Time to poll Americans on who we trust in the news media

In his first debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton, GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump didn't mention the wall he wants Mexico to build on the U.S. border. This cartoon is from Christo Komarnitski in Bulgaria.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

"Clinton and Trump

come out swinging"

Is this trite, non-committal Page 1 headline the best The Record's editors can do today to describe the first presidential debate?

With the names changed, this same headline probably has run every time presidential candidates engaged in their first televised confrontation.

Democrat Hillary Clinton looked and sounded far more presidential than Trump, the wacko racist who didn't prepare for the debate and at times did a good imitation of a blithering idiot.

On NYTimes.com, David Leonhardt, an OpEd columnist, listed 26 lies Trump told during the debate -- from the loan his father once gave him to "birtherism" to calling women "pigs."

Then, Leonhardt asks, "So ... who won the debate?"

The Times has already endorsed Clinton for president, leaving readers of The Record wondering when the editorial board of the Woodland Park daily is finally going to take sides.

"Our endorsement is rooted in respect for her intellect, experience and courage," The Times said on Sunday.

A recent Record editorial claimed Americans don't trust either presidential candidate, but no one has polled readers on whether they trust the paper's editorial board, which didn't call on Christie to resign after endorsing Trump in February, as did seven other dailies.

A 'Cichowski'

A second blithering idiot appears on A-1 today --Road Warrior John Cichowski, who slams David Wildstein, the former Port Authority executive who pleaded guilty and is testifying as the chief prosecution witness in the Bridgegate trial.

Cichowski's column is one of two pieces that attack Wildstein's credibility (A-1 and A-4).

As usual, Cichowski's column is padded with so much nonsense you have to wonder why the editors ran it at all.

"The governor's childhood chum explained the makings of something so bizarre [conspiring with other officials to cause a traffic jam] that it might some day be called a 'Wildstein'" (A-1).

Well, there are a few 'Cichowskis' in the column -- stuff he completely makes up -- like reporting for the first time that closure of two upper-level access lanes to the George Washington Bridge from Sept. 9 to 13, 2013, "paralyzed Fort Lee and several other towns." 

A second "Cichowski" is noting "the world's busiest bridge ... links America's biggest city to New Jersey's biggest county."

Oh, that's why they built it.

Can readers trust anything they read in the Road Warrior column, which Cichowski has mishandled for all of the 13 years he's been doing it?

Shuber told?

On Monday, Wildstein testified he alerted Pat Shuber, a Port Authority commissioner, to the plan to create gridlock in Fort Lee in 2013 to punish the borough's Democratic mayor for not endorsing Governor Christie's reelection.

Wildstein said Shuber, who was appointed by Christie, "understood," but an attorney for the former Bergen County executive denies the conversation ever took place.

Abused seniors

Staff Writer Colleen Diskin, the closest thing the paper has to a reporter who covers the elderly, today describes a Bergen County nursing home with a free room for any abused senior -- "a temporary place to stay to get away from exploitative, neglectful or violent circumstances" (A-1).

What about the majority of Bergen seniors, who travel, dine out frequently, go to Broadway shows and subscribe to The Record?

When is Diskin going to pay any attention to them? 

Local news?

The Local front today reports on a major endorsement for Josh Gottheimer, the Democrat trying to unseat Rep. Scott Garrett in the 5th Congressional District (L-1).

Gottheimer has repeatedly attacked Garrett as a Tea Party radical, but that identification doesn't appear anywhere in the story on retired Gen. Wesley Clark's appearance at a campaign event for the former Microsoft executive.

A second story reports Teaneck Councilman Mark Schwartz, a Democrat who is Jewish, is endorsing Garrett, claiming the congressman is "one of the best friends Israel has" (L-1).

Four major stories about Paterson appear in a local-news section that has little news about the 70 towns in Bergen County.

