Editors see politics in every Christie belch, burp and fart

Plunging gasoline prices continue to have an adverse impact on the environment: Sales of hybrid cars fall, owners postpone trading in their gas guzzlers for more efficient vehicles and many people drive more, aggravating air pollution. This Delta station is in Teaneck.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

For the third time this week, The Record's front page features Editor Marty Gottlieb's Three Bimbos, including yet another Charles Stile column on how Governor Christie's actions play in Iowa.

The third bimbo, inmate Teresa "Real Housewife" Giudice, appears in a Page 1 brief.

Stile isn't even doing any original reporting, but merely regurgitating "Republican operatives and donors in ... Christie's corner," as his first sentence notes (A-1).

Missing from nearly every Stile column in the past five years is how Christie's actions play in New Jersey, where he has tried to kill the middle class and repeatedly vetoed a tax surcharge on millionaires.

GWB scandal

Today's off-lead is Staff Writer Shawn Boburg's retrospective on the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal -- one year after the media uncovered an explosive e-mail from Christie's chief of staff:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

But even this story tries to put Christie's likely involvement in political retribution against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee in the best light.

Boburg's second paragraph notes the e-mail "unleashed a massive political scandal ... and caused changes big and small" (A-1).

Though the reporter mentions "action by the legislatures in both New Jersey and New York," he is silent on the veto of those reform packages by Christie and his New York counterpart.

So, it's unclear what Port Authority "reforms" are being cited in the Page 1 headline.

And The Record and other media haven't acknowledged their failure to uncover the roles of Christie aides and cronies in the scandal in the two months before his November 2013 re-election. 

Paris massacre

Gottlieb, former global editions editor of The New York Times, gave up business trips to Paris for a trans-Hudson commute.

But in today's Page 1 coverage of the attack on a satirical newspaper in Paris, no one asks whether police could have prevented the killing of 12 people on Wednesday.

That was the same way Gottlieb handled the invasion of Westfield Garden State Plaza by a disturbed young man with a rifle on Nov. 4, 2013.

The show of force by Paramus police was too late to prevent panic among shoppers and employees, as well as the man's suicide.

Mercedes-Benz

Two more stories on the move of Mercedes-Benz USA to Atlanta appear in the paper today (A-1 and B-1).

Staff Writer Hugh R. Morley tries to compare the quality of life in Charlotte and Atlanta -- including restaurants, museums and art center -- to North Jersey, where residents and visitors have the world's greatest city, New York, just across the river.

The stories also put into context the loss of up to 1,000 jobs by 2017, when Mercedes is expected to move into a new U.S. headquarters in Atlanta.

Mercedes' employees are a small fraction of the more than 22,000 workers who commute to corporate headquarters in Montvale, Park Ridge and Woodcliff Lake every day (B-2).

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We're sick of reading about our absentee governor

Police say the street memorial to Cliffside Park Special Police Officer Stephen Petruzzello on Walker Street near First Street was set up close to where he and a second officer were struck by a small SUV after dark on Dec. 27. He died last Monday and was buried on Saturday, The Record reports on Page 1 today.

The Record hasn't pursued details of the accident that killed Petruzzello, who was thrown 25 feet and suffered a severe brain injury, according to Cliffview Pilot.com. Among unanswered questions are why the officers appear to have tried to cross the street many feet away from an intersection, how fast the driver was going on the narrow street and whether she will be charged with vehicular homicide.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Even in death, Cliffside Park Police Officer Stephen Petruzzello has to suffer the indignity of sharing The Record's front page today with Three Bimbos -- Governor Christie, Columnist Charles Stile and Teresa Giudice.

How many hundreds of times has the phrase, "If Christie runs ..." appeared in the Woodland Park daily in the past few years (A-1)?

Editor Martin Gottlieb doesn't seem to understand North Jersey residents simply don't care anymore whether Christie seeks the Republican presidential nomination.

They're more concerned about who is going to rehabilitate the Garden State's image after the GOP bully ran amok, including what is possibly the largest number of vetoes by any New Jersey governor.

How well-lit is Walker Street where Special Police Officer Stephen Petruzzello was struck by a small SUV after dark on Dec. 27? 

