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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Gun-control foes have dead cops' blood on their hands

In Englewood, a condominium development called The M is sandwiched between Route 4, above, and an industrial section, photos below, more than a half-mile as the crow flies from Palisade Avenue, the main shopping street.

Residents of The M have a view of gas stations, traffic, industrial buildings and parking lots. A real estate advertising section in The Record tried to convince potential condo owners their homes border Englewood's downtown.

Some of the condo owners have this million-dollar view.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Guns designed to maim and kill are so commonplace in freedom-loving America even a supposedly great paper like the Los Angeles Times doesn't bother questioning where a hardened criminal got the revolver he used to kill two New York City cops. 

The L.A. Times story on Page 1 of The Record today mentions the Taurus 9mm in passing, noting Ismaaiyl Brinsley -- whose criminal record dates to 2004 -- used the gun to kill Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos as they sat in their patrol car on Saturday (A-8).

Gun-control foes are stained with the blood of Liu, Ramos and all the other cops killed by criminals whose right to bear lethal weapons is supposedly protected by our constitution.

Irresponsible reporting

Instead of pursuing the gun-control angle, The Record's clueless assignment editors had a reporter call small-town departments in Ramsey, Leonia, Tenafly and Saddle Brook to see if they had plans "to double up on patrols" (A-8).

Also on Page 1 is Staff Writer Minjae Park's story on 25 new police officers in Paterson.

How out of touch can the editors be?

Do Editor Marty Gottlieb, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza really expect a town like Leonia to double its patrols?

That department and others are stretched so thin, they can't even protect pedestrians using crosswalks from getting run down or homeowners from burglaries.

Paterson lies

Park, the reporter on the Paterson story, wastes a lot of space on Mayor Joey Torres and Police Director Jerry Speziale, two political hacks who preside over one of the most violent cities in New Jersey.

"Fighting crime has been a centerpiece of ... Torres' agenda," the reporter claims, failing to mention the mayor and the Police Department were powerless to prevent the murders of two innocent young girls in July and September.

It's bad enough when Paterson officials basically lie through their teeth about what they are doing to fight crime.

But when The Record merely regurgitates those lies in a Page 1 story, there simply is no hope for this once-great newspaper.

Pathetic editing

You have to wonder how this kind of irresponsible reporting gets into the paper, despite all the checks and balances the editing process is designed to provide.

The Record's copy editors -- who are supposed to enforce high standards of accuracy, fairness and balance -- now appear to do little more than spell-check stories and slap headlines on them.

The copy editors' supervisors, who approve editing and headlines, are simply out to lunch most of the time.

Liz Houlton, the paper's six-figure production editor and supervisor of the news, layout and copy desks, also has failed miserably to enforce those standards.

For example, how did this clunky headline get into The Record today?

Pope raises anger
for role in Cuba deal

Christie on Cuba

Governor Christie is demanding the return of convicted cop killer Joanne Chesimard from Cuba, but not taking responsibility for cutting aid to Paterson, forcing the layoff of 125 cops (A-3).

And New Jersey is so broke because of the GOP bully's own incompetence, no state troopers were sent to Silk City.

You never hear about the murder of police in Havana or Cuban school shootings. And crime is low, making it the safest destination in the Caribbean.

Americans have to ask themselves whether a free society also must mean a dangerous society where criminals have easy access to guns and police officers are murdered in broad daylight.

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Columnist lies in misguided bid to kill red-light cameras

Saturday was a sunless, bitterly cold day in lower Manhattan, where people sought refuge in art galleries, above. I saw a bride and groom posing for photographers on 10th Avenue, opposite the High Line. They were married in the High Line Hotel, a former seminary, choosing the date -- 12/13/14 -- over the weather.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Staff Writer John Cichowski deliberately twisted comments by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka to boost the columnist's campaign against red-light cameras.

The Record's Road Warrior claimed in the first paragraph of his Dec. 6 column the mayor called for extension of the state's 5-year experiment "in an effort to prevent a crippling financial loss that could cost his cash-strapped city $4 million next year."

But NJ.com had a totally different take, reporting that Baraka, flanked by a dozen lawmakers, argued at a press conference his city should be allowed to keep its 19 cameras "because they reduce car crashes and promote safety."

