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| The Main Street entrance to the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack. Today's front page of The Record is dominated by the possible closing of another building that has far less architectural or human significance. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
Editor Martin Gottlieb of The Record must be pretty desperate for news, judging by a story on the possible closing of the Izod Center that covers three-quarters of Page 1 today.
You'll find more interesting reading in the flier from the International Food Warehouse on Essex Street in Lodi (one of today's inserts).
A story on A-3 today reports overnight PATH service won't be cut, but The Record has ignored the Port Authority's refusal to expand rail and bus transit to ease increasing traffic congestion at the Hudson River crossings.
Readers speak out
Two letters to the editor reacted negatively to Governor Christie's State of the State address (A-10).
But the only opinion piece on the speech is from Carl Golden, a former Record reporter who went on to work as the mouthpiece for two of Christie's Republican predecessors (A-11).
Clifford Hamblen, a retired Ridgefield Park police officer, objected to Christie calling pensions an entitlement or "something that is given to you, such as a welfare payment or a grant" (A-10).
Hamblen said he "earned" his pension over 30 years, and paid "a larger percentage of my salary into it over time."
An entitlement, he wrote, is Christie spending millions of taxpayer dollars to insulate himself from blame in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal.
Andrew Abraham of Teaneck calls Christie "an ambitious bully who cares only for himself and little for the people he is supposed to serve" (A-10).
Weak editorials
The Record's editorials, on the other hand, have been only mildly critical of Christie and have barely taken notice of what probably is his record number of vetoes since he took office five years ago, including killing a tax surcharge on millionaires.
Could the Woodland Park daily's editorials be influenced by North Jersey Media Group Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg's close friendship with the governor's chief fundraiser, Jon F. Hanson?
A fund sponsored by Hanson's Hampshire Cos. just made a sale-leaseback deal for NJMG's Rockaway printing plant.
Brain teasers
A follow-up to the minor accident involving Bergen County Executive James Tedesco leave at least one question unanswered (L-3).
Tedesco was driving a county owned vehicle and dropping off his chief of staff, Michele DiIorgi, at her car Tuesday evening when the official was involved in a 4-vehicle crash on Route 17 in Rochelle Park.
Why didn't DiIorgi meet Tedesco at the county offices in Hackensack, and car pool to Trenton from there?
On the same page today, readers must fill in the blanks left by a caption for a photo showing a six-car crash on Route 208 in Fair Lawn.
The local assignment editors have devised this method of brain teasing -- incomplete stories and photo captions -- to help readers avoid dementia.
Unfortunately, that hasn't worked with at least one staffer, Road Warrior John Cichowski.
