City Council rebukes school official who claimed he cut tax

Hackensack Board of Education President Jason Nunnermacker (he's the one with the double chin) hiding from the camera at Tuesday night's City Council meeting, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Hackensack Board of Education President Jason Nunnermacker was being dishonest when he claimed at a public meeting that school officials "cut taxes for the average homeowner by $214," city officials said Tuesday night.

Near the end of a long City Council meeting, Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino said Nunnermacker "had absolutely nothing to do" with potential property tax cuts from a citywide reassessment of home values.

Apropos of nothing, Nunnermacker rose to speak at the May 3 City Council meeting and declared:

"On the superintendent's behalf, we cut taxes for the average homeowner by $214 -- under my presidential leadership." 

(A week later, Nunnermacker announced at a school board meeting that Superintendent Karen Lewis had been suspended with pay for reasons he didn't disclose.) 

Cites revaluation

On Tuesday night, Canestrino, speaking for the mayor and council, said the citywide revaluation is the "sole reason" some homeowners could see a total cut of about $400 in city and school taxes.

School taxes make up 44% of the total property tax bill.

Canestrino noted the reassessment lowered the value of one-third of the homes in the city, one-third stayed the same and one-third went up.

She also noted the school board approved a $4.2 million hike in the tax levy that a tiny minority of registered voters approved in the April 19 election.

The $79 million tax levy supports an overall budget of $104 million, higher than the city's own. The hike in the city tax levy was $2.1 million -- half of the board's increase.

The Record didn't bother covering the issues or the nine candidates in the school board election or report on the budget in any detail.

Councilwoman Deborah Keeling-Geddis, right, again led the city's African-American community in criticizing officials for the embarrassing Lt. James Prise promotion. Councilman David Sims, second from right, left the meeting to take care of a personal matter before Keeling-Geddis read a statement and audience members, including clergy, spoke.

Lt. James Prise

Staff Writer John Seasly of The Record covered Tuesday night's City Council meeting, but his story in the Local section today doesn't report any of Canestrino's comments about Nunnermacker (L-1).

Nor does Seasly report that City Councilwoman Deborah Keeling-Geddis again led members of the city's African-American community in criticizing officials for promoting police Lt. James Prise to captain, only to return him to his original rank when it was learned he failed the oral portion of the state civil service exam.

Prise was the city's first black police lieutenant and was heralded as its first black captain at a March 8 ceremony in City Council Chambers.

City Manager David Troast said Prise's promotion was "provisional" pending the results of the oral exam, but he still thinks he was the right choice to lead the Police Department after the retirement of Police Director Mike Mordaga.

In response to comments from the audience that the City Council should issue a public apology to Prise, Canestrino and Mayor John Labrosse said officials have apologized a number of times, but that The Record hasn't reported any of them.

Censorship

A front-page story today reports that Bergen County had one of the state's 191 "apartheid schools," or "schools where 1 percent or less of the student population was white," according to a 2013 Rutgers University report.

But even though a Record reporter added material to the story from The Associated Press, that district isn't identified (A-1).

"Apartheid schools" certainly would fit the elementary and middle schools in Englewood, where desegregation efforts in the last decade have focused only on Dwight Morrow High School.

Over the years, Dan Sforza and other Record reporters assigned to Englewood have routinely ignored the city's dysfunctional school system.

Then, Sforza spent many years as a local editor who assigned reporters to cover stories in Englewood before he was promoted to managing editor this year.

Staff Writer Mathhew McGrath, who covers the city now, has written about education, but never reported the city's elementary and middle schools have few white students nor has he asked the superintendent what, if anything, he intends to do about that.

Even if cleared in Bridgegate, Christie still is biggest loser

This front page ran in the Daily News in January 2014, and proved prophetic. The News, Star-Ledger and other newspapers have covered Governor Christie and his administration far more honestly than The Record of Woodland Park.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Since Governor Christie took office in early 2010, New Jersey has become a laughing stock.