Officer's death

Ani Kalayjian, 62, the Cliffside Park driver charged in Petruzzello's death, claims she "didn't see" the 22-year-old and a second officer she knocked down with her Honda CR-V as they were crossing Walker Street in darkness around 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 27.

Today's front-page story on the officer's funeral was incorrect in saying Petruzzello and Special Officer Thaier Abdallah were on foot patrol "a week ago," when it should be a week and a day.

A-2 carries corrections to Friday's Page 1 stories written by Staff Writer Todd South. 

Restaurant news?

Half of the Better Living front is devoted to restaurants that received at least 3 out of 4 stars from Elisa Ung, The Record's dessert-obsessed restaurant critic, and a preview of new places.

The two stories read like thinly disguised advertisements for some of the most expensive restaurants in North Jersey.

Boring headline

Leave it to the Opinion editors to kill any interest in what appears to be a rare hard-hitting column from Mike Kelly, he of the shit-eating grin (O-1).

"Change comes
slowly at the
Port Authority" 

That headline could have run any time in the past 30 years.

The right headline would have done exactly what the columnist does:

Point the finger of blame at Christie, whose aides and cronies engineered the George Washington Bridge lane closures as political retribution against Democrats who didn't support his re-election.

Then, Christie vetoed a package of Port Authority reforms sent to him by the state Legislature in reaction to the scandal.

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Column on highway 'miracle' is no help for commuters

The commute by car through the Lincoln Tunnel, above, and on NJ Transit trains and buses, below, hasn't gotten any easier in the year or more since these photos were taken. In the past decade, The Record has done little to dramatize highway congestion or crowded mass transit, allowing its lazy transportation reporters and columnist to steer coverage. See today's overlong Road Warrior column on a man who picks up litter near highway off-ramps. 

Standing room only on an old rail car pressed into service after Superstorm Sandy.

As especially hellish Friday night commute at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Let's hear it for Benny Gonzales, a disabled Paterson man who picks up litter near highway ramps and returns wallets and other valuables discarded by thieves, as reported today on The Record's Local front (L-1).

But this feel-good column by Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski won't do anything to improve the hellish weekday commute of tens of thousands of drivers and mass-transit users who live in North Jersey.

This month, Cichowski is celebrating his 11th year as Road Warrior columnist. He is perhaps the laziest transportation reporter The Record has ever had.

A close second would be Dan Sforza, the deputy local assignment editor who, as the transporation reporter, ignored NJ Transit's then-new fleet of defective commuter buses.

Their screeching rear brakes and noisy engines awoke people who lived on residential routes, including Queen Anne Road in Teaneck and Grand Avenue in Englewood.

When the problem was brought to Sforza's attention, he shrugged, and went back to researching stories on "highways of the future."

Fuzzy reporting

Today, Cichowski incorrectly calls the grass near ramps for Routes 19 and 80 "medians." 

He refers to Gonzalez's litter patrol and honesty as "a 21st-century miracle."

Of course, a real miracle would be Cichowski acting as an effective commuting columnist -- without committing hundreds of errors.

Front page

Page 1 today doesn't have a single hard-news story from any town, Bergen and Passaic counties or the state.

'GWB affair'

On the Opinion front, Carl Golden, a former press aide to two Republican governors, writes about the current Republican governor and what the writer refers to as "the GWB affair" and "the GWB episode."

Golden calls them "a reference to all manner of alleged or genuine misbehavior -- abuse of government power, political retribution, conflicts of interest, insider deals, personal financial gain, ethical breaches and involvement of administration staffers in campaign work" (O-1).

But as you would expect with a longtime GOP loyalist, Golden doesn't venture an opinion on Christie's involvement in the Fort Lee lane closures last September.

Golden shares this flaw with other opinion columnists for the Woodland Park daily, including Charles Stile and Mike Kelly. 

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Woodland Park special: Stale voices recalling stale events

At the state's nicest train station in Secaucus, some of the platforms are under the roadway of the New Jersey Turnpike, above.

The Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station at Secaucus Junction opened on Dec. 15, 2003.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Thirteen years after 9/11, nothing could be more powerful and emotional than this morning's live telecast of family members reading out loud the names of the victims.

And their personal messages to the dead can bring tears to your eyes.

In our TV age, The Record and other print media seem obsolete.

