Losing weight and gaining credibility

This fading sign in the bathroom of an old NJ Transit rail car in New York's Penn Station -- part of the 4:31 express to Trenton on Friday afternoon -- includes an object below the lit cigarette that I can't identify. 

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

A Page 1 story in The Record today suggests Governor Christie is gaining credibility as a presidential contender now that he has had successful weight-loss surgery.

The story appears to be part of the Woodland Park daily's campaign to groom Christie for a White House run while ignoring what a terrible job he has done as governor.

The breathless report by Staff Writers Scott Fallon and Melissa Hayes says "photos show a slimmer governor whose appearance is commented on by New Jerseyans almost everywhere he goes."

What is left unsaid is that before he lost weight, Christie's obesity repelled New Jerseyans almost everywhere he went, especially as his war on the middle class and minorities gained steam.

Unfortunately, Christie's battle of the bulge is one of the few readable stories in the Sunday edition, which is weighed down by Road Warrior and Mike Kelly columns.

Staff Writer John Cichowski, aka The Addled Commuter, seems to equate glare off the glass facade of a 47-story high-rise in Fort Lee with a nationwide death toll from sun glare he puts at 200 people a year, although his columns have been so inaccurate, I'm skeptical about that figure (L-1).

The Kelly column on the Opinion front rambles so much readers can't help noticing the shit-eating grin in his dated thumbnail photo. Neither columnist appears to get any sorely needed editing.

A letter to the editor about the accomplishments of Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli seems to be saying that The Record's Sept. 13 story, "Molinelli leaves a mixed record," was poorly researched and hastily written (O-3).

"FIRST COURSE," a new food feature in Better Living, appears to be a warmed over version of Marketplace, a round-up that ran in The Record's Food section when Pat Mack was editor (BL-2).

On the Better Living front, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung rhapsodizes about two huge hunks of meat -- one a burned pork chop and the other a filet mignon bathed in an artery clogging bearnaise sauce that is guaranteed to send patients to North Jersey cardiac units (BL-1).

Talking about obesity, why would The Record assign Jerry Luciani, the grossly overweight graphics director, to cover a food and wine festival in the Caribbean (T-1)?

The absence of any prices in his Travel story suggests Luciani was comped, leaving readers to wonder how much of the glowing report is accurate and how much is payback to Turks and Caicos tourism officials.

Bottom of the news barrel

Image via Wikipedia

Mass-transit advocates are hoping the No. 7 subway is extended to Secaucus, above.

Most of the front page and almost an entire inside page are taken up today with Staff Writer Andrew Tangel's tangled tale about states putting their public employee pension funds at risk. The main headline -- "Public pensions at risk" -- is one of those the news copy desk keeps on a save/get key and uses every six months or so.

At the bottom of A-1 in The Record of Woodland Park today is a story that shows the paper's public relations machine hard at work, this time praising Governor Christie for slowing the increase in state debt -- without mentioning how he has blown billions in federal education and transportation aid.

Doesn't know ass from elbow

That's supplemented by an editorial (Page O-2) that once again hails Christie's decision to kill the Hudson River rail tunnels and urges extension of the No. 7 subway line to Secaucus. This sounds like it was written by Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin, who doesn't seems to know the meaning of a "one-seat ride" (in mass-transit lingo).

The editorial errs in saying the No. 7 would be a "one-seat ride" to the city "for New Jersey commuters." Only a handful of commuters who walk to the Secaucus station would get a one-seat ride. If you drive or take a bus there, it's two seats; if you take the train to Secaucus, it's also two seats. See, each time your ass is in a sitting position, that's one seat.

The rail tunnels Christie killed would have doubled the number of NJ Transit trains and given many thousands of commuters a one-seat ride into Manhattan from rail stations in North Jersey. The chief benefit of extending the No. 7 line would be a direct link to the East Side of Manhattan for the first time.

The paper seems thin today, as if Editor Frank Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes have been scraping the bottom of the news barrel. 

Misnamed column

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung writes a Sunday column in Better Living called "The Corner Table," which sounds like it's supposed to represent the views of customers. But so many of her columns are like today's -- quoting restaurant owners, chefs and others in the food business.

Couldn't she find any restaurant patrons who had wish lists for the holidays or was she just too lazy to look? I guess she thinks her constant belly aching about the quality of desserts she samples for her restaurant reviews is voice enough for consumers.

If she doesn't change the name of her Sunday column,  she risks being known as Ugh, not Ung. 

Selling out the Travel section

Of all the cruise lines, why is Royal Caribbean's seven-night Mediterranean trip featured in the Travel section's Cover Story? Did the cruise line comp Staff Writer Jerry Luciani, who is head of the graphics department? Or are we to believe the newspaper spent nearly $6,000 to send him and his wife on the trip?

Luciani and another male staffer were seen this year on an all-expenses-paid press junket to Mexico City.

Black, Hispanic, and Asian Indian travelers make a rare appearance today on the usually all-white Page T-3, The Record on the Road photo feature.