Filmmaker blasts Trump and his 'political Ponzi scheme'

A Bruce Springsteen lookalike leading the B-Street Band, which was billed as "The Original Springsteen Tribute Band" on Wednesday night at a concert for cancer survivors, caregivers, family and friends at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is describing racist Donald J. Trump's mean-spirited presidential campaign as "a political Ponzi scheme."

In a scathing attack on the presumptive Republican nominee, Burns told Stanford University graduates on Sunday that "as a student of history, I recognize this type."

"We see nurtured in his [Trump's] campaign an incipient proto-facism, a nativist anti-immigrant Know Nothing-ism, a disrespect for the judiciary, the prospect of women losing authority over their own bodies, African-Americans again asked to go to the back of the line, voter suppression gleefully promoted, jingoistic saber rattling, a total lack of historical awareness, a political paranoia that, predictably, points fingers, always making the other wrong."

On Monday's A-9, The Record of Woodland Park ran an Associated Press report on Burns' commencement speech in Palo Alto, Calif., but the story didn't contain a single word of his attack on Trump, whose name he never mentioned.

Trumping Trump

Speaking of "bitterly contested" elections in the past 216 years and their "clearly qualified candidates," Burns turned to this presidential campaign and said:

"One is glaringly not qualified. So before you do anything with your well-earned degrees, you must do everything you can to defeat the the retrograde forces that have invaded our democratic process, divided our house, to fight against, no matter your political persuasion, the dictatorial tendencies of the candidate with zero experience in the much maligned but subtle art of governance....

"A person who lies easily, creating an environment where truth doesn't seem to matter; who has never demonstrated any interest in anyone or anything but himself and his own enrichment; who insults veterans, threatens a free press, mocks the handicapped, denigrates women, immigrants and all Muslims; a man who took more than a day to disavow a supporter who advocates white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan; an infantile, bullying man...."

Media reports said Burns' attack on Trump lasted a full 7 minutes. Feel the burn.

Today's paper

Spurred by the massacre of 49 people inside a gay dance club in Orlando, Fla., gun-control advocates picketed the Glen Rock office of Rep. Scott Garrett, the Tea Party crackpot from Wantage (L-3).

"He really is radical when it comes to defending ... the NRA [National Rifle Association]," said a spokeswoman for New Jersey Citizen Action.

Meanwhile, a new TV ad assails Garrett's anti-gay stance and his opposition to same-sex marriage.

Democrat Josh Gottheimer, who is opposing Garrett in the November election, has called the Republican a Tea Party radical, but The Record prefers to describe him as a "North Jersey conservative" (L-3).

Lawyer's take?

Staff Writer John Seasly reports a Hackensack woman who suffered permanent spinal injuries when her car was rear-ended by an uninsured driver from Englewood won't get anywhere near the $1.2 million a jury is recommending (L-6).

"What she's got is Allstate's $250,000 [uninsured motorist benefits]. The rest is sort of gone," her attorney, Thomas Dinan said.

That's not all that will be "gone."

Apparently, Seasly is unaware the woman's lawyer can ask the judge to approve fees and expenses up to one-third of any damages, so Gerri Koch might only receive about $167,000.

Editors turning your local paper into another political rag

GLOOMY MONDAY: Before the sun came out, rush-hour traffic on Route 4 in Paramus splashed toward the George Washington Bridge this morning.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The word "Democrats" or "Democrat" appears in three of the four paragraphs on Page 1 in today's lead on Governor Christie's latest nominee to the Supreme Court.

As if that isn't enough, Editor Deirdre Sykes of The Record is running another boring Charles Stile column under the banner headline, supposedly telling readers what the nomination of Walter Timpone means politically.

Stile describes Timpone as "a veteran Democratic Party lawyer and insider" (A-1).

WNYC-FM radio called the nominee a "former federal prosecutor."

The Record's intense political focus is a disservice to readers, who have to look elsewhere for reporting on issues.