In fact, NJ.com reported that when asked about the revenue generated by the cameras, Baraka said he'd be pleased if the fines would end all red-light violations:

"Baraka added later that the fines associated with the tickets could be a deterrent to drivers ignoring the traffic signals.

"If people are concerned about the money then we should do what we can to make sure they don't break the law," Baraka said. "As we stated earlier we trying to get to zero, zero is where we want to be and the red-light cameras help us get to zero."

For more details on the distortions in the Dec. 6 Road Warrior column, see the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

"In last Saturday’s column, the Road Warrior falsely made up what the mayor of Newark said at a Dec. 5 press conference about the reason for extending New Jersey's five-year program for red-light cameras.

"The Road Warrior indicated the Mayor stated that the reason for extending this program is due to a potential loss of $4 million in annual revenues to the city from the red-light fines.

"The mayor actually stated the reason for extending this program is due to the safety benefits and the significant reductions in crashes at the red-light camera intersections in Newark.

"In fact, the mayor stated his administration wants to get revenues down to zero, which would mean no running of red lights at these intersections by anyone."

See: Road Warrior sides with speeders who kill


Two Road Warriors columns, which quoted far more critics of red-light cameras than boosters, were followed by an editorial calling for an end to the experiment, which has saved lives.

The controversial red-light cameras have been challenged as inaccurate, in much the same way the Breathalyzer device was in the early years of DWI enforcement.

Today's paper

Staff Writer Jean Rimbach has one of the cushiest jobs of any reporter at the Woodland Park daily, and her byline appears infrequently.

Rimbach is part of the newsroom sisterhood that formed around head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes years ago.

Today, a story Rimbach likely worked on for months dominates Page 1 -- another bewildering choice by Editor Martin Gottlieb.

This story on an Alpine church is of absolutely no interest to the majority of readers, including Jews and Muslims.

Below the fold

A far more compelling story that any parent can relate to is below the fold: 

A mother's book on the Bergen County heroin epidemic that took the life of her 19-year-old son in their own home.

Don't miss the A-12 photo of an upstanding citizen from Upper Saddle River who allegedly mixed the drug cocktail that killed Danny Lajterman of Ramsey.

More claptrap

A front-page column on Hackensack by Mike Kelly also isn't worth much (A-1).

Kelly claims an ordinance designed to return civility to public discourse is really a muzzle on free speech, despite the complete absence of any civil or criminal penalties.

Check out the shit-eating grin in Kelly's outdated column photo, a sure sign he's putting another one over on readers.

Stile column

Could the Political Stile column on Page 1 today be one of the few since January 2010 that doesn't glorify Governor Christie's war against the middle class and the GOP bully's White House aspirations (A-1)?

Staff Writer Charles Stile reports on an early effort in New Jersey to raise money for Hillary Clinton, the Democrat who will give Christie a good spanking, if they both win their party's presidential nominations.

Check out the Margulies cartoon on the sad state of New Jersey's employee pension funds, thanks to another good public screwing from Christie (O-2).

Ung column

Staff Writer Elisa Ung follows last week's column on beef with today's report on "navigating the labels" on fish and seafood (BL-2).

She ignored the health angle in her report on beef, but here she touches on the issue of harmful mercury deposits in fish (BL-8).

Still, her columns could be more consumer friendly.

Instead of telling readers which antibiotic-free farmed salmon she buys, she could have reported Whole Foods Market pledges that all of its farm-raised fish and seafood are free of antibiotics, preservatives and other additives.

And there is nothing wrong with previously frozen wild salmon, which is available as fillets or smoked at Costco Wholesale.

Ung's beef and seafood columns are welcome, but the restaurant reviewer has thrown around the word "quality" for years without ever backing it up.

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Editors labor to make alleged campus rapes sound new

At 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus, the joke is on the able bodied. How likely is it that the owner of a tile-installation company qualifies for a handicap parking permit? I could be wrong. Do they issue them for mental handicaps?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Sexual exploitation of freshman women on college campuses has been a big concern for many years, but could this be the first time The Record has taken notice?

Editor Marty Gottlieb leads today's and Monday's front page with what a headline calls a "disturbing tale" at William Paterson University in Wayne.

