Jason W. Some holds onto Hackensack City Council seat

Before noon today, a voter was seen emerging from a polling place in the Fairmount School on Grand Avenue in Hackensack, where four candidates are seeking a single City Council seat.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With the backing of the Hackensack City Council and a powerful group of business leaders, Jason W. Some appeared to hold onto his council seat in today's election.

Some, 25, was appointed to the council in April after Rose Greenman resigned.

Only 2,360 residents cast ballots, according to unofficial results from the Bergen County clerk. Hackensack has about 20,000 registered voters.

Some received 724 votes for the unexpired term, Deborah Keeling-Geddis had 711 votes, school board President Jason S. Nunnermacker got 682 votes and Richard L. Cerbo trailed with 237 votes, county Clerk John S. Hogan said.

Nunnermacker was backed by the city's bare-knuckle Democratic Party, which kept the Zisa family in power for decades.

The attorney lost his first bid for council in May 2013.

Councilman Jason W. Some, right, with former City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr. (Photo credit: Hackensack Scoop)

Today's paper

The Record today made clear to readers and voters in Bergen and Passaic counties that the Woodland Park daily has given up trying to be their local paper.

In the print edition and on NorthJersey.com, the so-called endorsement recap in today's general election doesn't include Hackensack or any other municipal races (A-8).

Residents of Hackensack, where The Record prospered for more than 110 years, don't get any guidance beyond the four City Council candidates' statements, which appear on the Web site.

Cerbo for council

Homeowner Richard L. Cerbo, who had promised to end giveaways to developers and lower taxes, was the clear choice for an unexpired term on the 5-member council.

The polls closed at 8 p.m., and Hogan posted the unofficial results on his Web site a little before 10 p.m.

The candidates' statements appeared first in last Friday's edition of the weekly Hackensack Chronicle, but an editorial urging readers to vote also doesn't endorse anyone.

Both The Record and Hackensack Chronicle are published by the Borg family's North Jersey Media Group, which is expected to make a huge killing by selling 19.7 acres along River Street to an apartment developer.

"As a community newspaper," the Chronicle's unsigned editorial states, "our main concerns are the mayoral and councilman races in Hackensack."

"Councilman races"????

One of the candidates was a woman, and the seat she and the others were seeking was held by a woman. Deputy Mayor Katherine Canestrino also is on the council. 

Larger turnout

Mayor John Labrosse said this morning that if the past is any guide, about 7,000 residents are expected to vote in today's general election.

That turned out to be optimistic.

In May 2013, when Labrosse and a slate of council reformers defeated the Zisa family's handpicked candidates, only about 3,800 residents voted.

Hackensack has about 20,000 registered voters, and if you think the May 2013 turnout of 3,800 is pathetic, fewer than 1,000 turned out for this year's school board election and budget approval.

Other candidates

Nunnermacker was making his second bid for a council seat, but he has tried to hide his involvement in the board's irresponsible $106.88 million budget, bigger than the city's own.

Some had the support of the other council members as well as Joseph C. Zisa Jr., a former city attorney.

Zisa is said to be a big supporter of downtown redevelopment, which is being pushed by the Some and other members of the Main Street Business Alliance.

Christie lies

Governor Christie's list of failures in New Jersey is long: 

He's made a mess of fixing the public employees pension system, mass transit, roads and bridges, and the environment, and he's used the Port Authority as a patronage mill and a way to seek political retribution against Democrats.

On top of all that, he's vetoed more than 400 bills to keep the state Legislature's Democrats in line.

Yet, Editor Martin Gottlieb and Christie's chief apologist, political columnist Charles Stile, continue to parrot Christie's criticism of President Obama.

Even if you believe Christie is only trying to salvage his dying campaign for the White House, the GOP bully's attacks often seem racially motivated (A-1).

More crapisch

Readers who were hoping for a Mets-free front page today were disappointed again.

Columnist Bob Klapisch continues with the endless couldas, wouldas and shouldas (A-1).

In Monday's early edition, sports Columnist Tara Sullivan referred incorrectly to "Game 6" of the World Series, according to a reader on Prospect Avenue in Hackensack.

That was corrected in a later edition to Game 5.

In the past few weeks, Gottlieb has devoted more space to the Mets, those miserable failures, than he has to the issues at stake in local elections.

No local news

Today's Local seemingly has more police, fire and court news -- and stories about the police -- than I've ever seen in a section that is supposed to be largely devoted to municipal news (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

There would have been plenty of room for endorsements of candidates in Hackensack, Maywood and other towns, if only local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza had gotten off of their fat asses.

