really put an end to more than five years of shameless public relations for the GOP bully from Columnist Charles Stile, Staff Writer Melissa Hayes and others.

The Woodland Park daily must call on Christie to give up his so-called campaign and try to repair all the damage he has done in New Jersey since he took office in early 2010.

Local hero?

The editors of Page 1 and the Local front don't seem to talk to each other.

On the front page, Trump slams McCain, but L-1 is dominated by a parade for another prisoner of war, Vito Trause of Washington Township, celebrating his 90th birthday.

Neither story refers to the other, as is common newspaper practice.

Overfed

Today's column from the dessert-obsessed Elisa Ung may be her first acknowledgement in more than eight years of food reporting at The Record that many people have dietary restrictions that prevent them from eating anything and everything under the sun, as she does (BL-1).

But she interviews only chefs who are diabetic or have celiac disease.

Surely, she must know -- or doesn't want to know -- that many thousands of her readers are following a heart-healthy diet or, unlike her, just watching their weight and cholesterol.

Good, bad work

Staff Writer Richard Newman, whose byline is on the Page 1 foreclosure story, did a great job on the profile of Capt. Mike Bowers, United Airlines' chief pilot at Newark Liberty International Airport (B-1).

But the upbeat Real Estate front on a developer who is converting a Paterson ribbon mill into apartments (R-1) clashes with The Record's usual portrayal of Silk City -- gun violence, drug dealers and corrupt politicians.

The story by veteran Staff Writer Kathleen Lynn doesn't even answer such typical questions as how close tenants are to food shopping and other businesses, and how does a Paterson landlord justify renting a one-bedroom apartment with a loft for $1,200 a month?

Second look

We may pay some of the highest municipal and county taxes in the nation, but town and Bergen County officials continue to disappoint residents when it comes to repaving streets.

For the last couple of years, utility work has torn up streets from Hackensack to Hackettstown, and most of them remain roughly patched and bumpy going for anything smaller than a Sherman Tank.

Except for an annual column or two on potholes, Road Warrior John Cichowski ignores the abysmal condition of streets, some of which haven't been paved in decades.

In fact, when Oradell officials approved the milling and paving of five streets, the story landed on the Local news front on Saturday.

Staff Writer Nicholas Pugliese reported the borough's capital budget of more than $1 million included "aggressive spending on road improvements."

In Hackensack, officials have announced the repaving of two major streets, Grand and Prospect avenues, but the latter project won't provide smoother going for residents who live on several blocks between Passaic Street and Ross Avenue.