Monday's Page 1 story tried to make the issue seem fresh, not something the editors have basically ignored:

"The arrest of William Paterson students on charges of sexual assault comes at a time when national concern about campus rape is growing," Staff Writer Jim Norman reported, years late, it turns out (Monday's A-1).

Bottom of barrel

Gottlieb had so little to put on Monday's front page he actually ran at least the third story since the Nov. 4 election on Governor Christie's out-of-state fundraising for GOP crackpots like himself.

Then, he used a big picture of the pope making nice with some patriarch in Istanbul -- an embrace that surely inflamed the many Armenian readers who will never forget the genocide of 1.5 million of their Christian ancestors under Ottoman rule.

Staff Writer Virginia Rohan polluted the bottom of Monday's front page with yet another story on bimbo Teresa Giudice.

More corrections

Today's A-2 carries a correction of Monday's front-page WPU story, in which the names of two suspects in the alleged rape were misspelled.

That's sloppy, but typical of The Record.

More 'Bloopers'

Uncorrected are the mistakes Road Warrior John Cichowski included in his Sunday column on blocked Little Ferry intersections.

Cichowski is so dizzy and disoriented, he misreported a) the location of two intersections and b) that the Little Ferry Circle is being rebuilt, when it has, in fact, been eliminated, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

1) Clueless false statement - "Two days before Thanksgiving, signs appeared on Route 46 — as if by magic — to warn motorists to avoid blocking intersections in Little Ferry that are generally jammed with traffic while construction crews rebuild a nearby bridge and traffic circle."

CORRECT FACTS - While construction is rebuilding the bridge, the traffic circle is being replaced with a four-way, stop light intersection.

The only magic is in the Road Warrior's exaggerated mind. Everybody else realizes that one day a portable sign is not there, and the next time they see a portable sign, it has been placed there by a road crew. No magic!

2) Clueless false statement - "Technically, Liberty and Grand were just east of the contractor's work zone."

CORRECT FACTS - Technically, Liberty and Grand streets were and are just west of the contractor's work zone for the Little Ferry Circle replacement on Route 46.

See: Road Warrior can't break gridlock of errors 

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Readers search in vain for opinion on Christie nastiness

Peace banners in downtown Teaneck are signed "Cedar Lane Management Group," an entity I haven't seen discussed in The Record's comprehensive Local news section. The longstanding eyesore at Cedar Lane and River Road -- an abandoned gas station joined recently by a shuttered diner -- could use some "management."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Does Husni Mubarak run an Egyptian grocery store in Paterson's Middle Eastern bazaar? 

If not, what is his photo doing on the front page of a North Jersey daily newspaper? 

Friction between President Obama and the Defense Department (A-1)? 

How does that explain why my taxes are so high in Hackensack, where hundreds of millions of dollars in property owned by non-profits generates nothing.

Even the seemingly local story on an "immigrant" involves a school in Lahore, Pakistan, and a wealthy supporter of Governor Christie's (A-1).

Welcome to the Sunday suburban edition of The New York Times, where onetime cub reporter Marty Gottlieb made his mark before returning to The Record as editor nearly three years ago.

Chief word pusher

At first glance, Mike Kelly's Page 1 piece today appears to promise a strong opinion on Christie's bluster and nasty behavior when confronted by critics -- the kind of opinion readers seek from a columnist (A-1).

But readers are disappointed, and many are wondering why this column is displayed so prominently, if it's nothing more than the usual he said/she said any reporter could assemble.

Today's column goes a long way toward explaining why Kelly has spent more than 20 years merely pushing words around.

He could have said the GOP bully's "Jersey style" and channeling Tony Soprano are two big negatives the Garden State tries to live down, not promote.

Kelly could have said Christie is far from presidential, and his attacks on Democrats and liberal use of vetoes give a lie to his claim of being a compromiser.

No backbone

Readers find a second Kelly column, this one on "the lessons" of Ferguson, that seems to be the reporter's subtle way of promoting a book he wrote on the shooting of a black teenager by a white Teaneck police officer "more than two decades ago" (O-1).

But this column is poorly edited, and I can't find the actual date on which then-Police Officer Gary S. Spath shot Phillip Pannell, or whether Spath was tried on a charge of reckless manslaughter mentioned in a photo caption.

Also, you'd expect Kelly to say little progress has been made on holding white police officers accountable for using lethal force against black teenagers.

