Editors shrug at Christie's fiscal disaster

The Sports section and virtually all of the advertising inserts and sections that came with The Record today go straight into the recycling bin.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

On Page 1 of The Record today, readers find more evidence of the fiscal disaster caused by Governor Christie's unyielding no-tax policies:

A $115 million revenue shortfall, up from $62 million last month; a loss of 7,100 jobs in the last four months; and the second-highest number of foreclosures in the nation (A-1).

Then, under a heading that inexplicably echoes "Chairman Mao," an editorial paints another glowing portrait of Christie as the new chairman of the Republican Governors Association and the party's presumed presidential hopeful in 2016 (A-11).

I still believe this group of nuts should be called the Republican Goobers Association.

Myth makers

The editors have been in bed with Christie for years, and they don't even bother to be objective in news stories.

The editorial claims the GOP bully is a "bridge builder, a consensus maker and strong believer in bipartisanship," but doesn't explain how such a myth-making leader could cause a huge fiscal mess in four short years.

If Christie has built bridges, it is to the richest and most conservative residents, having vetoed a modest tax surcharge on millionaires that would have raised $1 billion a year, and forked over hundreds of millions in tax breaks to business owners.

He not only hasn't built bridges, he stopped the construction of the Hudson River rail tunnels and refused to raise the low gas tax to pay for road repairs and mass-transit improvements.

Loaves and fishes  

Also on Page 1, companies that polluted the Passaic River are acting Christ-like.

They hope to save the billions of dollars it would take to clean up the river by giving healthy fish to anglers so poor and desperate they eat contaminated fish now (A-1). 

Thankfully, regulators call the idea ridiculous (A-6).

Maybe, Sherwin-Williams, PSE&G and other corporate polluters can send their corporate jets to fly over Passaic and other poor cities, and drop coupons for free fish sandwiches at fast-food restaurants.

Pole vaults

In Local today, Ridgewood residents can't catch a break.

The Board of Public Utilities on Friday rejected a petition from village officials, meaning the installation of 65-foot wooden utility poles can resume along two streets (L-3).

Second look

Road Warrior John Cichowski appears incapable of getting anything right, and that is a huge liability for a newspaper reporter who doles out advice to readers.

In his column on Friday, Cichowski got several details wrong about new penalties for cellphone violations, including the start date in 2014 and the amount of the fines.

He also failed to mention a 3-point penalty and possible 90-day license suspension for a third and subsequent offenses.

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers for the full e-mail from a concerned reader to editors and managers:

More wrong numbers from the Road Warrior

In Englewood, racial injustice is everywhere

When I saw this man standing with a sandwich board on Route 18 and Tices Lane in East Brunswick last Friday, I wondered about just how bad the state economy is under Governor Christie, who is seeking a second term.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Anyone familiar with Englewood's segregated schools or its two-sides-of-the-tracks shopping district must be doing a double take after reading the lead paragraph of today's Page 1 centerpiece:

"Gerald Marion has spent his career fighting fires, not racial injustice," The Record reports under a big photo of Englewood's African-American fire chief.

You can't be black and live in Englewood, and not fight racial injustice. The city was founded in 1899, but Marion is only its second black fire chief.

Marion is calling on Englewood to boycott businesses in Florida as a protest over that state's "stand-your-ground law," which the judge in the George Zimmerman trial included in her jury instructions.

Jury system

But the verdict clearing Zimmerman in the slaying of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, should inspire more than a boycott of Florida businesses or attempts to strike down "stand-your-ground" laws.

Like the O.J. Simpson trial many years ago, the verdict calls into question the viability of the entire jury system.

Judging from some of the stupid comments from the women who found Zimmerman not guilty, maybe a minimum I.Q. should be required for jury service.

Copy desk I.Q.

And judging from the awful headlines over the Marion story and another A-1 story, no minimum I.Q. is necessary to work on The Record's copy and news desks or to hold the six-figure job of production editor.

The main headline -- "Chief calls out city" -- gives readers absolutely no clue the story is related to the Florida trial and not-guilty verdict.

The headline fails miserably, because all the clues are below the fold.

Another bad head

The other big headline on Page 1 -- "Lying for a free lunch?" -- is equally confusing, because the alleged liars did so to get lunch not for themselves, but for their children in school.

They can't think much of their kids, if the free lunches are anything like the tasteless food served at Hackensack High School (A-1 and A-5).

John J. Fahy

After reading about the stellar legal career of John J. Fahy of Rutherford, readers are wondering what The Record's editors and reporters missed to explain why he killed himself with a single shot to the head on Wednesday (A-1 and A-8).

And the fatal shooting wasn't "along" Route 17. It was on a sidewalk next to or near the road.

Utility poles

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes runs another story about the 65-foot PSE&G utility poles that were installed in Ridgewood (L-1).

That's three days in a row.

Of course, readers know that Sykes has a special place in her heart for utility poles, judging from all of the photos she has used, documenting damage to them from out-of-control cars and trucks, in place of legitimate news.