Front-page news, views from everywhere but North Jersey

Construction of a Justice Center on Court Street in Hackensack, above and below, seems to be moving as slowly some of the civil lawsuits filed in the Bergen County Courthouse.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With all of Paterson's troubles, why did Columnist Mike Kelly of The Record race down to Camden to assess whether it's the success story Governor Christie claims it is?

Christie has totally ignored Silk City, where gun violence took the lives of two innocent young girls last July and September.

And why did Editor Martin Gottlieb put Kelly's piece on Page 1, where the poor writing and lack of editing are even more embarrassing than the reporter's dated thumbnail photo, complete with its shit-eating grin.

Kelly's main character, Camden resident Clifton Bond, "pondered a landscape handcuffed by poverty and crime...." (A-1). 

"Pondered"? A "handcuffed" landscape? Is English Kelly's first language?

Stale Stile

Columnist Charles Stile has been known to write about Christie's White House ambitions as many as three times in a single week, as if he is on the GOP bully's payroll.

Today, for a change, his boring political column focuses on another Republican who wants to be president, Jeb Bush, younger brother of one of our worst presidents, George W. Bush (A-1).

Stile reports Christie raised funds for George Bush's 2000 campaign, but so did real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, a close friend of the Borgs, who control  North Jersey Media Group, publisher of the Woodland Park daily.

You won't find any mention in The Record of Hanson raising money for W and for Christie himself, and Hanson wasn't identified in a recent story on his companies' role in a sale-leaseback deal for NJMG's Rockaway printing plant.

Vinnie Carzo

Also on Page 1 today is a heart-warming story about Vinnie Carzo, 20, a disabled Wanaque man who was made an honorary funeral director.

But you have to question the editor's decision to play this story on the front page when the obituaries of many prominent North Jerseyans are literally buried inside the paper.

Izod Center

If the 34-year-old Izod Center is expected to open "in a new form" in 2017, why has The Record made such a fuss over its closure, playing the news on Page 1 two days in a row?

Deep in the Izod story, Hanson -- Christie's sports and entertainment adviser -- is identified as a director of Yankee Global Enterprises, owner of the Yankees.

Legends Hospitality, a joint venture of the Yankees and Dallas Cowboys, provides concessions for the Prudential Center, the Newark arena that may see increased attendance after the Izod closing.

And, of course, Christie's friendship with the owners of the Cowboys is well-known.

Talk about a ruling class. No wonder Christie has repeatedly vetoed a tax surcharge on the Borgs and other millionaires.

Body in trunk

In Local, a photo on L-2 of investigators gathered around a body in the trunk of a BMW could be a scene from one of TV's popular CSI series.

The story says the victim, Jordan Johnson, lived in a luxury Fort Lee high-rise with his girlfriend.

But reporters make no attempt to explain whether Johnson was gainfully employed or how he had obtained a "large amount" of jewelry and cash stolen from the apartment.

Chilean sea bass

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung holds herself out as an expert on steaks and desserts, but she doesn't know much about fish and the potential for ingesting a lot of harmful mercury.

She complains the Chilean sea bass she was served at Matthew's Italian Restaurant in Clifton (2.5 stars) "was so grossly overcooked that it took some serious knife work to cut a slice" (BL-14).

But she should have said the real problem with the server describing the dish as "sea bass" is that "Chilean sea bass" or Patagonian toothfish has elevated levels of mercury not found in the much smaller fish. 

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Food warehouse flier is more gripping than front page

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.

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Borgs rely on Christie ally in sale of Rockaway plant

Some visitors to the Bergen County Courthouse on Main Street in Hackensack park at Costco Wholesale, 80 S.River St., to avoid the $5 fee at the temporary lot leased from North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The sale-leaseback deal with a close Borg family friend is the latest chapter in the troubled history of North Jersey Media Group's Rockaway Township printing plant.

On Friday, Stephen A. Borg, publisher of The Record, announced an agreement with a fund sponsored by the Hampshire Cos. of Morristown, but not that family friend Jon F. Hanson is the real estate companies' founder and chairman.

Hanson and Christie

Hanson, 77, a close friend of NJMG Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, also is Governor Christie's adviser on casino and sports development projects.

The real estate developer has received extensive and favorable coverage in the Woodland Park daily, though Staff Writer John Brennan never discloses Hanson's ties to the Borgs.

But in June 2014, The Guardian newspaper reported a joint venture that included Hanson's Hampshire Cos. was awarded a $105 million tax incentive in 2013 by the Christie administration for a hotel and office project in Paterson.

The Guardian said Hanson is one of Christie's chief fundraisers, and both men served as top fundraisers for the presidential campaign of George W. Bush in 2000.

The newspaper said Hanson's ties to Christie also extend to insurance giant Prudential, where the businessman retired from the board of directors in 2011.

Later that year, the company received a $250 million tax incentive from the state Economic Development Authority to move its offices a few blocks.

Hanson and Mac

In 2011, Eye on The Record reported Hanson and Malcolm Borg purchased a private jet from a woman who was later featured in a Business page story in The Record:

"A Web site listing recent sales by Freestream Aircraft Ltd. says a Citation Excel was 'exclusively purchased on behalf of Mr. Malcolm Borg and Mr. John Hanson,' though Hanson's first name is misspelled.

"The price isn't given, but Freestream sells jets that cost $10 million to $50 million.

