Columns, debates, what-ifs -- another boring front page

Gasoline is still under $2 a gallon at this station in Teaneck.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

BORING!!!!!

Despite all his accomplishments at The New York Times, Editor Martin Gottlieb continues to bore readers of The Record of Woodland Park.

I can't imagine a duller front page for a Sunday edition than the one I'm looking at today.

Not one, but two tedious columns. A news story about a U.S. senator I never heard of, a Republican named Corker. And a story on a Teaneck doctor who "interviews pilots about their health."

Corruption

If readers bother plowing through the lead Page 1 column on former Bergen County Democratic chief Joseph Ferriero and U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, they will search in vain for an opinion from the burned-out reporter who has been churning out this kind of crap since 1988 (A-1).

Gottlieb must think all you have to do to have a column is add a dated thumbnail photo of Mike Kelly's shit-eating grin.

But readers look to Kelly for an opinion about the corrupt campaign-finance system and whether he believes greed led Ferriero and Menendez to violate the public trust. (See editorial on O-2 today.)

You won't find any opinions in his overlong column, just a rewrite of all that has appeared so far on the corruption charges against the two men and the "profound questions" they raise.

Local news

At least today's Local section actually found municipal news to report: 

Three stories about Englewood -- two by a weekly reporter -- but only one each from Teaneck and Hackensack.

Hackensack Police Director Mike Mordaga told Staff Writer Todd South a police captain filed a lawsuit only after he was passed over for a promotion to top commander (L-1).

Commenting on the suit by Capt. Thomas Salcedo, Mordaga says "he's broken no laws and that the department has followed all rules and guidelines."

Mordaga also said Salcedo was named in several lawsuits filed by police officers who were under his command, and all were settled by the city.

Trucks, litter

Road Warrior John Cichowski once again explores the irrelevant with today's column on highway litter (L-1).

Most drivers are slobs. What can you do? 

His previous column was on tractor-trailers that used residential streets. Wow! 

Hey, Cichowski, there are way too many cars clogging our streets and highways. 

You should be writing about the sorry state of mass transit and other commuting topics, but you're too lazy for that, and your editors are too stupid to notice.

Healthy eating

John Petrick was a feature writer in the old Hackensack newsroom who got on somebody's shit list and was exiled to cover the Passaic County Courthouse in Paterson.

He worked there for several years, and did a terrific job covering trials and indictments in the busy courthouse.

Now, he's back writing features. Today, he has finally awakened to the trend of people trying to eat healthy when they go out to restaurants (BL-1).

But Petrick doesn't explain why Elisa Ung, the paper's chief restaurant critic, is always making a pig of herself, gorging on enormous cuts of questionable beef and artery clogging desserts.

As for Ung, her column today again takes the focus off of restaurants serving low-quality food at high prices, such as those steakhouses she loves (BL-1).

What revolution?

Sadly, the "retail revolution" reported on today's Business section cover has nothing to do with the return of real customer service (B-1).

Long legal battle facing Menendez is no popularity contest

The 1:10 p.m. NY Waterway Ferry from Manhattan approaching the Weehawken terminal on Wednesday. Even if you take mass transit to the ferry, it is one of the most expensive ways to commute. The round-trip senior fare is $16.50 compared to $3.80 round-trip for an NJ Transit express bus to the city. Garage parking in Weehawken costs an additional $14.

In Manhattan, the NY Waterway Ferry Terminal on 12th Avenue was built next to the towering Lincoln Tunnel vent. Red, white and blue shuttle buses are free.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

What's the point of comparing the legal battle facing Sen. Bob Menendez to a sports contest or looking for his supporters on the streets of Union City, the onetime Cuban-American stronghold?

Today, on the front page, the editors of The Record continue to minimize the federal bribery indictment handed up against New Jersey's senior senator and a wealthy eye doctor, Salomon Melgen (A-1).

The Page 1 headline -- "Hometown advantage" -- is even sillier than Friday's "Friendship under fire."

The long federal trial facing the defendants will be no popularity contest, and you can be sure none of the people interviewed by The Record will be serving on the jury that will decide Menendez's and Melgen's guilt or innocence.

Deep doo-doo

The truth is Menendez, a Democrat who now lives in Paramus, finds himself in deep doo-doo for accepting free travel, expensive hotel rooms and campaign contributions from Melgen, then pushing the doctor's business and personal interests with other government officials.

Like Menendez, most of the Cuban-Americans who lived in Union City moved out long ago, so calling it "Havana on the Hudson" in the first paragraph of today's story is inaccurate.

The editors had to send Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado to Union City with reporter Melissa Hayes because the former is one of the few newsroom staffers fluent in Spanish. LOL.