Two Hackensack candidates play trick or treat with voters

HALLOWEEN IN HACKENSACK: On Saturday, the traditional celebration of Halloween on Clinton Place was more subdued, with far fewer decorated homes between Prospect and Summit avenues than in the past.

"Rest in pieces" is a humorous play on words. Although fewer homes were decorated on Saturday, there was no shortage of trick-or-treaters on the streets of the city's Fairmount section.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Call them the two Jasons.

Jason S. Nunnermacker and Jason W. Some are two of the four candidates in Tuesday's election for an unexpired term on the Hackensack City Council.

Here is a report on the two Jasons that you didn't see in The Record of Woodland Park.

They resemble each other, and I'm not talking about their double chins.

The real story is that neither has discussed in any meaningful detail the powerful special interests they represent.

Board czar

Nunnermacker, an attorney, is the president of the city's free-spending Board of Education, which this year approved an irresponsible $106.88 million budget -- bigger than the city's own.

In the May 2013 council election, Nunnermacker was one of the hand-picked candidates of the city's bare-knuckle Democratic Party machine, the power behind the Zisa family political dynasty that ruled for decades and brought the city to its knees.

After Nunnermacker and his running mates were defeated in his first bid for the council, he has attended nearly every meeting.

But he and other board members have never spoken about education. 

Instead, he's helped wage a partisan war against the slate of mostly Republican reformers, including Rose Greenman, who resigned, creating the vacancy he is now seeking to fill.

On June 9, school board President Jason S. Nunnermacker, above, along with fellow board members and the board's attorney, photos below, continued to launch more bitter partisan attacks against the City Council. None of the council critics every spoke about education or the city's schools.

School board member Daniel Carola.

School board members Joseph Barreto, left, and Fancis W. Albolino.

The $95,000-a-year school board attorney, Richard Salkin, conferring with Lynne Hurwitz, back to camera, the Demoratic Party power broker in Hackensack. Salkin lost a second city job as municipal prosecutor after council reformers were elected.

Jason W. Some

Some was 25 when he was appointed in April to fill the seat left vacant by Greenman, who resigned and filed a lawsuit, claiming council members discriminated against her.

Some is sales director of the family owned Some's Uniforms on Main Street, but he also is a member of the Main Street Business Alliance, a powerful group of business owners and real estate companies who have lobbied hard for the city's redevelopment.

Some and other members of the alliance who own downtown property are expected to profit directly from redevelopment or see their property values go up from the construction of retail and residential projects downtown.

Some, who is backed by the current council, and Nunnermacker haven't publicly identified their campaign donors.

Other candidates

The other two candidates for council on Tuesday are:

• Richard L. Cerbo, a homeowner whose father won election as mayor in 1981, defeating Frank Zisa.
• Deborah Keeling-Geddis, a teacher's assistant in the city school system and the only African-American in the race, who was endorsed by the city's education union.

Tax equity

Cerbo has attacked the dramatic property tax inequity in Hackensack, and criticized the 25- and 30-year tax abatements the council has promised apartment developers. 

He's said he'd like to see Hackensack University Medical Center, Bergen County, colleges and others who own hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-exempt property give back more to the city.

That would help ease the burden on home and business owners, who now pay a disproportionate share of  property taxes.

Cerbo also feels that 10-year tax abatements would have been sufficient to lure developers to Hackensack --  in what is the city's second apartment-building boom after the one on Prospect Avenue.

He also is disappointed the mayor and council didn't negotiate agreements with developers to give a good percentage of construction and other jobs to Hackensack residents.

Cerbo is the only candidate on Tuesday who represents long-suffering homeowners who see higher tax bills every year, and the only one without an ax to grind.

Today's paper

Nine days after Suzanne Bardzell was murdered in the driveway of her Midland Park home, allegedly by her ex-cop boyfriend, The Record's lazy, incompetent editors finally got off of their asses.

Editor Martin Gottlieb and local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza assigned two reporters to explore on Page 1 today the central question surrounding her death:

Whether local police, courts and other agencies could have done a better job of protecting Bardzell, 48, the single mother of two teenage boys who is being called a victim of domestic violence.

Staff Writers Abbott Koloff and Monsy Alvarado do a masterful job of pussy footing: No criticism is leveled, no blame assigned.

The editorial page likewise is silent on the case.

The story notes Bardzell was fatally stabbed on Oct. 22 "after a tumultuous 17 days that began when the suspect broke into her home" and threatened to kill her with a pair of scissors.

Local news?

On the Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to report on transportation one highway sign at a time (L-1).

Nearly an entire page is devoted to listing the names of all of the local and county candidates in Tuesday's election (L-3).

Saturday's paper

On a front page dominated by baseball, the editors found room for a well-crafted story on the history of Hackenack's Oritani Field Club by Staff Writer Todd South.