That's especially the case today with yet another 9/11 column by one of the Woodland Park newsroom's stale voices, Staff Writer Mike Kelly.

Never mind that his dated, unflattering thumbnail photo -- complete with shit-eating grin -- seems inappropriate on such a solemn occasion (A-1).

But why is he using the front page to call today "the anniversary of ... the unofficial start of the nation's war on terror [italics added]"?

What would make the war on terror "official" -- when the burned-out columnist says it is?

Writes ahead

His column was written ahead of today's ceremony at what was once known as Ground Zero.

But he's memorized such hackneyed details as bagpipes and the ringing of a bell, and presents them in his first paragraph, declaring another anniversary "has come."

Kelly also contributed nothing on Tuesday with his Page 1 anniversary column on the politically inspired George Washington Bridge lane closures in Fort Lee.

Here is one of his brilliant observations:

"In most New Jersey communities, traffic jams are viewed as the vehicular equivalent of cod liver oil."

Kelly then must be the journalism equivalent of strychnine. 

Two GOP morons

A photo on A-9 today shows Mitt Romney, the last conservative Republican who ran for president and was defeated by a compassionate Democrat, and Governor Christie, the next conservative Republican heading for defeat, in the unlikely event he even gets the party's nomination.

On the same page, why does The Record's story on Christie's 12 outright or conditional vetoes of legislation only discuss two of them?

Environmentalists called his veto of a smoking ban at parks and on beaches "shameful."

"The governor sided with the tobacco lobby over protecting public health and the environment," said Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club (A-9).

I'm still waiting for The Record's story on Christie vetoing more bills than any predecessor while portraying himself as a "compromiser" -- a fiction reporters like Charles Stile continue to peddle. 

Hackensack news

Since a reform Hackensack City Council took office in July 2013, The Record has specialized in reporting largely negative news -- fueled by complaints from those who lost the election or were fired.

Today, a story on L-1 reports city Prosecutor Frank Catania Jr. has been charged in a complaint by the state Office of Attorney Ethics with "knowingly misappropriating a client's money in his private practice."

Another stale voice

In his Road Warrior column on the lane-closure scandal in Fort Lee, Staff Writer John Cichowski finally admits he has ignored commuters who ride NJ Transit buses and trains for nearly all of the 11 years he has been posing as the commuting columnist (L-1 and L-6 on Tuesday).

Indeed, he lists the subjects of his Road Warrior columns -- road safety, potholes, litter, neglected highways, confusing signs, E-ZPass "injustices" and the theft of "aluminum guardrails."

Of course, he doesn't mention he has made so many errors he is likely the only reporter who has prompted a reader to set up a Facebook page for his "bloopers."

Cichowski also mentions "The Road Warrior's 24 years at The Record," but doesn't say the original Road Warrior was Jeff Page.

He has demonstrated time and again he is no Jeff Page.

(201) magazine

I don't doubt Editor Amelia Duggan and other staffers at (201) magazine are well-meaning, but they often promise more than they can deliver.

On the cover of the September 2014 Fall Fashion Issue, Don Watros and Benedetta Casamento are listed as "fashion dynamos."

Then, Duggan's column on Page 14 says the Englewood couple "have a real passion for fashion -- the retail fashion industry that is."

Still, after that build-up, what is the explanation for why the wealthy president of Hudson's Bay Co. is wearing a rumpled, ill-fitting, off-the-rack suit in photos on Pages 8 and 73?

Surely, with Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue in his Canadian company's portfolio, Watros can afford made-to-measure or custom-made clothing.

Indeed. His position demands it. Why settle for anything less?

The suit he is wearing on Page 74 is more like it.

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Next challenge for obese teen swimmer is to lose weight

From lead foot to foot falling asleep. Seen on Monday in the A&P shopping center on Lemoine Avenue in Fort Lee.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Charlotte Samuels of Ridgewood is a fine role model for long-distance swimmers, but her obesity is sending the wrong message to millions of teenagers.

Today's Page 1 story in The Record continues the paper's adoring coverage of the 16-year-old girl, who became the youngest person to complete the Triple Crown of swimming (A-1).

Big deal. Does this story really belong on the front page?

The Record's stories have avoided her obesity like the plague.

Good or bad?

