Cheering our Olympians, booing Christie the bully

Hackensack's Department of Public Works removed tons of snow from city streets, above and below, but left a lot behind, covering travel lanes and burying bus stops.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Governor Christie's old chums are coming out of the woodwork, though there isn't much of that at the Fort Lee end of the George Washington Bridge.

Text messages apparently leaked by state investigators reveal that Port Authority police Lt. Thomas "Chip" Michaels, who grew up with Christie, gave agency bigwig, David Wildstein, a tour of "the traffic" during early September lane closures, The Record reports today.

Wildstein, who went to high school with Christie, is the onetime Port Authority crony who ordered the politically inspired access-lane closures after getting an e-mail from the governor's deputy chief of staff, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

The latest report on the Bridgegate probe appears on Page 1 today, alongside all of the flag waving for the first Americans to win gold in Olympics ice dancing (A-1).

More wasted space

Boy, look at all of that wasted space on Christie's $650-an-hour lawyer, Randy Mastro, walking "a fine line" (A-1) 

Mastro is conducting an "internal" probe of the Governor's Office, as well as defending Christie against charges of political retribution in Fort Lee and Hoboken, both with Democratic mayors.

It's fitting Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich and Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer told Mastro to go to hell. 

Taxpayers are footing Mastro's inflated hourly rate, and readers are paying for Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson's ponderous discussion, which is more suited for a law school class.

At Euclid Avenue and Main Street in Hackensack, half a lane is better than none.

Holly Golightly

At least one Republican on the panel probing the lane closures is engaging in unfortunate hyperbole.

Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi of River Vale claims, "We are starting to reach grassy-knoll type of conspiracy theories" (A-6).

Why invoke the Kennedy assassination?

Delayed report 

The lead story on the Local front -- "Hospital begins $90M expansion" -- is appearing months after construction started at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, as the photo of extensive steel work shows (L-1).

To fill out the pathetically thin local report, Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza ordered his layout editor to blow up a chimney fire photo from Mahwah (L-3).

Holes in head

Sforza could have assigned a reporter to find out whether towns in Bergen and Passaic counties are repairing potholes. 

No such repairs have taken place in Hackensack, which is playing catch-up with snow removal, and traffic is slowed by potholes and streets narrowed by mounds of ice and snow, including such major thoroughfares as Essex Street.

Instead, Editor Marty Gottlieb ran a pothole-repair story from The Star-Ledger that doesn't discuss a single town in The Record's circulation area (A-3).

On Anderson Street, snow buries a bus stop.

More head holes

In his Friday and Sunday columns, Road Warrior John Cichowski wildly exaggerated the prevalence of "roof snow," and questioned why police are issuing so few summonses. 

A concerned reader notes in an e-mail to editors and managers at The Record:

"The Road Warrior repeatedly lamented the low amount of police ticketing of the supposed widespread problem with vehicles carrying snow and ice, even though I and many others that I have spoken to generally see maybe 1% of vehicles carrying snow a day after a storm.

"Maybe one of the major reasons why police are issuing so few tickets for snow/ice on vehicles in comparison to other violations is because there are much, much fewer violators of that statute in comparison to daily violators for other New Jersey road statutes."

See the full e-mail on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:  

More snow jobs from the Road Warrior

A real yawner

If you read the debut story carefully, you'll learn that Jimmy Fallon of "The Tonight Show" tapes his farce early, meaning only insomniacs, drunks and the poor schmucks stuck working nights in The Record's newsroom actually stay up to watch, as was the case for David Letterman and Jay Leno (A-1 and BL-1).

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Here's yet another far-from-super Sunday edition

Two house pets in midtown Manhattan searching in vain for Super Bowl "frenzy" on Saturday afternoon. Extra police were on duty directing traffic around Super Bowl activities, and I didn't see any traffic jams related to pre-game events.

Nearby, a deli is offering a breakfast that is lost in the translation.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Even without the distraction of the Super Bowl and the need to assign news reporters to cover a sports story, Editor Marty Gottlieb has produced a number of lousy Sunday editions in the past two years.

Today's could have been a duesy, but it turned out to resemble a douche bag.

Wrapped in hype

The first mistake was to wrap the paper in another 8-page "Super Bowl Special" section with a verb-less banger head that lands with a thud:

"Jersey's stage now"

That hides a front page that doesn't answer the question on everyone's mind:

Does Governor Christie deny he knew about the politically inspired George Washington lane closures when they happened in early September, as his onetime Port Authority crony asserts?