Nowhere in today's coverage will you find anything on how the state's highest court is regarded as progressive in so many ways, including landmark rulings on product liability and affordable housing.

Gottheimer v. Garrett

On the Local front, Sykes adds fund-raising to the political focus in the story on Democrat Josh Gottheimer of Wyckoff challenging Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, who is seeking an eighth term in a district now dominated by Bergen County voters (L-1).

On Monday, Gottheimer sent an email to supporters attacking "Tea Party Rep. Scott Garrett" for "an absolutely abysmal record when it comes to women's issues."

But you won't find any discussion of that in today's story from Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson, who omits the Tea Party label altogether.

In the past, Jackson has called the race solely based on how much Garrett and his challenger raised before the election.

Fires, crime

Sykes' Local section for Bergen County readers is so thin she had to pad it with crime stories (L-2 and L-3), two photos of minor fires (L-3 and L-6), a long Dean's List and a story on City Council candidates in Paterson's 3rd Ward (L-6).

Artery clogging

Readers who can't enough artery clogging saturated fat should check in with Staff Writer Elisa Ung, the paper's chief restaurant critic and overeater.

Today, Ung praises the versatility of the grilled-cheese sandwich, especially when it is stuffed with bacon and short ribs or slathered with butter (BL-1 and BL-2).

Home delivery

The Record's dysfunctional home delivery operation failed today to bring me the back copies I asked to be held during a week-long vacation.

Instead, the carrier wrote a note on the plastic bag, apologizing and saying he would deliver them on Wednesday.

Could bands, tags help Christie track illegal immigrants?

On a sweltering, 90-degree-plus day this month, the owner of this new sedan was driving in Hackensack with his windows open. Some drivers don't "like" air conditioning and others are trying to save gasoline.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR


Now that Governor Christie has been roundly criticized for comparing illegal immigrants to FedEx packages, he might want to turn to the animal world for a solution.

One alternative is to band immigrants like the injured red-tailed hawk shown on the front page of The Record today or to expand the American Littoral Society's well-known fish-tagging program to humans (A-1).

Of course, does it really matter what the GOP bully thinks about immigration or any other important national issue given the dim chance he will be nominated by his party, let alone elected president in 2016?

Still, Editor Martin Gottlieb continues to devote an enormous amount of space to Christie trying to act presidential (A-1 and A-3).

At the top of the front page, a column by Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson discusses constituents who ask their congressmen for help with an immigration or other problem (A-1).

Jackson doesn't mention that many members of Congress, including Rep. Scott Garret, R-Wantage, spend most of their time raising special-interest money to ensure their reelection, not helping people who live in their district.

Fatal shooting

This must be the 50th or 60th time The Record has run the same headline on Page 1 or the Local front:

Fatal shooting stuns
calm neighborhood

But the four reporters who wrote the story were unable to find out just what suspect John C. Wisse did for Bergen County government, where he worked for 30 years (A-6).

Nor did they question why Wisse, 83, needed a gun, if his neighborhood is so calm and "tranquil" (A-1).

Wisse is being held in the slaying of his tenant, Gerald Velardi Jr., 58, on Saturday. 

Can he sue?

Can a Tenafly man who hit a pothole while riding his bike, injuring himself and other bicyclists, sue the borough for allowing the hazard to exist despite the high property taxes he and other residents pay?

A brief on L-2 today doesn't say.

With Christie's support, Big Oil is ruling New Jersey, too

At the post office in Hackensack, employees used official Postal Service tape to hold together these signs.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

For decades, the noxious Bayway Refinery has given hundreds of thousands of visitors a negative impression of the state as they drive by on the New Jersey Turnpike.

And it helped fortify the "Cancer Alley" reputation of the Garden State, which had the nation's highest incidence of the disease in the 1970s.

Who knew that Exxon was at the same time contaminating 1,800 acres of wetlands at the oil giant's former refineries in Linden (Bayway) and Bayonne, according to a lawsuit the state filed 11 years ago?

