Christie will be gone when pension fund goes broke

The air is fragrant in Hackensack, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today's front page "ANALYSIS" of the deepening state pension system crisis is good, but Staff Writer John Reitmeyer of The Record could be accused of burying the lead.

Readers who stick with his account -- which begins by saying "Governor Christie is following the well-worn path" of his predecessors by skipping payments -- might be shocked to see what awaits them on the continuation page:

"What all this means is that at some point in the future, according to experts, New Jersey's pension system, currently underfunded by an estimated $52 billion, could become simply too costly to keep afloat" (A-6).

That should have been the first paragraph on A-1 for crying out loud.

Derelict editors

Who was Editor Marty Gottlieb or one of his minions thinking of when they worked on this Page 1 story?

Certainly not public employees or even readers of the Woodland Park daily.

Readers also find out on A-6 the GOP bully basically told another lie: 

"Christie ... recently erroneously lumped [former Governor Jon] Corzine among the list of New Jersey governors who made no pension payments during their tenure."

Taxing readers

Now, Christie is facing a $1 billion budget shortfall, because he has refused, among other things, to impose a tax surcharge on millionaires or raise the low gasoline tax to fund road and mass-transit improvements.

Reitmeyer doesn't cite the conservative's inflexible no-tax policies or his past practice of balancing the budget on the backs of the middle and working classes.

In fact, the reporter doesn't even bother telling readers how many public employees are covered by the state's pension system or who they are.

Are they just bureaucrats in Trenton or are they teachers, police officers and firefighters -- in other words our neighbors?

The story says Christie is cutting his planned $1.58 billion pension contribution back to $696 million and, in the fiscal year that begins July 1, a $2.25 billion pension payment would now be just $681 million.

Christie also says he will "put forward new public worker benefit changes in the next few weeks" (A-6).

If I was a public worker who is already contributing more to my pension thanks to Christie, I'd really be worried.

Breathe deep.

Crash landing

Why was a pea-brained former sports reporter assigned to the story on the untimely demise of New Jersey multimillionaire Lewis Katz, killed in the "fiery crash" of a Gulfstream private jet on Saturday night (A-3)?

Staff Writer John Brennan reports "National Transportation Safety Board officials said it was too soon to discuss the cause of the crash."

They always say that less than two days after a crash, but there are usually only two possible causes: Pilot error or a mechanical problem.

Private-jet travel is one of the privileges of wealth, but Brennan doesn't even say whether it is safer to fly commercial.


The Borgs and Main Street

The Borgs' North Jersey Media Group has never had much affection for Main Street, judging by the abysmal lack of coverage of struggling downtowns in Englewood, Teaneck and other communities.

And Hackensack -- where The Record prospered for more than 110 years -- and its Main Street are still trying to recover from Publisher Stephen A. Borg's decision in 2009 to close the paper's headquarters on River Street, and move to the sticks.

Where money talks

Joan Verdon, the paper's retail reporter, writes almost exclusively about North Jersey's malls and highway retailers -- where the Borgs reap millions of dollars in advertising revenue.

You could think of this as journalism pay to play. Do merchants have to advertise in The Record to get coverage?

But the Business page on Monday carries a feature called "Main Street" that appears to be the editors' attempt to fool readers into thinking otherwise.

Today's piece is about North Jersey's pet-walking and pet-sitting businesses. Another recent "Main Street" feature reported on the maker of custom golf pants.

What a farce.

Teaneck police

The lead story in Local today is an upbeat report on the 100th anniversary of the Teaneck Police Department (L-1).

Staff Writer Jim Norman notes the onetime all-male force "now includes seven women, two of whom are lieutenants and two detectives."

But Norman fails to tell readers about the sordid period when women in the Teaneck department filed sexual-harassment lawsuits against their male superiors, resulting in legal fees and settlements that cost taxpayers many hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Are local assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza -- veterans who should be familiar with those suits -- deliberately slanting stories so as not to offend the Teaneck police?

NJMG retirees, employees have own pension woes

The Record's old headquarters on River Street in Hackensack, in a photo taken before North Jersey Media Group leased parking spaces to Bergen County, replacing those lost to construction near the courthouse.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record has been filled lately with bad news for the public employee pension fund, which has been raided by New Jersey governors who can't balance their budgets any other way.

Now, Governor Christie is drastically cutting the contribution to the underfunded public employee pension system, plus making other cuts totaling $128 million, to balance the budget by June 30.

The Record's stories are filled with numbers, but no explanation of how this will affect public employees.

Meanwhile, I wonder what retirees and employees of the Woodland Park daily are saying about the annual notice sent out last month by the North Jersey Media Group Pension Plan.

I recall newsroom employees -- Corny, Vinny, Ron and other suckers -- who are close to or past retirement age and working under a pension system that was frozen "for participants who were actively employed on March 31, 2007," according to the annual notice.

"Benefits as of that date remain intact," the notice states, "but will not increase beyond their value as of March 31, 2007."

I left in May 2008 and now receive a monthly NJMG pension of less than $1,000 -- this after more than 29 years at the paper as a reporter, copy editor and food writer.

My pension was reduced -- I can't recall by how much -- because I chose the option of allowing my wife to receive half of my monthly benefit after my death.

