Mac's pal gets front-page play again

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It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Mac Borg and Jon Hanson.

Today brings another Page 1 bully pulpit in The Record for wealthy real estate developer Jon F. Hanson -- a close, jet-setting friend of  Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg and Governor Christie's adviser on the state's sports and entertainment industries.


How cozy. Thanks to Christie, Borg and Hanson don't have to worry about a millionaires tax, giving them more money to buy fuel for the business jet they co-own -- the one that roars overhead just as you're trying to enjoy your backyard.


Editor Francis Scandale indulges Staff Writer John Brennan, whose endless pieces on Hanson's panel often land on the front page. Of course, hundreds of calls have flooded the news desk, clamoring for such coverage.


Another lie


If "truth-serum" statements were barred from a recent cold-case murder trial in Hackensack, and courts have consistently ruled them inadmissible, why bore readers with a long story on A-1 today?


Can anyone make heads or tails of a column by Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin on Tom Hanks and Bergen Community College President G. Jeremiah Ryan (A-11)?


Screwed for decades by Ford Motor Co.'s toxic dumping, by the legal community and by the media, adults in a mixed-race Upper Ringwood community may be tested for lead poisoning (Local front). Duh.


Second opinion


The Record's editors and columnists can't write dispassionately about Christie, but Brigid Harrison, a political science and law professor, doesn't have that problem.


In her column on Page O-2 of Sunday's Opinion section, Harrison talks about the governor's style:


"Brashness we found charming 18 months ago is wearing. And divisive. And indicative of deep-seated insecurity. And unpresidential."


Just think. If the GOP bully runs for president in 2012, we'll be rid of him in about 16 months.

Dreary Sunday, dreary Sunday paper

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The Record reports an MTV show "re-branded" the New Jersey shore.

Editor Francis Scandale did his best to match the Sunday paper to the dreary weather we've been having in North Jersey.

You know he's just collecting a paycheck when two of the three stories on Page 1 of The Record today are dry process stories -- on teacher tenure and the state's pension deficit.

The Woodland Park daily's consumer columnist doesn't help readers save money at the gas pump. And the restaurant columnist doesn't help readers navigate all the new restaurant discounts and promotions.

So, it was a pleasant surprise to see a story on the Local front today about raising cash with a garage sale by Staff Writer Jay Levin, the local obituary reporter.

Detour ahead

Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski has lost it. If you can figure out what he's saying on L-1 today -- especially the second paragraph with its double negative -- you should get a reward.

Town reporter Melissa Hayes has three stories in Local today, but I don't see anything by Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado or Englewood reporter Giovanna Fabiano.

Sleeper

In Business, a reporter seems to have fallen for a one-liner by a wealthy mattress executive, who claims his snoring keeps his wife up (B-6). Is it credible he hasn't found one of the over-the-counter snoring remedies?

In Better Living, it's bad enough the food editor promotes a new cookbook every week, but now The Corner Table Columnist Elisa Ung is shilling for a book on family recipes (F-1).

Exposing an 'expose'

In Opinion, a letter to the editor from Patrick Ragosta of Dumont dismisses two A-1 "exposes" last week on Bergen Community College President Jerry Ryan and, indirectly, today's silly column by Mike Kelly on O-1.

Ragosta points out Ryan raised $3.8 million in donations for the college in 2010 and put in for less than $30,000 in expenses.

In Travel, Staff Writer Mike Kerwick invokes that inane TV show, "Jersey Shore," in writing about his childhood summers in Manasquan (T-1). 

The shore, one of the state's great assets, doesn't need a TV show to give it legitimacy.