Instead, a small photo shows the GOP bully seated at a Super Bowl event in Manhattan's Times Square on Saturday, with his hands clasped (A-1).

Harrison who?

Page 1 is dominated by thousands of words on renovation of the PATH station in Harrison, a town near Newark that few people in Bergen or Passaic counties care anything about (A-1).

This is another instance where star reporter Stephanie Akin follows up on a story by her husband, Shawn Boburg, the reporter assigned to cover the Port Authority, who is just now paying attention to the agency's lagging mass-transit operations.

I can just imagine how these driven reporters' pillow talk is dominated by endless discussions of the Bridgegate scandal, and its cast of characters:

From Christie to David Wildstein, the high school pal who ratted out the governor after he was kicked out of his cushy Port Authority job; to Bridget Ann "Bridge" Kelly, onetime Christie deputy chief of staff, who e-mailed Wildstein:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

"Got it," responded Wildstein, former director of capital projects at the Port Authority.

Manhattan, Kan.

On the Local front, wrong-way Road Warrior John Cichowski is back today with another dire traffic prediction that is as hollow as his head (L-1).

When Carolyn Stefani leaves Carnegie Hall a little after 6 p.m. tonight after seeing Handel's "Theodora," her favorite opera, she will have absolutely no problem driving home to Bergenfield.

In fact, she will probably be able to dance in the middle of West 57th St. as millions of metropolitan area fans stay glued to their TVs for the start of the Super Bowl at 6:30 p.m. 

Fox TV coverage began at 11 a.m. today.

'Drunk' reporter

The real danger is after the game is over at 10 p.m., and hundreds of thousands of inebriated and drunk fans climb behind the wheel and attempt to drive home from the game or Super Bowl parties (12,000 have parking passes at the stadium in East Rutherford).

The addled Road Warrior even has Stefani driving to the George Washington Bridge "through the Theater District," which is many blocks south of Carnegie Hall and completely out of the way (L-1 and L-7).

His opera lover will be able to drive west on 57th Street to the West Side Highway, turn north and literally fly up the road to and over the bridge.

And Stefani doesn't have to go anywhere near the stadium, which Cichowski sets up as a boogeyman in his first paragraph.

Turd alert

Let's hope Gottlieb, the former New York Times editor who now runs the Woodland Park newsroom, is hiding his head in shame that Cichowski doesn't even know the basic geography of Manhattan, and that his six-figure production editor, Liz Houlton, completely misses all of his stupid mistakes.

The work of The Record's other burned out columnists -- Mike Kelly, Charles Stile and Bill Ervolino -- is scattered through today's paper like so many sidewalk turds readers have to be careful not to step in. 

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The Times ties Christie to GWB lane closures

Two of the three lanes to George Washington Bridge tollbooths, above, were closed in early September after an exchange of e-mails between members of Governor Christie's staff and his Port Authority appointee, leading to gridlock in Democratic Fort Lee and charges of political payback by the GOP bully.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The New York Times Web site is reporting that Governor Christie knew about the George Washington Bridge lane closures "when they were happening" in early September.

The Times quotes David Wildstein, the high school pal Christie appointed to the Port Authority, which runs the bridge:

"The Port Authority official who personally oversaw the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge in the scandal now swirling around Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Friday that the governor knew about the lane closings when they were happening, and that he had the evidence to prove it.

"In a letter released by his lawyer, the official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing at the Port Authority, which controls the bridge, described the order to close the lanes as 'the Christie administration’s order' and said 'evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the Governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference' three weeks ago."

The Record's Web site published the story more than an hour after The Times report appeared today.

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Editors were blind to rot in Christie's inner circle

Playground murals in Hackensack, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Is it believable that The Record is only now learning about vindictiveness and dishonesty among members of Governor Christie's inner circle?

Since he took office in January 2010, the Woodland Park daily has been in Christie's corner, calling him a "rock star" and wildly "popular," and in at least the past year, reporting obsessively about his White House potential.

Naive editors

Today, however, a harshly worded editorial demands an explanation from Christie on how members of his staff and cronies on the Port Authority pulled off a politically inspired traffic jam in Democratic Fort Lee, supposedly without his knowledge (A-11).

