Commuters, tree huggers applauding big gasoline-tax hike

North Dean Street in Englewood on a drizzly Friday afternoon. Drivers of hybrid and all-electric cars pay no attention to the price of gasoline, and won't flinch when the state's motor fuels tax goes up by 23 cents a gallon as early as next week.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie insisted on cutting taxes for the wealthy before he agreed to a 23-cents-per-gallon hike in the gas tax to fund road and rail improvements.

In the past few years, Christie has vetoed or threatened to veto raising the gas tax for the first time since 1988, as well as put the kibosh on a tax surcharge on millionaires.

It's no surprise that "most New Jersey residents oppose an increase in the gas tax," as The Record reports today, given the crushing burden of property taxes and Christie's failure to lower them (A-7).

But while most drivers are cursing the gas-tax hike, they reserve the right to sound off about the lousy roads they are stuck with and to offer no other solution.

Drivers of hybrid and all-electric cars just shrug at higher prices for gasoline, hoping the new tax will slow the sale of gas-guzzling SUVs and cut deaths from auto emissions. 

No compromise

The GOP thug dominates this week's other big stories:

The crash of an NJ Transit train in Hoboken, and continuing testimony by the government's star witness in the Bridgegate trial -- Christie crony and confidant David Wildstein (A-1, A-6, A-7, L-1 and L-6).

Today, The Record's bumbling editors finally publish two stories that should have been in the paper on Friday, the day after a Bergen County train failed to slow, crashed into the platform and nearly broke through the waiting-room wall at the historic Hoboken Terminal.

The first is a profile of Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, 34, a Hoboken wife and mother who was killed on a platform by falling debris (A-1).

The second details how Christie slashed state aid to NJ Transit, forcing fare hikes, service cuts and the cancellation of work on an automatic braking system that could have prevented Thursday morning's tragedy.

Minimum wage

In addition to repeatedly vetoing higher taxes on millionaires, Christie killed a bill that would have raised the minimum wage in New Jersey to $15 an hour by 2021.

Today, The Record reports the state minimum will rise to $8.44 and hour from $8.38, "based on a small uptick in the consumer price index" (A-8).

Local news?

Four reporters were assigned to cover the delays faced by NJ Transit commuters whose trains only went as far as Secaucus on Friday (L-1).

And on L-6, Road Warrior John Cichowski wastes commuters' time by covering a public-relations tour by Dennis Martin, the interim executive director of NJ Transit.  

In the 13 years Cichowski has written the Road Warrior column, he has largely ignored mass transit commuters in favor of drivers.

Ebola hits newsroom, editors feed media hysteria

Park Avenue in Park Ridge also is called James Gandolfini Way. The Ridge Diner's coffee is good enough to drink black, but if you order a cafe latte, it will be served sweetened and with whipped cream on top. Yuck.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The irresponsible editors at The Record aren't even waiting for the first confirmed case of Ebola in New Jersey.

Joining the electronic media's hysteria, the Woodland Park daily today and Saturday broke out the big, black, doomsday headlines.

Transportation reporter Christopher Maag is back on the Ebola beat today, and the paper's medical writers also have entered the fray.

If you are already tired of Ebola stories, there isn't much else to on Page 1 today -- except another pedestrian political column, and a pissing match between two New Jersey architectural schools.

Is Editor Martin Gottlieb, the worldly former Timesman, this boring in person?

Joining Maag in not covering his beat is Road Warrior John Cichowski, whose L-1 column today again strays far from commuting issues.

Last Sunday, the Road Warrior column predicted Route 20 construction could be finished by December, as reflected in the headline and text, but others believe it will take longer.

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Road Warrior issues another dumb prediction

Noise makers

I get a kick out of photos The Record runs publicizing the charity work of Harley-Davidson owners, who cavalierly break every anti-noise ordinance on the books.

Today, the Bergen County Harley Owners Group is shown "during a benefit for the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals" (L-2).

So, modifying their motorcycle mufflers to be as loud as possible and cruelty to the eardrums of humans is OK. 