But, again, he's just pushing words around, this time on the front of the Opinion section.

'Local' wedding

The Local front today devotes more space to Snooki's wedding than to demonstrations seeking justice in Ferguson (L-1).

There is also a really boring Road Warrior column on blocked intersections in Little Ferry that are easily avoid by using Grand Avenue to reach Ridgefield (L-1).

You won't find any stories about Hackensack, Teaneck or Englewood.

A house fire that killed two cats in Ridgewood has more information in it than did a photo caption on Jennifer Pechko, 43, a Kinnelon woman killed in a two-car accident on Thanksgiving (L-3).

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President Obama affirms we are a nation of immigrants

A noisy propeller-driven airplane, above, and a business jet, below, passing low over South Hackensack buildings on Thursday as they headed for Teterboro Airport. The noise and the proximity of the aircraft are enough to send chills down your spine.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With his sweeping action to protect 5 million people from deportation -- a move that dominates Page 1 of The Record today -- President Obama has reminded us we live in a nation of immigrants.

As for Governor Christie, he refuses to be pinned down to his own reform plan in the unlikely event he gets the Republican presidential nomination (A-1).

Of course, the GOP bully and do-nothing Republicans in Congress likely are racists whose only desire is to close U.S. borders.

If Obama can be faulted, it is in waiting until after the November elections to take action, fearing it would hurt Democrats' chances.

If the candidates could be faulted, it was in distancing themselves from Obama and the Affordable Care Act.

Nothing could have saved those candidates from voter apathy and Republican attack ads, and The Record and other media didn't bother to expose the lies in those ads.

Better timing

Also on Page 1 today, Staff Writer Bill Ervolino shows unusual restraint in writing the obituary of the incredibly talented Mike Nichols, and doesn't mention himself until deep into the continuation page (A-1 and A-4).

I'm waiting for the day when newspaper editors like the great Martin Gottlieb ask one of their medical writers to do a sidebar on the cause of death -- cardiac arrest in Nichols' case.

Local crime news

There are at least 10 crime stories and accident photos in today's Local news section (L-1, L-2 and L-3). 

Two other stories are about the police.

What would head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, run if they couldn't use the police blotter as their crutch?

Our misfortune

Staff Writer Elisa Ung admits Imperial Dynasty in Mahwah serves "generally average versions of Chinese-American dishes" (BL-18).

So why does she bother wasting our time with this lukewarm, 2-star review of a restaurant in far-off Mahwah?

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Overplayed, incomprehensible and a huge waste of time

Aggressive police ready to pounce on any driver who doesn't yield to a pedestrian in the many crosswalks are the least of your problems, if you use Cedar Lane in Teaneck as a route to Englewood. The four-lane street through the township's main business district narrows, above, causing conflicts with other motorists, and the many slow, older drivers act as moving road blocks.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Readers who don't choke on the lead paragraph of the overplayed and overwritten turnpike story on Page 1 today are probably scratching their heads, trying to figure out what it says.

Is there something in the newsroom water at The Record or did Editor Marty Gottlieb rewrite Staff Writer Christopher Maag, exposing how out of touch the former Timesman really is (A-1)?

Anyone who has been caught in one of the region's massive traffic jams knows a wider turnpike isn't the "road to the future."

How does the new, 12-lane stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike below Exit 8 show the state remains "confident ... a place still unafraid to etch its belief in a brighter future into the contours of the land"?

A mass-transit corridor down the center of the 35-mile section, not more asphalt, really would have been forward looking.

Too little, too late

Where was Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, when Governor Christie killed the Hudson River rail tunnels in 2010, setting back for at least a decade expanded train travel between New Jersey and New York (A-1)?

The do-nothing six-termer seeking election on Nov. 4 from the 5th Congressional District -- which includes Bergen County -- is facing a formidable challenge from Roy Cho, a Hackensack attorney who has surged in the polls.

In a letter to the editor today, Bruce de Lyon of Dumont notes Garrett ducked debates, adding:

"As long as we allow Garrett to run a dismissive and underground campaign, he will continue to ignore issues crucial to the residents of northern New Jersey" (A-18).

Another Kelly error

Among the many embarrassing corrections published on A-2 this week is the one today trying to fix another Mike Kelly screw-up.