The editorial writer appears to be shocked that Christie appointees "gleefully" disparaged "public officials, first responders, the media, schoolchildren and pretty much anyone else who might be inconvenienced by the closures" of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in early September.  

NPR connects dots

This morning, National Public Radio reported that many of Christie's closest aides and appointees once worked for him when he was U.S. attorney in Newark or came from the state Attorney General's Office.

Michael Drewniak, his foul-mouthed media liaison, also was spokesman for Christie the corruption-busting federal prosecutor.

Delayed outrage

Referring to Christie's Port Authority appointees and his Trenton aides, today's editorial notes:

"The pure joy David Wildstein, Bill Baroni, Bridget Anne Kelly and Michael Drewniak display in either being unhelpful or actually destructive is sickening." 

Equally sickening is how everyone from Editor Marty Gottlieb to the paper's columnists and reporters have been in love with a politician everyone else refers to as  the "GOP bully."

Uphill battle

This was especially evident during last year's gubernatorial campaign, when state Sen. Barbara Buono's campaign couldn't gain traction with The Record because her fund-raising lagged far behind Christie's.

This despite Buono, a Democrat, documenting high unemployment, a lagging state economy and Christie's continuing war on the middle class.

In a column today, Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin sounds naive when he says:

"But what I do not get is why [Governor] Christie did not know sooner" about a plan among four members of his inner circle "to create a traffic nightmare in Fort Lee" (A-18).

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U.S. attorney to open inquiry into GWB lane closures

Drivers stuck in rush-hour traffic on Route 4 east in Paramus on their way to the George Washington Bridge this morning.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Unusually high unemployment and lagging state tax revenues didn't do it. Nor did killing the biggest expansion of mass transit in decades.

Balancing the state budget on the backs of the middle and working classes also didn't disturb editors of The Record of Woodland Park.

No. It took a politically malevolent traffic jam at the Fort Lee end of the George Washington Bridge four months ago to pierce the bubble of invincibility around Governor Christie (A-1).

Christie idolatry

If the GOP bully is "STUCK IN A JAM," as today's Page 1 headline declares, then the editors of The Record were STUCK IN A CHRISTIE RUT.

Those editors -- and reporters Charles Stile, Herb Jackson, Melissa Hayes and other staffers -- are culpable for giving Christie a pass since he took office in January 2010.

They not only overlooked his mean-spirited policies and whether they were good for New Jersey, but they regurgitated all of the governors' marketing ploys -- from his "Reform Agenda" to "Bipartisan Compromise."

Those reporters and editors gave up one of their biggest responsibilities to readers: Challenge authority.

The owner of this Toyota Prius saves lots of money on gasoline, but throws those savings away on higher tolls. Owners of hybrid cars can ask for a Green E-ZPass that automatically gives them off-peak toll discounts, as much as $3 less  at the Hudson River crossings. This Prius has a conventional white E-ZPass.

Christie's apology

This morning in Trenton, Christie told the media he is apologizing to the people of New Jersey and the residents of Fort Lee.

He said he has "terminated the employment" of Bridget Anne Kelly, his deputy chief staff, who had e-mailed Christie pal David Wildstein at the Port Authority that it was "time for traffic problems in Fort Lee."

"Got it," Wildstein replied in the Aug. 13, 2013, exchange of e-mails.

Federal probe

In what many might see as a colossal ass covering, Christie claimed his staff lied to him.

The New York Times Web site reported U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman is expected to announce today that he will open an inquiry into the Sept. 9-12 lane closures in Fort Lee.

Christie, a former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said he plans to go to Fort Lee today and apologize personally to Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for the lane closures from local streets to upper-level tollbooths of the George Washington Bridge.

The governor said he is "stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown here" -- a reference to the closing of those lanes.

Christie said he had no knowledge of the e-mails from Kelly, his deputy chief of staff, to his crony at the bi-state transportation agency.

Wildstein and Bill Baroni, his other appointee to the Port Authority, have already resigned.

The future

It remains to be seen whether Bridgegate will hurt Christie's chances in a 2016 White House race.

But commuters will be stuck with exorbitant tolls and crowded buses and trains for years -- thanks to Christie's short-sighted policies.