Word pusher

It must be hard being Mike Kelly, to echo the first line of the reporter's piece on Governor Christie (O-1).

Kelly rehashes the controversy over Christie's insensitive remarks about being tired of the Washington debate over raising the minimum wage.

But the burned-out columnist can't muster an opinion, and is reluctant to condemn the GOP bully, who has waged war on New Jersey's middle and working classes, and even vetoed a hike in the state's minimum wage.

"He needs to open his eyes," Kelly says lamely about Christie.

Kelly will be celebrating his 4oth year at The Record next year, if you can believe that.

'Cho in the 5th'

The Record's Editorial Board has finally come to its senses about Scott Garrett, the conservative Republican who has represented the 5th Congressional District for the past 12 years.

Today, an editorial endorses Democrat Roy Cho of Hackensack on Nov. 4 (O-2).

The district runs from the Delaware to the Hudson, and includes Bergen County.

Garrett voted "no" on the Violence Against Women Act and to end the government shutdown last year.

He also initially opposed federal Sandy aid, but lied about it in campaign literature.

Cho's highest priority as a freshman congressman would be transportation, an issue that has been neglected by The Record and ignored by Garrett and Christie.

Saturday's paper

The Ebola coverage on Saturday's front page mentioned twice that Hackensack University Medical Center's mobile satellite emergency department is parked "behind a McDonald's, in fact."

Is there a connection?

Symptoms of the African virus include "diarrhea, vomiting [and] stomach pain." 

They sound a lot like what McDonald's customers experience after eating the low-quality beef and other food.

Christie move helped mobster, Garrett opposed cops

An NJ Transit train stopping at the Anderson Street Station in Hackensack. Governor Christie's decision to cancel the Hudson River rail tunnels stuck the mass-transit agency with an $8.1 million debt to the family of a jailed mobster, The Record reports today.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You could call today's paper the mean-spirited-Republican edition -- with stories on Governor Christie and Rep. Scott Garrett, and their opposition to everything good and decent.

The Record reports on Page 1 that Governor Christie's cancellation of the Hudson River rail tunnels in 2010 led a court to rule the state owes $8.1 million to the family of convicted mob boss Carmine Franco (A-1).

Screw voters, workers

Christie also came out in favor of voter I.D. laws, which courts say are "discriminatory and, in some cases, racially motivated" (A-1 and A-6).

Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- basically, his wealthy donors -- the GOP bully also didn't waste any time dumping on workers fighting to raise the minimum wage (A-6).

"I'm tired of hearing about the minimum wage, I really am," Christie said.

Christie's net worth is put at $4 million by celebritynetworth.com.

Screw cops, too

Meanwhile, Garrett, a Wantage Republican seeking a seventh term in Congress, supported cuts to a program "that funds federal grants to cities and towns to hire police" (A-7).

So, you can add opposition to more police in Paramus to the growing list of what Garrett opposed, including Sandy aid and legislation to help women.

Roy Cho, a Hackensack attorney, is seeking to unseat Garrett, a Tea Party icon from the 5th Congressional District, which includes Bergen County.

Internet or rent?

The Page 1 story on people who can't afford Internet service runs with a big photo of some of them using computers in the Johnson Public Library in Hackensack (A-1).

But there is absolutely no reference to the demonstration against cuts to the library's funding that took place Tuesday night at the Hackensack City Council meeting (L-1).

Isn't the Internet or rent story a poor choice for the front page?

For years, The Record took no notice of people, most of whom are black and Hispanic, who can't afford cars and were forced to ride on decrepit NJ Transit buses to get to work.

More Law & Order

Most of the thin Local news section today is filled with police and court news, including yet another story about Teresa Giudice (L-3).

On Page 1: The Laurel and Hardy of right-wing politics

At Passaic Street and Summit Avenue in Hackensack, above, and at other intersections, crews are making curbs wheelchair accessible. What about improvements to ease the flow of traffic, such as turn lanes on Passaic, a notorious bottleneck? Don't hold your breath.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Today's Page 1 photo of Mitt Romney and Chris Christie -- a latter-day Laurel and Hardy -- runs with a story on a new book that exposes the dark side of right-wing GOP politics.