Now, The Record says, a Superior Court judge has OK'd a settlement of the case for a mere $225 million, most of which will go to balance Governor Christie's voodoo state budget and to pay legal fees (A-1). 

The state had sought $9 billion in damages when the case was filed in 2004 by the James McGreevey administration (A-6).

Koch brothers

Is it any coincidence the Koch brothers, who made their fortune from the refining and distribution of petroleum, are putting hundreds of millions of dollars behind conservative Republicans like Christie in the 2016 presidential race?

Big Oil and the nation's automakers also have worked hand in hand to fight the production of more efficient cars and trucks, and to delay implementation of higher gas-mileage standards.

That only aggravates air pollution and hastens climate change -- two environmental issues that aren't mentioned in a wire-service story on increasing traffic congestion (A-1 and A-4).

Today's front page

With not one but two silly sports-related stories on Page 1 today, the Exxon ruling is the only news of any real relevance to North Jersey residents whose property taxes continue to climb as the state's economy sours under Christie.

In Ridgewood, it seems, desperate residents are stealing street signs and even poles, and selling the scrap metal as they struggle to pay property tax bills inflated by the wasteful system of home-rule government (L-1).

Look at the hysterical reaction of New Milford officials, who are opposing a plan by Fresh & Fancy Farms to hold healthy farm-to-table dinners, cooking classes and festivals at River Road and Stockton Street (L-1).

Officials cite traffic "congestion" and "parking shortages" in the neighborhood.

Tea Party news

Also on L-1 today, the editors run a rare story on Rep. Scott Garrett, the Tea Party idol who represents part of Bergen County. 

As usual, the story doesn't report on what Garrett is doing to improve life in New Jersey and the nation, only what he is doing to block President Obama's every action and initiative.

Instead of pandering to a regressive like Garrett, local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza should use their Local front to celebrate the lives of people like Deborah Hubsmith, a Woodcliff Lake native.

Hubsmith, who died on Aug. 18 at 46, is founder of Safe Routes to School Partnership, which encourages children to bike or walk to school and spurs government to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety (L-6). 

Tracy Morgan

Today's Business page story doesn't say whether comedian Tracy Morgan used any of the settlement money from a 2014 turnpike crash to purchase a 22-room brick "manor" in Alpine for $13.9 million.

Instead, the Business editors' focus is on how the transaction is "the priciest so far this year in Bergen County," promoting the health of the real estate industry (L-7).

The settlement was probably reduced because Morgan wasn't wearing a seat belt when a speeding Walmart tractor-trailer slammed into his limo van on June 7, 2014.

The comedian's lawyer said he suffered a traumatic brain injury in the crash. 

This past June, NBC News reported Morgan still walks with a cane, gets headaches and has memory problems.

After the turnpike crash, The Record and other media ignored major safety questions surrounding the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter passenger van like the one Morgan and fellow comedian James McNair were riding in. 

McNair died from his injuries.

See the original Eye on The Record post from June 8, 2014:

Gravely injured comedian
rode in van prone to rollover

Ode to heart disease

Clueless freelancer Kate Morgan Jackson of Upper Saddle River is back today with another recipe that seems healthy, but includes a half-cup of artery clogging heavy cream and chicken breasts pumped up by harmful antibiotics (BL-2).

The headline claims "Summer Chicken Pasta" is an "ode to summer," but given the heavy cream, a more accurate heading would be "ode to heart disease."

"Eat it outside for maximum happiness," Jackson suggests.

Like when you are waiting for the ambulance.
  

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.

Media, voters to blame for re-election of Garrett, Christie

On Tuesday, I passed on using this temporary locker at 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus, where I've also found the exercise equipment isn't always in prime condition.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When is the last time you saw a story in The Record on Rep. Scott Garrett, the Tea Party idol who seems to do nothing more than raise campaign money?