The burned-out columnist "misstated the year of a hazing incident at Holmdel High School" in his boring Page 1 piece last Sunday (A-2).

Desperate editor

A desperate local editor must have written the headline over  today's Road Warrior column -- "A commuter's tale" -- which reports the recollections of a 99-year-old man who took part in the 1931 ceremony opening the George Washington Bridge (L-1).

The rambling piece by Staff Writer John Cichowski has absolutely nothing to do with the ordeal of commuting, and is a colossal waste of readers' time.

Food coverage

Hackensack police should check hospital emergency rooms for two men who allegedly skipped out on a $100 restaurant bill (L-3).

The suspects, who spoke English and Hebrew, ignored Lotus Cafe and the fine-dining restaurants in The Shops at Riverside to rip off Applebee's on Tuesday night, police said.

They likely sought medical help for a huge case of indigestion.

Agita is in store for readers who bother with today's lukewarm, 2-star review of the 14-year-old Martini Grill in Wood-Ridge (BL-18).

Staff Writer Elisa Ung praises "the restaurant's focus on fish," but she chose poorly, "a thick fillet of swordfish flecked by capers and sun-dried tomatoes ($25.95)."

Swordfish contains a large amount of mercury, and isn't recommended for women of child-bearing age.

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Animal editors ignore humans in our 'suburban jungle'

Spotted on Cortland Place, near Newcomb Road, in Tenafly after 8 on Sunday morning.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's editors seem obsessed with animals, the original inhabitants of our "suburban jungle," if you accept the phrase used in a clever Page 1 headline on Monday.

But the sad truth is readers can't bear all of this hype about critters displaced by development in North Jersey -- a story the paper seems to cover ever few years, starting way back in the 1980s (A-1 today and Monday).

Editors go wild 

"Suburbia is growing more wild," Staff Writer James M. O'Neill claimed in Monday's takeout.

But that's contradicted by the A-1 photo caption and sub-headline, both of which report some species are disappearing or are "virtually extinct."

Today's front page holds little interest for the human residents of North Jersey.

And the humans who work at the Woodland Park daily still struggle with preventing error from getting into the paper, especially in the Road Warrior column.

Two more embarrassing corrections appear on A-2 today.

Insulting women

Then, you turn to the Local front today, and wonder why a bloc of female lawmakers calling for financial penalties against the National Football League was deemed less important than another bear running loose in Ridgewood (L-1).

Indeed, some professional athletes have been treating girlfriends, spouses and children like so many footballs.

But sports-loving Editor Marty Gottlieb doesn't seem to notice or care.

Dissing commuters

What is the point or relevance to North Jersey commuters of the Road Warrior column on comedian Tracy Morgan not wearing his seat belt before a truck slammed into his limo van on the New Jersey Turnpike in June (L-1)?

Was Morgan's friend, James McNair, wearing his seat belt? If so, it didn't prevent his death.

The local assignment editors again rely on Law & Order news to flesh out their thin section today (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

Second look

Staff Writer John Cichowski's Sunday column was filled with numerous errors as he attempted to report on a poll about unsafe driving behavior, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

"The Road Warrior reported that a Rutgers-Eagleton poll indicated that 81% of drivers over 64 considered driving while eating, drinking and cellphone yakking to be very unsafe -- a much higher rate than drivers 18 to 29 (45%), drivers 30 to 49 (50%), and drivers 50 to 64 (58%).

"Road Warrior's cited survey statistics were only for talking on a hand-held cell phone. There was different statistics for talking on hands-free cell phones, as well as for eating or drinking."

Cichowski also was wrong on whether driving fatalities are rising: 

"The Road Warrior indicated that the perceptions of New Jersey residents that road safety is improving is wrong because Garden State driving fatalities are rising.

"Residents’ perceptions are correct since fatalities have decreased over the previous four years and the past decade. While fatalities are higher in 2014 than 2013, it is because road fatalities reached a record low in 2013."

For the blow-by-blow on a reporter who is setting a record for inaccuracy, see:

Readers Poll: Get rid of error-prone Road Warrior

Restaurant expose?

I agree that Claire Insalata Poulos, founder and president of the 15-year-old Table to Table, is doing important work by collecting fresh restaurant leftovers to feed the hungry, but why does this Better Living cover story go on and on (BL-1)?