"Double Down: Game Change 2012" reveals the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that went into Romney's choice for a running mate in his ultimately failed bid to unseat President Obama last November (A-1).

Christie love affair

The book tackles subjects -- Christie's record, style and weight -- The Record's adoring editors and reporters have largely ignored in their effort to groom the GOP bully for a second term as governor, as well as a presidential run in 2016.

"The book makes fun of Christie's weight at every turn," according to the story, but it also reports on "the garish controversies lurking in the shadows of his record" (A-6).

Readers may be doing double takes, trying to recall when, if ever, The Record has discussed Christie's "spending as U.S. attorney, lobbying activities, steering contacts to donors and allies..., a 1994 defamation lawsuit" -- all deemed "a potential political nightmare," if Romney chose Christie as a running-mate.

Ignoring new poll

Another Page 1 story on the battle between Christie and Democratic challenger Barbara Buono reports in the first paragraph that "some polls" put the GOP bully ahead of her "by more than 30 points."

But that ignores this week's Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind Poll that shows Christie's lead has narrowed to 19 points in the run-up to Tuesday's election, as reported by The Star-Ledger. 

Is The Record deliberately ignoring the Fairleigh Dickinson poll?

A-2 carries two more embarrassing corrections.

An editorial on A-9 urges a "no" vote on a constitutional amendment to raise the minimum wage -- a move Christie vetoed.

The Woodland Park daily claims it would "lock small businesses into automatic increases."

Small businesses? Are McDonald's and Walmart "small businesses"?

Utility pole update

The big Hackensack news today is the arrest of a 73-year-old man on charges of sexually abusing three children (L-6).

On the same page, a photo keeps readers abreast of North Jersey utility pole news, this time in Franklin Lakes.

The photo shows six PSE&G crewman repairing a downed utility line. No wonder our rates are so high. And where were they after Superstorm Sandy?

A Better Living cover story reports on the crappy food served at sports arenas, and the exorbitant prices paid by inebriated fans who can't get enough harmful animal antibiotics and growth hormones (BL-1).

Christie is losing weight along with credibility

Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to hang up on commuters, with another column on today's Local front that shows he can't get his mind out of the gutter and off of potholes. He gives a big plug to Jack Tewani, owner of a sportswear business, who blames "craters" for ruining his tires.

Many readers didn't think there was another politician who could make Chris Christie look good, but a  photo in The Record today proves them wrong.

Paterson City Council President Anthony Davis appears to the African-American version of what Christie looked like before he had lap-band surgery and lost weight (A-3).

But under all that body fat, Davis is really an Uncle Tom, a black Democrat endorsing Christie's bid for a second term, despite all of the GOP bully's anti-minority policies.

Who could forget Christie's recent veto of a hike in the minimum wage? 

Or, how about cutting state aide to Paterson, forcing the layoff of 125 cops in one of New Jersey's most crime-ridden communities?

Staff Writer Melissa Hayes, from the State House Bureau, does a masterful job of avoiding those issues, lest it darken her upbeat, Christie-is-great story.

And like the editors she works for, Hayes writes off the challenge from state Sen. Barbara Buono, the likely Democratic nominee, denying her campaign equal time and a separate story.

Page 1 news

After watching extended coverage of the devastation in Oklahoma on Tuesday night's local and national TV news shows, readers pick up the paper today, only to find the front page dominated by the same image (A-1).

The lead Page 1 story is about the Rev. Michael Fugee, who is getting more coverage than the new pope (A-1).

Editorial page

For the third day in a row, the editorial cartoon is about the Bengazi, IRS or AP "scandals" (A-8).

Where is Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin, and what happened to the cartoons'  New Jersey focus?

Get out of jail

On the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Syke's Local section, the lead story is about the manager of the Tick Tock Diner finally making bail, six weeks after he was charged with plotting to kill his wife's uncle (L-1).

There is more Law & Order coverage on L-3 and L-6, but no municipal news from Hackensack or many other communities.