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A weird story leads an even weirder Sunday edition

NJ Transit's 8:59 a.m. local to Hoboken was about 12 minutes late arriving in Clifton on Friday, above, but the older rail car was warm, clean and had plenty of empty seats, below. The station also has a waiting room that allows commuters to stay out of sub-freezing weather.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

After you say gee whiz or who cares, The Record's odd Page 1 story today on David Wildstein purchasing Internet domain addresses leaves you high and dry.

Readers won't find any explanation in all those words, photos, graphics and headlines of what that means to them or anyone else (A-1 and A-6).

Wildstein, the Port Authority official who resigned after ordering mysterious lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, bought the domains of Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono, his boss at the Port Authority and others.

But none of them apparently tried later to create their own domains, so why is this news?

Wildstein, a high school buddy of Governor Christie's, comes off sounding weird, even for a Republican political appointee and political junkie.

Wrong words

In another front-page story today, the many state and federal versions of Joan's Law are referred to as a "cadre" -- a word usually reserved for people (A-1).

There are no corrections on A-2 today, despite all the errors in the paper every day. Last week, four corrections and one clarification were published.

Police story

On the Local front today, the untold story of trigger-happy America is the apparent lack of trust in the police to safeguard us in our homes and businesses (L-1).

At a vigil in Teaneck for the 26 killed in Newtown, Conn., gun-rights advocate Josh Levy accused state Sen. Loretta Weinberg of trying "to take away our guns" -- all in the earshot of five township police officers Levy has no confidence in.

Ice age

Today's column by Road Warrior John Cichowski is among the many he has written about "dangerous" snow and ice on the roofs of trucks, even though the last death of a driver hit by flying ice occurred in 1997 (L-1).

There have been far more pedestrian victims of NJ Transit trains, but Cichowski and the paper's other transportation reporters haven't taken the agency to task for poor safety measures at stations or for failing to deploy police officers to keep people off the tracks.

Funny money

On the Opinion front, Columnist Mike Kelly is back with breaking news: "Money talks."

That goes without saying at The Record, which lavishes coverage on big mall advertisers and stiffs Main Street merchants, as well as publishing flattering stories about Borg family friends  and business associates.

Whether big city police departments will be able to use purchasing power to persuade gun makers to be socially responsible remains to be seen.

But one thing is clear: Kelly and all other members of the nation's media have failed miserably to influence the debate.

Readers' letters

On O-3, August De Falco of Lodi defends the job performance of Hackensack City Manager Stephen L0 Iacono, who has agreed to resign under pressure from the City Council.

Several years ago, Lo Iacono was quoted in The Record as saying Hackensack has taken only "baby steps" on implementing solar power and other alternative energy.

Today, not a single public building or school in Hackensack has a working solar-panel installation -- in marked contrast to neighboring Teaneck.

Hackensack also operates inefficient police and parking enforcement fleets with not a single hybrid or electric car, and allows numerous employees to commute to and from work in city owned vehicles.

All of this makes property tax bills higher than they could be.

Walks on water

In a letter seemingly aimed at Record editors, reporters and columnists who idolize Christie, reader Sidney J. Goodman of Mahwah asks, "What kind of politician would make spending cuts while preserving tax breaks for the wealthy"?

"It is unbelievable that Christie remains popular," Goodman writes, despite cuts in women's health care, legal services to the poor, environmental programs, and so on and so forth (O-3).

Second look

In his Wednesday Road Warrior column on closure of Fort Lee access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, Cichowski misquotes a Port Authority official testifying in Trenton  and contradicts his own Sept. 13 piece on the controversy.

See: Road Warrior's reporting fiasco at the GWB

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Christie news for readers who believe in Santa Claus

A photo-op with Santa on Friday at the Bergen Town Center in Paramus.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

A high school pal of Governor Christie's resigns from his $150,000-a-year job at the Port Authority -- that's certainly front-page news.

But the typo in the banner headline on Page 1 today is old hat -- another example of the sloppy work by news and copy editors under the supervision of six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton, also known as the Queen of Errors.

David Wildstein, a former Republican mayor of Livingston, wasn't working for a seaport, as lower-case "port official" suggests (A-1).

The headline should have used upper-case "Port official" in reference to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. 

The Portly Authority

Want a good laugh? 

Michael Drewniak, Christie's chief mouthpiece and spin doctor, thanked Wildstein "for his service to the people of New Jersey and the region" (A-4).