And a couple of months ago, Christie's endorsement of fellow Muslim-hater Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination prompted the editorial boards of seven major New Jersey dailies to call for his resignation.

"He has answered every crisis with neglect during his disastrous second term," The Star-Ledger noted on March 3, calling on him to leave office for "New Jersey's sake."

The state's biggest newspaper listed the state's fiscal crisis as second worst in the nation, including Atlantic City on the brink of bankruptcy, a mass-transit system in disrepair and an infrastructure fund fast running out of money.

The Woodland Park daily was the only major New Jersey paper that continued to give Christie the benefit of the doubt, filling its column recently with upbeat assessments of his selection as Trump's transition chief -- in the unlikely event the billionaire racist is elected in November.

"Make America Hate Again" is one critic's take on Trump's message.

By his side

Today and Thursday, The Record ran self-serving statements from Christie that all but absolved him in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal less than two months before he was elected to a second term in 2013.

The Record has done exhaustive reporting on the scandal, and now takes credit for leading other media companies in getting federal prosecutors to release a list of "unindicted co-conspirators" that was kept secret after Christie's close aide and crony were charged with conspiracy.

Two of three access lanes to GWB upper-level tool booths were closed in the week of Sept. 9, 2013, as political retribution against Fort Lee's Democratic mayor, supposedly for not supporting the governor's reelection campaign.

A second list "is expected to offer the broadest portrait yet of who knew about the conspiracy but did not report it" (A-1).

Worst governor ever

Whether one or both lists are released today and whether Christie is on them is irrelevant in view of his mean-spirited rule of New Jersey, and his war on the middle and working classes.

For a hands-on governor to claim he didn't know what his closest aides and cronies were doing is preposterous, and he long ago was convicted in the court of public opinion.

No matter what happens in Bridgegate, Christie's reign has been disastrous for the state and its residents.

He is the biggest loser, and we are the victims of his personal ambition.

Today's paper

I've seen some terrific headlines in The Record recently, but the one over the GWB scandal today is just ridiculous:

"Seeking
clarity in
political
morass"

Readers have no clue from the main or sub-headline what "political morass" the headline writer is referring to, and it could very well be the deadlock in Congress or the State House.

Of course, a big problem is the huge story on GWB repairs that is displayed next to the scandal story, even though the project doesn't get under way until next year (A-1).

Infrastructure stories such as this are a poor choice for Page 1, but Editor Deirdre Sykes is desperate, because she can't inspire her transportation reporters -- Paul Berger, Christopher Maag and John Cichowski -- to cover the actual commuting crisis in North Jersey.

Rare victory

Another Page 1 story today marks a rare victory over the Christie administration's poor environmental policies (A-1).

The state is dropping plans to "bring large-scale development to Liberty State Park" in Jersey City.

Hackensack police Lt. James Prise, second from right, at the March 8 ceremony in City Council Chambers with his wife and children.

Hackensack news?

Staff Writer John Seasly has done a poor job of covering Hackensack, but he has been all over the embarrassing public ceremony in March to recognize the promotion of the city's first black police lieutenant to captain, another first for an African-American.

Less than a month later, Lt. James Prise was returned to his original rank after he learned he had failed part of his state civil service exam.

Now, Councilwoman Deborah Keeling-Geddis, who also is black, issued a public apology and said Prise "did not deserve to suffer this indignity" (L-1).

Today, Seasly reports her statement "angered the mayor and deputy mayor, who accused her of political maneuvering and of going against the lieutenant's wishes."

Poor coverage

Seasly disappointed Hackensack residents by not covering the issues in the April 19 school election or the Zisa family's attempted political comeback by backing three of the nine candidates.

The election deserved attention, because only about 1,300 of 20,000 registered voters usually cast ballots.

This year, only 895 of them approved a $79 million tax levy to support the $104 million school spending plan, bigger than the city's own budget.

School taxes make up 44% of the total bill in Hackensack.

Voter apathy, apparent in Hackensack's local elections, can be traced to The Record's irresponsibly poor coverage of the city it once called home.