Christie record

More than five long years into the Christie administration, The Record finally discovers what everyone already knew:

Governor Christie is no friend of the environment, having filed only two new environmental damage suits, compared to the hundreds filed in the six years before he took office (A-1).

Local news?

The Record's Local section, including today's, often resembles a print version of Jerry DeMarco's Cliffview Pilot.com, but missing all the detail that Law & Order news site is known for.

Today, crime or court news appears on all but one of the six pages edited so poorly by The Record's head assignment editor, Deirdre Sykes, and her incompetent minions, including her deputy, Dan Sforza (L-1 to L-6).

On Friday, Sykes and Sforza used a filler photo of two cars and a motorcycle that had crashed in Paramus, but typically, the caption was devoid of any information.

Today, both Cliffview Pilot.com and The Record report one of the drivers, John Pavloski, 82, of Fair Lawn was issued a summons for cutting off the motorcycle and crashing into an SUV (L-3).

The role of an elderly driver in that accident highlights how The Record and Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski have routinely ignored the challenges facing older drivers and older journalists.

Just as Cichowski hasn't bothered to find out whether retraining is available for older drivers, the editors haven't bothered reigning in the confused reporter's propensity to commit error after error in column after column.

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers for a discussion of how Cichowski screwed up his column on "The Car Book" last Sunday:

Reporter is unsafe at any speed 

Small minds

No one seems to have edited a story on L-3 today.

It reports a tapas restaurant that opened "along" East Ridgewood Avenue in Ridgewood was closed for fire-code violations.

The reporter, Chris Harris, says a notice is "adorning" the front door of Finca.

Later, Harris reports "the eatery resides in the former shell of the Stable [italics added]."

Second look

If you think that's embarrassing, on Friday, Elisa Ung rated Tom Yum Koong, a small Thai restaurant in Hasbrouck Heights, Good to Excellent despite:

"Leathery slices of beef" in a green curry, overly crusty spring rolls and crispy shrimp,  overcooked whole red snapper, unripe fruit in a dessert with banana, bland red-bean flavor in red-bean ice cream and no sticky rice with mango, which the overfed restaurant reviewer calls "the most famous Thai dessert."

The week before, she gave the same Good to Excellent rating to Grissini, the "wildly expensive" Italian-American restaurant in Englewood Cliffs.

Is Ung's judgment reliable or is it time to replace the dessert- and meat-obsessed reporter, who has been beating this dead horse since 2006?

Did you catch a big laugh line at Ferriero corruption trial?

More urban renewal in Hackensack. On Thursday, buildings were being demolished on Main Street near Mercer Street, above and below, to make way for a 14-story residential-retail project.

The new building at 150-170 Main St. will have 382 apartments, the biggest such project so far in the city's downtown redevelopment, and 7,500 square feet of ground-floor retail.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On a front page dominated by the Iran deal and political corruption at home, Joe Ferriero's defense attorney inadvertently cracked a one-liner that has readers of The Record rolling in the aisles.

According to a paraphrase by Staff Writer Peter J. Sampson, the lawyer told jurors at his corruption trial in Newark that Ferriero "was simply a guy trying to make a living" (A-1).

Federal prosecutors claim the Hackensack lawyer "once used his position as head of the Democratic Party in Bergen County to enrich himself through a series of bribery and extortion schemes" that allegedly netted him  more than $1.7 million.

That's not a living; it's a killing.

And defense lawyer Michael Baldassare also found himself in the unenviable position of telling jurors that Ferriero won't testify in his own defense, as he promised at the beginning of the trial.

That is sure to damage the defendant.

Menendez case

Meanwhile, The Record continues defending Sen. Bob Menendez, who, along with a wealthy Florida eye doctor, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a federal bribery indictment (A-1).

How else can you interpret the stupid main headline?

"Friendship under fire"

It doesn't sound as if any of The Record reporters on the Menendez case have spent much time in a federal courthouse, and that is a big weakness in the coverage.

Defense attorneys are quoted extensively making excuses for Menendez, but federal prosecutors weren't asked to comment.

Sampson, a veteran federal courthouse reporter, is covering the Ferriero trial or he would have been assigned to the Menendez case.

Menendez is referred to as "an accused criminal," not as a defendant (A-8).

And it's hard to see how one allegation can be called "friendship."

"New Jersey's senior senator tried to help [Dr. Salomon] Melgen keep $9 million that Medicare said he overbilled the government" (A-8).

Local news?

The resignation of  Hackensack Councilwoman Rose Greenman, who claims to be a victim of "discrimination," is one of the few municipal stories in today's thin Local news section (L-1).

It must be great to be head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes or her deputy, Dan Sfroza, who pull down fat paychecks in return for filling Local with Law & Order news and non-fatal accident photos.