Today, the five-term Wantage Republican, who represents much of Bergen County, is being criticized for not donating money to a House GOP campaign committee, reportedly because it has recruited and supported gay candidates (A-1).

Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson usually writes a flurry of stories every two years or so, when Garrett runs for yet another term, praising the arch conservative's fund-raising ability.

Last year, Jackson even forgot to remind readers that Garrett initially opposed federal aid to victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Can you blame voters for staying home when The Record and other media continually focus on the size of Garrett's war chest and how invincible that makes him?

Similarly, The Record's flattering coverage of Governor Christie's first term -- and his ability to veto every major Democratic initiative in the state Legislature -- helped generate so much voter apathy, the turnout in November 2013 was the lowest for any gubernatorial election in state history.

Christie's role?

Another front-page story today doesn't address whether Christie's poor environmental record has anything to do with the state dramatically shrinking the danger zone of a DuPont-contaminated site under homes in Pompton Lakes (A-1).

In fact, the story notes the state Department of Environmental Protection mapped out the much larger polluted area in 2008, before Christie took office.

A state study in 2009 found higher-than-normal levels of kidney cancer in women and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in men who live above the toxic plume, The Record says (A-8).

Can paint stop trucks?

Road Warrior John Cichowski never explains how re-striping and repaving Route 17 will stop a speeding, out of control tractor-trailer, like the one that killed Waldwick Patroman Chris Goodell a year ago (A-1 and L-1).

So much for improving the "safety" of a highway that has homes built "nearly to the shoulder."

Maybe, the solution is in far greater enforcement by Waldwick and five other police departments along the highway.

Now, one sergeant only chased down an SUV that passed his cruiser at 79 mph -- 24 mph over the 55- mph speed limit -- according to the reporter (L-1).

Of course, that would take money "at a time when funding is short," Cichowski says.

When isn't funding short in an inefficient home-rule town like Waldwick, which was so desperate for ratables officials allowed the construction of homes on the edge of a dangerous highway?

Change the critic

Elisa Ung's 3-star review of Gianna's in Carlstadt is sort of a back-handed compliment (BL-14).

The 16-year-old restaurant offers oversized, delicious portions of traditional Italian-American food, the critic notes, but not "change or innovation."

After reading how much she and her friends liked the five desserts they sampled, one "change or innovation" I'd like to see is Ung's replacement by a critic who emphasizes healthier fare for the large majority of readers who are watching their weight and cholesterol.

Is racism behind why the election didn't go Obama's way?

Voters were not exactly lining up on Tuesday at Hackensack's Fairmount Elementary School.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

By almost any measure -- the economy, health care, environment, immigration, and boots on the ground in the Middle East and Afghanistan -- we're doing far better under President Obama than with his Republican predecessor.

Yet, the GOP was able to take control of the U.S. Senate and hold onto the party's majority in the House, ensuring another two years of gridlock until Obama leaves office.

Could the reason be grounded in low voter turnout, and white conservatives who still bristle at any mention of our first black president?

Apathy expected

Political analysts expected a low voter turnout in New Jersey on Election Day, WBGO-FM reported:

"Fairleigh Dickinson political science Prof. Peter Woolley expects fewer than 40 percent of registered voters in the Garden State will go to the polls because he says the state’s 12 congressional races really aren’t competitive.

“'People who are the strongest partisans or people who are the angriest are the ones who will come out. The broad swath of Americans who are not following all the issues closely are simply not going to know why they should turn out.'”

Today, Obama told a reporter turnout was as low as 15% in states where Republicans triumphed.

News judgment?

The Record played the Democratic sweep of Bergen County offices, including the defeat of the Republican executive, on Page 1.

But the report of a seventh term for ultraconservative Rep. Scott Garrett from a congressional district that includes Bergen County, where 70% of the voters live, is buried on L-3.

That fits with the editors basically dismissing Hackensack attorney Roy Cho and earlier Democratic challengers because they were unable to raise as much money as Garrett.