Does her weight help or hurt her? Today's story by Staff Writer Christopher Maag, the transportation reporter, doesn't provide a clue.

Readers who manage to get to the continuation page on A-7 are told that after she swam across the English Channel, she was "in a contemplative mood, thinking about the power of girls and women, and the larger meaning of her accomplishment."

"I've heard so many stories about girls who had someone say something to them, and then they get eating disorders," Charlotte says, but Maag doesn't say whether she is referring to herself.

"But being a girl is awesome," she continues. "If you believe in yourself, then you can accomplish anything."

Like losing weight and, hopefully, influencing other teens during the obesity epidemic, Charlotte.

Christie idolatry

Governor Christie's plan to revive Atlantic City failed, as have so many of his other initiatives, but Columnist Charles Stile still won't declare the GOP bully the worst leader New Jersey has ever had (A-1).

Christie had something to say about the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal for the first time since March, and his comments are buried (A-4).

Meanwhile, New Jersey is warning investors its revenue shortfall could get worse before it gets better (A-3).

Crown Vic destroyed

Another Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor bit the dust in Hackensack on Tuesday, and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes was so glad she had a filler photo for the Local news front (L-1).

Police agencies continued to buy the Crown Victoria despite well-known defects, which were blamed for the deaths of state troopers and a Paramus officer, and suspected in the death of a Teaneck officer.

The Record never bothered to explore the reasons towns continued to buy the defective Crown Victoria-based Police Interceptor before production ended in 2011.

Also on the Local front, Joe Talamo is called a "Pascack Valley legend," but my reaction is, Joe Who?

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Either way, Christie will leave New Jersey in shambles

This nondescript patch of asphalt -- three local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge -- was quiet on Monday afternoon, but Fort Lee police responded in force to the Washington Bridge Plaza shopping center nearby and arrested a robbery suspect.

At the intersection of traffic and the Christie administration's political retribution against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee. Closure of two of the three access lanes to upper level tollbooths occurred one year ago Tuesday.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie, his aides and his cronies on the Port Authority managed to cover up their involvement in the massive traffic jams at the Fort Lee end of the George Washington Bridge for a good four months, well past the November election that gave the GOP bully a second term.

There was no hint in the media the Christie administration had anything to do with closure of bridge access lanes on Sept. 9-13, 2013, until January, when this e-mail from the governor's deputy chief of staff was uncovered:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Endless speculation

Today, the front and editorial pages of The Record carry two more attempts to measure the damage to Christie's presidential ambitions, but what difference does it make (A-1 and A-11)?

Whether Christie leaves office to run for president in 2016 or at the end of his term in 2017, New Jersey will still be in shambles.

By any measure, the Garden State is far worse off in the first year of his second term than it was when he took office in January 2010 -- tax revenue, job creation, roads, mass transit, the shore, Atlantic City and, most important, pride.

Under Christie, the Jersey jokes have returned with a vengeance.

Just look at the photo from late March news conference the governor called to unveil his legal team's cover-up, which has already cost taxpayers more than $7 million (A-6).

The sheepish look on Christie's face screams, Get me out of here!

Law breakers

More than 1,000 motorcyclists broke every local anti-noise ordinance on the books, and still managed to land a glowing story on the Local front today (L-1).

Some of the Fort Lee police officers who responded to the Washington Bridge Plaza shopping center in Fort Lee on Monday afternoon, above and below.

A couple having lunch at the Binghamton Bagel & Deli reported a white man in a hoody with his pants worn low on his buttocks walked in and asked, "Who has the money?" They called police.

North Jersey Syrians

A rare story about Syrian exiles also appears on the Local front today, where Staff Writer Hannan Adely reports on the support they are receiving from the long-established community in Paterson and other towns  (L-1).

On L-3, the skeleton newsroom staff in Woodland Park made no attempt to find out if "a person" who jumped "from the Terrace Avenue Bridge onto southbound Route 17 [in Hasbrouck Heights] on Sunday morning" was killed.

But the caption does tell readers who are blind "the investigation caused traffic to be diverted."

Corrupting corn

Leave it to one of The Record's clueless freelancers to take wonderfully sweet Jersey corn -- which needs little more than steaming and a sprinkle of salt -- and recommend two ways you can prepare it and clog your arteries (BL-1 and BL-2).

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