Let's review all of Wildstein's great work since he joined the agency in 2010, thanks to Christie, the Portly Authority:

Tolls on Port Authority crossings have skyrocketed, and despite mounting traffic congestion, the agency refuses to expand the express bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel or extend the reach of the PATH rail system.

More Christie lies

Columnist Charles Stile continues to insist Christie can boast of "his bipartisan successes" on out-of-town trips campaigning for conservative Republican governors like himself (A-1 and A-6).

Of course, that would be accurate if you eliminate all the vetoes the GOP bully has used to get his way with the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

Stile sounds just like Drewniak, and the reporter isn't even on the governor's payroll -- or is he?

More errors

Page A-2 carries two more embarrassing corrections, including a whopper on how long state Assemblyman and alleged cheat Robert Schroeder has been in office.

Another crappy headline appears on L-1 today over the court appearance of suspects in a $2 million robbery "at the upscale St. Moritz apartment building" in Edgewater.

The main headline refers to "invasion," and the drop headline uses "attacking," which is pretty much the same thing.

The suspects invaded an apartment, not a "home."

Zisa remnants

In Hackensack news, school board Attorney Richard Salkin, an ally of the Zisa family, is representing Debra Heck, who left her city clerk job under pressure from the new City Council (L-3).

The council was elected in May on a platform of reform after decades of rule by the Zisas, including the corrupt police chief.

Heck was perceived as a Zisa loyalist and holdover.

Second look

Nearly every sentence of Friday's Road Warrior column on license renewals at the Motor Vehicle Commission contained an error.

Read the blow-by-blow corrections on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Road Warrior takes license with facts

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King Christie is going after minorities once again

What disability would allow someone to install tile and park legally in a handicapped space at 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus? This seemingly able bodied driver was at the gym before 9 a.m. Tuesday, above and below. 

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

You could make a good case that Chris Christie is a racist, starting with his removal of the state Supreme Court's only African-American justice only a few months after the governor was inaugurated in 2010.

Are there any minorities in Governor Christie's Cabinet or did Christie appoint any to the Port Authority, the patronage mill that runs the region's bridges, tunnels, sea and airports?

Today, The Record reports that Latinos and blacks are complaining of a "disorganized system of processing applications [for federal housing grants to Superstorm Sandy victims] that in effect discriminated against" minorities (A-3).

Christie made storm recovery -- financed almost entirely by the Obama administration -- a centerpiece of his reelection campaign this year.

The governor also has refused to sign a bill passed in the state Senate that would grant in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities to some students who are living in New Jersey illegally (A-3).

Christie claims the bill grants more benefits than the federal program, and would make "us a magnet state for people."

At least he called illegal immigrants "people."

Hasn't Christie noticed that the Garden State is one of the most diverse in the nation, and that with its seaport and international airport -- only miles from New York City -- that it is already a magnet for legal and illegal immigrants?

That damn PA

The Record continues to gush ink over the big, bad Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Today, an editorial (A-22), two Opinion pieces (A-23) and a Road Warrior column (L-1) expand on the brouhaha over the closure of some Fort Lee toll lanes to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge in September or a toll hike that kicks in on Sunday.

One of Christie's flunkies -- David Wildstein, a former columnist for a state political Web site -- is taking the heat for closing the lanes for a "traffic study."

On Tuesday, The Record identified Wildstein as a "former political consultant" and "Christie's No. 2 at the agency."

So, is he a former columnist who called himself "Wally Edge" or a former consultant or did The Record screw-up again?

More babbling

The Road Warrior column is usually difficult to fathom, but Staff Writer John Cichowski is just babbling on and on today about matters unrelated to Monday's legislative hearing on closure of the GWB toll lanes:

He refers to "people who make and remake New Jersey's transportation laws," "a plan to bring driverless vehicles to New Jersey" and "extending a Queens rail line to our shores" (L-1).

Cichowski also reports the lane closures occurred "11 weeks ago without bloodshed."

City Clerk is defiant

In Hackensack news, the new City Council is asking City Clerk Debra Heck to step down or it will remove her (L-1).

Heck has been city clerk since 2002.

"I am not resigning. I did not do anything wrong," Heck said, referring to charges she is not doing her job properly.

The council voted unanimously on Monday night to file a written complaint with the state, seeking her removal, but The Record either didn't cover the meeting or couldn't get the story into Tuesday's paper, because of its notoriously early deadlines.

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