Editors continue to ignore the issues facing voters

A rare sight at the Lincoln Tunnel: Hardly any waiting at the tollbooths.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With only two weeks to go before the Nov. 4 election, readers aren't seeing much coverage of the issues -- what the candidates believe in and what they propose to do to help New Jersey and the region.

Stories about candidates on A-3 and L-1 of The Record today reflect the editors' continuing obsession with politics.

Two other stories, on L-3, do involve a rare discussion of issues.

Bare-bones coverage

The Record's editors and reporters have never liked covering elections.

Years ago, coverage of school board elections was reduced to briefs -- four or five paragraphs -- and only contested elections merited a full-fledged story.

Is it any wonder hardly anyone votes in those elections, despite all of the property taxes that go to run the schools?

Cho v. Garrett

The Record didn't bother covering a candidate forum and debate in Ridgewood on Monday night, when Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, was a no-show.

In an e-mail to supporters, Democratic challenger Roy Cho said, "Scott Garrett has millions in campaign funds from lobbyists and special interests, but our campaign relies on grassroots support from people like you."

Garrett, one of the most conservative members of Congress and a Tea Party idol, is seeking a seventh term from the 5th District, which includes Bergen County.

Idiotic editing

A perfect example of the editors' dislike of elections -- and their contemp for voters -- appeared on the front page of Saturday's paper, in the very first paragraph of a story about a Fort Lee man who sells T-shirts that portray Russia's leader in a positive light.

I can't imagine why any editor would approve this introduction:

"NEW YORK -- Julius Kacinskis does not consider himself political -- he does not even vote."

Since when is voting a political act?

Hey Staff Writer Mary Diduch, if you vote for a candidate who believes in equal pay for women, is that political?

How about if you vote for a president who wants all of us to have health insurance to help reduce the charity care burden on the nation's hospitals?

That's not "political," even if you and the other pea brains at the Woodland Park daily say so.

What Marty believes

If you want to know whether elections are important to Editor Martin Gottlieb, take a look at Page 1 today:

Just above the fold we get the breathless news that Saks Fifth Avenue will be closing its store in The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack (A-1).

This is Gottlieb's way of keeping the focus off of the struggling downtowns of many communities, including Hackensack's.

That's especially egregious, given how the departure of North Jersey Media Group and The Record from 150 River St. sent the city's Main Street into a tailspin.

Local goes tabloid

The biggest local news in the paper today?

It leads L-1 -- the arrest of "a Paterson civic leader and former school board member" after police allegedly saw him leave a motel with a 12-year-old boy.

Why are the editors going easy on Rep. Scott Garrett?

Someone used a shopping cart at Target in Hackensack to "recycle" several items today, including a plastic toilet seat and cover, above.

Not far away was this pair of children's shoes, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Scott Garrett, the conservative Republican seeking a seventh term in Congress, is ducking out of a candidate forum tonight and a debate with his Democratic challenger.

But you wouldn't know that from The Record today.

A rambling column by Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin recalls that in 2008, Garrett "declined to attend a candidate forum at a temple in Bergen County" (A-11).

Doblin says the Wantage Republican "sent a blind Jewish man as his surrogate," because his opponent, Dennis Shulman, was "a blind rabbi."

Can you just imagine who Garrett would send as his surrogate tonight, seeing that his challenger is Hackensack attorney Roy Cho, who is Korean-American.

Doblin makes no mention of tonight's candidate forum at Temple Israel and Jewish Community Center in Ridgewood.

Cho is seeking to unseat Garrett in the 5th Congressional District, which includes Bergen County.

Garrett is a Tea Party favorite for his opposition to just about everything, especially programs that help the middle class.

He initially opposed federal aid for Sandy victims and voted against legislation that would help women, then lied about his stance on both issues in campaign literature.