The view from Moore Street, above and below, opposite the old headquarters of The Record at 150 River St.

One of the buildings slated for demolition housed Main Dish, a restaurant at 152 Main St., where Naturally Good operated for many years, attracting employees of The Record before North Jersey Media Group and its flagship paper abandoned Hackensack in 2009.

Menendez front page is a wink and nod at insider deals

The 7:40 a.m. NY Waterway Ferry took about 10 minutes to reach midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, but driving to the Weehawken terminal from Hackensack during rush hour ate up 45 minutes.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The defendant is supposed to come out swinging, not the editors of The Record.

But today's front page -- nearly all of which is devoted to Bob Menendez's legal problems -- calls into question The Record's objectivity in reporting a 14-count federal bribery indictment against the state's senior U.S. senator (A-1).

In a sidebar, Staff Writer Mary Jo Layton, quoting "several white-collar defense experts," claims "federal prosecutors face many hurdles in making their corruption case" against the Democrat (A-1).

This is a virtual rewrite of Herb Jackson's front-page story a few weeks ago, after CNN reported top Justice Department lawyers had "signed off on the charges" (A-8).

What else would defense lawyers say? 

They have to justify the huge retainer they demand from defendants like Menendez, and the hundreds of thousands in legal fees that follow when the cases go to trial.

A bad taste

A U.S. senator enjoying a lavish, jet-setting lifestyle courtesy of a friend -- allegedly for promoting the friend's "business and personal interests" -- leaves a bad taste in the mouth of taxpayers and certainly appears to be improper, if not illegal (A-1).

The Borg family, which owns North Jersey Media Group, publisher of the Woodland Park daily, also treats their business associates and friends favorably.

In recent years, The Record has run at least two stories promoting business associates of the Borgs without disclosing those ties.

And in January, Publisher Stephen A. Borg announced a sale-leaseback deal with a close family friend involving the company's printing plant on 16.67 acres in Rockaway Township.

Borg said the agreement was with a fund sponsored by the Hampshire Cos. of Morristown, but didn't mention that Jon F. Hanson is its chairman and founder or that his father, Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, and Hanson had jointly purchased a private jet in 2011.

Hanson is a major fund-raiser for Governor Christie, and advises him on sports and entertainment policy.

The Rockaway Township deal is worth about $30 million.

Branching out?

The byline of Jay Levin, The Record's local obituary writer, appears today on a front-page story about bunnies that just about the only relief  from the Menendez saga.

Levin's second byline is on the Better Living front feature called "The Name-Dropper" (BL-1).

Family dynasties

The upbeat story on the nearly 40-year reign of the Parisi family in Englewood Cliffs makes such dynasties sound like a good thing instead of one of the worst aspects of home rule (L-1).

Staff Writer Kim Lueddeke even mentions how the Zisa family "once dominated Hackensack so thoroughly that some called the city 'Zisaville'" (L-5).

But Lueddeke shouldn't have stopped there, because Hackensack still is haunted by Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa, its corrupt police chief, and the millions of dollars it took to fight all the lawsuits filed against him.

Today, Staff Writer Todd South reports on a lawsuit filed against Hackensack Police Director Mike Mordaga by Capt. Thomas Salcedo (L-3).

Wednesday's paper

On Wednesday, South reported the Union County Prosecutor's Office is handling the investigation of a March 9 pedestrian fatality in Hackensack that involved a detective from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.

South's story on Wednesday's L-2 quotes Mordaga as saying "that it's quite common practice to have outside agencies review such incidents."

Avoiding any conflict of interest also is cited in the story.

Blogger's role

Of course, The Record doesn't acknowledge that Eye on The Record looked into the death of Hue D. Dang, 64, of Hackensack, and questioned the decision not to charge Detective Sgt. John C. Straniero, whose unmarked car knocked down and fatally injured the woman.

Eye on The Record also questioned Hackensack police saying they didn't know where the woman was standing, even though their own report and other evidence strongly indicated she was in or near the Jackson Avenue crosswalk when she was hit -- a crosswalk they never mentioned to The Record.

I called the state police and emailed the state Attorney General's Office about those concerns, leading to the case being given to the Union County Prosecutor's Office on Monday.

Wedesday's L-1 carries another story about a pedestrian in North Bergen who was fatally injured by the car of a West New York police officer.

This story, like the March 11 account about Dang's death, doesn't mention whether any charges will be filed. 

More Christie B.S.

Wednesday's front page gives Christie a soap box to justify his withholding $1.8 billion from state pension funds.

But the editors shoved back to A-3 complaints from Democrats that Christie is being far from honest about the fiscal health of the Transportation Trust Fund.

Wednesday's A-2 carried an embarrassing correction of a front-page story on the effort to recall Mahwah's mayor.