Unfunded liabilities

As of Jan 1, 2013, the NJMG Pension Plan had total assets of $71,711,475 and liabilities of $86,607,254.

"This figure is the estimate of the amount of assets the plan needs on Valuation Day to pay for promised benefits under the plan," the notice states.

The funding shortfall is listed in the notice as $14,895,779 to $31,657,952, and the minimum required contribution to the plan by NJMG is $4,855,096 to $7,355,065.

Let's hope the greedy Borgs don't do a Christie on their workers and retirees.

The total number of participants in the plan is given as 1,903, including 465 active participants, 746 retired or "separated from service" and receiving benefits, and 692 retired or "separated" and entitled to future benefits.

Today's paper

The story on A-3 today -- a roundup of jokes about the George Washington Bridge scandal -- only reminds commuters of how Governor Christie screwed them royally through a combination of higher tolls everywhere and no expansion of mass transit.

In the last few days, The Record has been revising the total contribution the GOP bully will be withholding from the public employee pension system.

First, it was reported as $900 million. Then, that was upped to $1.57 billion.

Today, Staff Writer John Reitmeyer reports on A-4, Christie plans to take funds allocated for the pension system -- "nearly $900 million this fiscal year and $1.57 billion in the fiscal year that begins on July 1"(A-4). 

Heavy Teaneck news

Today's Local section continues recent heavy coverage of Teaneck, with a glowing story on the high school prom, complete with three photos (L-1 and L-6).

Did Hackensack High School hold a prom? Why wasn't that covered? 

The only Hackensack "news" is an obituary for Joseph Bracchitta, 86, "one of the finest ballplayers" from the high school (L-6).

Also on L-1, Staff Writer Colleen Diskin reports on the reaction  of seniors to another postponed state property tax rebate Christie is hogging to balance the state budget.

More than 1 million residents enrolled in the Homestead program are affected.

Noisier jets?

On the first Business page, Staff Writer Richard Newman reports on current and planed longer-range business jets at Teterboro Airport (L-8).

But as usual, Newman has his heads in the cloud, never mentioning whether the new aircraft are any quieter than those that terrorize Hackensack high-rise residents and wake up everyone else in towns near the airport that caters to the rich and famous.

Pigging out

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung bestows 3 stars on Lan Sheng, a Chinese restaurant serving spicy Sichuan food in an industrial area of Wallington (BL-14).

But Ung didn't make much of an effort to sample non-meat dishes, mentioning only three, including a fish with "a skimpy amount of flesh for the $22.95 price tag."

Even the tofu dish she liked contains pork.

She quotes a friend, who sounds retarded:

"I'm afraid to try the white rice. What if it's a revelation?"

Dems buck under Christie's weight

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

All the focus is on Rep. Weiner's weiner, but will you look at that schnoz.

Is this Wisconsin all over again? Will New Jersey's Democratic lawmakers try to derail a deal between their traitorous leaders and Governor Christie to slash public employee benefits?

Wisconsin isn't even mentioned in the lead story on Page 1 of The Record today.

And the major A-1 photo doesn't show a demonstration by New Jersey's public employees. It shows Greek factions battling in front of the Greek Parliament.

What an odd choice for the front page. Does Greece remind Editor Francis Scandale of New Jersey because millionaires in both places pay little or no taxes?

Let's be frank

Readers can only hope Scandale's A-1 blurb and A-9 story today are close to being the last about Rep. Anthony Weiner, who is telling friends he is going to step down, The New York Times has reported. 

Boy, look at the embarrassing correction of an L-1 headline on Wednesday that said a jury would decide a 39-year-old murder case that is being heard only by a judge (A-2). Was that in the story?

Doesn't it seem like the news copy desk has been making a record number of errors since Liz Houlton took over as its main supervisor, eagle-eyed Nancy Cherry left the paper and veteran copy editors were given the heave-ho in the 2008 downsizing?

Hackensack renewal 

After filing two stories for Tuesday's paper, Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado has two more today (L-1 and L-3).

She seems to have been reinvigorated, filing a whopping 12 municipal stories about Hackensack since May 18. 

I doubt head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, Alvarado's mentor, realizes the reporter's knowledge of Hackensack is flawed, despite all the years she has spent covering the city.

For example, in today's story on "controversial" plans for a new Syrian Orthodox church, she reports neighbors who oppose a bigger building cite the "increased traffic and on-street parking it will bring."

But Alvarado doesn't mention that for years, the existing Fairmount Avenue church has generated lots of traffic and a scramble for parking spaces in the residential neighborhood every Sunday.

Such omissions damage the paper's credibility.

New town reporters

The Englewood and Teaneck reporters, who left the paper, appear to have been replaced by two productive local staffers. 

Still, the Teaneck school district's plans for solar panels is nowhere near worthy of L-1 play, as it got today, unless your assignment desk is as clueless as the one working under Sykes.

Something rotten

On the first Business page, the highly promotional story on the opening of Fresh Market in far-off Montvale, quotes a supermarket expert as saying its prices are "equivalent to a ShopRite" (L-7).

But for Fresh Market, which emphasizes fresh products, that could be the kiss of death unless it can deliver produce of much higher quality than ShopRite's sub-par offerings.