The Camden Street landmark closed today after 128 years, to be replaced by as many as 280 apartments opposite a Toyota dealer on River Street.

South did a great job capturing the importance of the club as a place for social gatherings, as well as a showcase for sports and Hollywood celebrities. 

However, some Hackensack readers had hoped he would have done a better job of reporting on the special interests backing Nunnermacker and Some in Tuesday's council election.

Readers brace for news that never comes

NJ Transit has added train cars to accommodate more passengers, but hasn't followed suit with longer platforms. Readers looking for mass-transit news come up empty.

The Record's editors are blessed today by a perfect storm of news that has little to do with life in North Jersey's home-rule communities.

Hurricane Sandy, the presidential election and a silly high school football game hand the editors another excuse for not covering local news in Hackensack, Englewood and so many other towns.

How easily Editor Marty Gottlieb has switched from trying to predict the outcome of the election on Nov. 6 to trying to predict how bad this week's storm will be (A-1).

Treating locals as yokels

But there's no hiding the weakness of today's local news report, thanks to an assignment desk run so poorly by Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.

On the Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski goes over the same old ground on those red license-plate decals for young drivers (L-1).

Cichowski has made an art out of rewriting old columns, ensuring he won't have to leave the office and actually report on such pressing issues as the overburdened mass-transit system and worsening traffic congestion. 

A Charles Stile column provides more ink for Republican Shmuley Boteach, the Englewood rabbi and publicity monger who is challenging Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson (L-3).

Meanwhile, Sykes and Sforza continue to ignore Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen, a Democrat who is taking on one of Congress' chief naysayers, Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage. 

Garrett has done a masterful job of controlling The Record's coverage of his radicalism, refusing to be interviewed for any of the stories reported by Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson.  

What is Garrett hiding, and is there any doubt Jackson is a pussy?

At the bottom of the Opinion front, the editors continue to pussy foot around the reason Columnist Mike Kelly has been temporarily silenced (O-1).

Score one for long-suffering readers.

Blog milestone

Eye on The Record marked its third anniversary last week. LOL.

Voters give Christie a good smack

Image by dougtone via Flickr

Bergen County Democrats won the county Clerk's Office.

Tuesday's vote of confidence in the Democrats was a clear repudiation of Governor Christie's policies, but The Record did its best today to muddle the outcome with a status-quo headline and story on Page 1.

Dems maintain grip

Christie's pull fails to change balance in State House

Democratic control is meaningless as long as the GOP bully keeps his veto pen always at the ready -- to protect millionaires and his wealthy donors from higher taxes.

At least Staff Writer John Reitmeyer quotes Bergen County's Bob Gordon, who beat Christie-backed challengers.

"It's a win for everyone who wants Trenton to serve the needs of working families," Gordon said. It's "not a referendum on him personally, but a rejection of Christie's policies."

What did Christie have to say? Ha. He was unavailable to the media as of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, the paper's apparent deadline.

Reporter's sure bet

The Woodland Park daily's campaign to pass the sports-betting proposal succeeded, meaning readers will be bored with story after story about a looming federal court battle by Staff Writer John Brennan, who sold out to business interests years ago (A-1).

It's hard to believe the talented photographers couldn't come up with anything better for Page 1 than a gee-whiz photo of a truck being righted in Paramus. 

Or is interim Editor Doug Clancy's flawed news judgment to blame?

Shame on coaches

Given all the sports stories former Editor Francis "Frank" Scandale ran on the front page -- often pushing more legitimate news inside -- why are the editors keeping accounts of the sex-abuse investigation at Penn State off of A-1?

In the past few weeks, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes has used election coverage as a convenient excuse for how little municipal news has appeared in her pride and joy, the Local section, and today is no exception.

Same old, same old

Readers seeking help with their tough commutes can't turn to Road Warrior John Cichowski, who apparently drove around noting all the "leafy obstructions" remaining in "woodsy North Jersey enclaves" after the recent nor'easter (L-1).

Cichowski rarely leaves the office on stories or how else would you explain his skipping Englewood and Hackensack, the most populous community in Bergen County? What's next? His take on leaf collections?

Try clamming up

Consumer columnist Kevin DeMarrais compiles the paper's Marketbasket  Survey, but why is he writing about canned clam chowder today (L-12)?

The frugal reporter tried two low-cost brands, Progresso and Campbell's, but didn't step foot in Whole Foods Market, Costco Wholesale or Fairway Market. Still, he concludes, "You'll just have to go to Maine if you want real clam chowder."


In her weekly column today, Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill makes sure readers get their fill of artery clogging heavy cream and butter with a recipe for a French apple tart (F-1 and F-2).