If you bother plowing through all the testimonials, Poulos sounds like she is ready for sainthood (BL-1 and BL-6).

Poulos is a natural for the work; her name "Insalata" means "salad" in Italian.

But in general, shouldn't Food Editor Esther Davidowitz be writing more about restaurants and consumers?

Instead, she makes multimillionaire celebrity chefs and restaurant owners like Mario Batali, Drew Nierporent and Emeril Lagasse seem like such swell guys for donating food they had been throwing away for decades.

Garrett blinders

On Monday, The Record published a Page 1 column on Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, and his opponent in the Nov. 4 election, but failed to report the arch-conservative initially opposed spending $50 billion for Superstorm Sandy aid.

On Tuesday's A-6, Columnist Herb Jackson was outed by the campaign of challenger Roy Cho, a Hackensack attorney.

The six-term Republican's reelection campaign, it turns out, sent out a postcard claiming "Scott Garret worked to bring immediate relief to Sandy victims."

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Editors turn every Christie move into a political stunt

Leonia is one of those Bergen County towns that doesn't get much coverage in The Record of Woodland Park. Dressing up the small business district along Broad Avenue is a sculpture garden, above and below.

Most of the businesses along Broad Avenue are owned and operated by Korean-Americans. Leonia borders Palisades Park and Fort Lee, both of which have even stronger Korean presences.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I've learned to ignore the lame political column Charles Stile has been writing since Governor Christie took office way back in January 2010.

But his Page 1 column in The Record today is hard to miss, especially because Editor Marty Gottlieb is using it in place of a news story on the special session of the state Legislature the governor called to fix the bail system (A-1).

This boring Stile column reads like all the rest:

The special session, Stile claims, could "polish up his resume for a likely run for president in 2016" (A-1).

"Some say the timing is good for Christie, who is trying to rebuild his image in the wake of the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal" (A-7).

Voter apathy

But on A-7, readers also find a news story on the special session that repeats much of Stile's column -- a real waste of space.

Stile and The Record avoid discussing how politics divide the nation and New Jersey, and how reporting like this simply turns off voters.

Christie was reelected last November in the lowest turnout of any previous gubernatorial election, but The Record always refers to it as a "landslide" and doesn't even mention the legions of disaffected voters.

Worst governor ever

Below the fold today, Staff Writer Scott Fallon reports that funding of open-space preservation is endangered by the poor state economy under the GOP bully.

But you have to read the entire story to get that message.

Today's editorial on anti-violence efforts by three North Jersey cities also is edited in a way to avoid placing blame on Christie for cutting state aid to poor cities like Paterson, resulting in the layoff of 125 police officers in 2011.

"Indeed," the editorial writer declares, "during the recent tenure of Mayor Jeffrey Jones in Paterson there was the feeling that, for whatever reason, the city's needs were not being heard by the powers that be in Trenton."

"For whatever reason"? What crap.

The quaint Borough Hall in Leonia.

New suicides? 

Another Page 1 story may cause more suicides on the George Washington Bridge among readers who learn a plan to build a 9-foot fence might take eight years -- twice as long as did construction of the span (A-1).

Imagine how many lives could have been saved if this fence was built during the years the Port Authority was diverting toll money to construction of One World Trade Center, with all of its delays and cost overruns.

It's hard to believe the fence won't be finished until 2022.

The story is by Staff Writer Christopher Maag, who has been neglecting his Hackensack beat.

Maag is thorough, but the story goes on and on like something you'd see in The New York Times, Gottlieb's old paper.

Hackensack news

With Maag writing about bridge suicides, the only Hackensack news today is another reporter's story on a lawsuit filed against the city by Patrolman Moise Flanagan (L-1).

Hackensack Scoop, a local blog, reported the lawsuit five days ago.

Lying to readers

If a recipe isn't healthy, The Record's editors don't see anything wrong with lying to their readers.

Clueless freelancer Kate Morgan Jackson's recipe for Chilled Fennel Soup calls for 4 tablespoons of butter filled with artery clogging saturated fat (BL-2).

Yet, Jackson writes of the soup, "with no cream whatsoever, it's as healthy as healthy can be."

OK. With no brains whatsoever, Jackson is as stupid as stupid can be.

On Broad Avenue in Leonia, retail space is being renovated behind a colorful barrier, above and below.

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