A funny thing happened on my way to voting for Roy Cho

This morning, my vote for Roy Cho was signed, sealed and delivered to the Board of Elections in Hackensack

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I've been using mail-in ballots for a few years, but for security always deliver them by hand to the Board of Elections in the Bergen County Administration Building in Hackensack.

On Wednesday, I drove there around 11:30 a.m.. only to be told by a security guard to park in the employees garage -- the visitors lot was full because of a weekly farmers' market.

He told me I could park only on the fourth or fifth floor of the parking deck, and with speed bumps, it took a long time just to get to the third level.

That's when I turned around, and drove to Englewood, where I arrived late for my volunteer shift at the medical center.

This morning, my ballot and my wife's ballot, marked for Democrats Cory Booker and Roy Cho, the 5th Congressional District challenger, were signed, sealed and delivered to the Elections Board.

My ballot marked for Roy Cho.

'In striking distance'

Today, The Record tries to minimize a poll showing Cho, an attorney who lives in Hackensack, trails the incumbent by only 5 points.

The story was played on the Local front and focused on Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, one of the most conservative members of Congress (L-1).

Garrett has ignored the needs of his constituents to focus on staying in office. He is seeking a seventh term in the Nov. 4 election. 

Click on the following link to read about the poll:

Challenger in striking distance

Columnist dismisses challenge to Tea Party puppet

Utility work on River Street in Hackensack, near the mothballed headquarters of North Jersey Media Group and The Record, made driving difficult last week.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Staff Writer Herb Jackson of The Record is a veteran who is assigned to Washington, where he writes the NJ/DC column, which you'll find on Page 1 today.

In recent years, Jackson has mastered the art of slipping a dagger into any Democrat who challenges one of Congress' most conservative members -- and twisting it.

Rep. Scott Garrett, a six-term Wantage Republican whose district now includes liberal Fair Lawn, Hackensack and most of Teaneck, is a puppet of the Tea Party and against just about everything, especially social programs.

Money talks

Today's column reports Garrett and his Democratic challenger, attorney Roy Cho of Hackensack, began running TV ads this month (A-1).

But Jackson is dazzled by Garrett's fund raising, nearly $3.2 million, compared to Cho's expected $900,000, and he's already called the race on that basis alone.

Jackson never mentions Garrett's initial opposition to federal aid for Sandy victims or his desire to delay eligibility for both Social Security and Medicare, starting with people born in 1958 and after.

Cut health care

Nor does he discuss Garrett's plan to dismantle the Affordable Care Act -- which has given health insurance to tens of millions who never had it -- and boost defense spending to $699 billion in 2022.

Jackson has so much pull in Washington he couldn't even get an interview with Garrett, who doesn't announce where he is campaigning and hasn't agreed to debate Cho.

What kind of reporter is Jackson when he doesn't even report Garrett's mean-spirited policies and positions, as listed on the congressman's own Web site?

See: I'm Scott Garrett, and I hate people

Crystal balls

Today's Jackson column is long-winded -- typical of The Record's white, middle-age columnists.

So, he saves the knockout punch for the last paragraph after reporting Cho's charge that Garrett is even against federal spending to repair the transportation network relied on by 1 million people in Bergen County alone.

"It's an argument Garrett's challengers have been making since 2002," fortune teller Jackson reports. "And so far, none has come close to succeeding."

The Nov. 4 election will decide representation in the boomerang-shaped 5th District.

Here is a post I wrote in 2012 on how The Record and Jackson treated Adam Gussen, then-Teaneck's deputy mayor, the previous Garrett challenger:

Nobody at The Record knows his name

Hackensack news

On the Local front today, Staff Writer Todd South reports Al Dib, Hackensack's legal analyst and historian, has unearthed information that "averts wrangling" over development of a 4.3-acre parking lot near Forschini Park, as the headline puts it (L-1).

South still hasn't done a follow-up to his story on a group of Democrats who propose to change the form of government and switch to partisan elections in an effort to regain the power they lost in 2013.