"Borg discusses the process of buying the plane in this testimonial about Rebecca Posoli-Cilli, president of Freestream's U.S. office in Hackensack:

'Rebecca’s sales team, but especially Rebecca, was the best thing that happened to us when my friend and I decided to sell our 1984 Citation III and upgrade into a late-model Citation Excel. She had the patience of Job in dealing with me, the lead partner, in the acquisition of our Excel. Without her, we would not have made the great choice we did. She found us a plane with 1100 hours that was 95% equipped with everything desired; she took care of all the pre-buy inspections and details; and she negotiated the upgrades to our avionics with Duncan Aviation. 

'Without Rebecca, my friend [Hanson] and his family and my family and I would not be enjoying the wonderful convenience of having our own jet at our disposal. She was simply incredible on all counts, and I recommend her to any potential airplane purchaser without reservation.' 

• Malcolm A. Borg, Managing Partner – Trio Air Holdings, LLC

Rockaway plant

The Rockaway printing plant was built during a recession in the early 1990s as Malcolm Borg sought to extend The Record's reach into Morris County.

But when the elder Borg sought a loan to buy another daily newspaper, banks told him he was overextended.

The plant began printing other newspapers, including USA Today and the Irish Echo, and became a big profit center.

After Stephen Borg took over as publisher of The Record and Herald News in 2006, the four-color presses in Hackensack were worn out, and he moved the printing of those dailies to Rockaway, enabling him to lay off more than 50 pressman.

According to NJMG, the printing plant produces the company's two daily newspapers, more than 40 of its community newspapers and also prints USA Today, Greater Media Newspapers, Gannett Westchester-Rockland Newspapers and the New Jersey Herald.

Decline in quality

The move to Rockaway, a major downsizing of the staff in 2008 and the abandonment of Hackensack in 2009 appear to have contributed to a precipitous decline in the quality and accuracy of local journalism at The Record.

Today, for example, an A-2 correction notes a story on Friday identified Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn as village manager.

That's a really stupid mistake, but typical of the sloppiness since Liz "Queen of Errors" Houlton was promoted to six-figure production editor. 

The front page often reads like a national paper, thanks to Editor Marty Gottlieb, a former bigwig at The New York Times.

And the Local section reads more and more like a police blotter, as many of the stories in today's edition show, thanks to the laziness and incompetence of Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza (L-1 to L-6).

Today's paper

Typical of media hype and exaggeration is today's Page 1 headline comparing the killings of newspaper editors, police officers and hostages in Paris to the 2011 attack on America:

France 
grapples
with its
own 9/11

In two long front-page stories remembering Brendan Jordan, The Record makes no attempt to find out whether improper maintenance caused the freak collapse of a folding bench that fatally injured the 7-year-old in a New Milford school on Wednesday.

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Borg family's interests trump civility at public meetings

Richard E. Salkin speaking at Tuesday night's City Council meeting in Hackensack. Salkin doesn't identify himself as the attorney for the city's Board of Education, which is allied with the Zisa family and the local Democratic Party that lost the 2013 municipal election. A frequent critic of the current council, he is usually quoted in The Record without that title, the same "anonymity" the paper accords to members of the losing council slate.

The five-member City Council with City Attorney Thomas P. Scrivo, left, and City Manager David R. Troast, front.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Borg family's progress on selling 19.7 acres near downtown Hackensack to a developer dominates The Record's Local news section today.

Staff Writer Todd South, who covered Tuesday night's City Council meeting, wrote a story that ignores unanimous passage of an ordinance governing public comment.

The "Rules of Order" were introduced on Nov. 25 after critics of the council -- principally those who lost the 2013 municipal election -- launched one abrasive attack after another against officials for just about every hire and proposal they made, including a downtown performance space.

Many of the attacks were reported in The Record without identifying the critics as Zisa family allies and members of the local Democratic Party, which lost the 2013 municipal election to a slate of reformers led by John P. Labrosse Jr., who is now mayor.

The weekly Hackensack Chronicle reported what happened at a Nov. 10 council meeting The Record didn't cover:

"Another incident in which the First Amendment right was brought into question took place at the Nov. 10 council meeting, when resident [and Board of Education Attorney] Richard Salkin, who is a vocal critic of a number of the council members, in particular of councilwoman Rose Greenman, referred to her as a "sociopath."

"This allegation drove Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino -- who was presiding over the meeting in the absence of the mayor -- to say she will not tolerate name calling.

"I'm not going to tolerate that," she said. "Address people with respect, that's all I ask. We are respecting you, respect us back."

Profit motive

The 150 River St.  parcel and adjacent property is the former headquarters of North Jersey Media Group and its flagship daily newspaper, The Record, which prospered in Hackensack for more than 110 years.

Publisher Stephen A. Borg abandoned Hackensack in 2009, moving The Record's newsroom to a nondescript office building overlooking Route 80 in Woodand Park.

A few years earlier, Borg moved the printing of The Record and Herald News to a printing plant in Rockaway Township, and ordered a major downsizing of the staff in 2008. 

Those two decisions seemed to set into motion a precipitous decline in the quality of editing and reporting at a newspaper still referred to as "The Bergen Record."

The 19.7 Hackensack acres are expected to fetch $20 million or more.

City study

On Tuesday night, the City Council approved a study to determine whether the NJMG parcel should be declared as an "area in need of redevelopment," a designation that could entitle any developer to tax breaks for up to 30 years, The Record reports (L-1).

The lead paragraph of the story says the property, two blocks east of Main St. in Hackensack, is 20 acres, but the second paragraph calls it a "19.7-acre site."

Labrosse, the mayor, said any development would have to include a walkway along the Hackensack River and a park where the USS Ling submarine is tied up on NJMG property.

Hackensack's Venice

A Walmart Super Center was rumored for the 19.7 acres a couple of years ago, and then gazillionaire Fred Daibes of Edgewater proposed a mixed-use residential and retail development, but that fell through.

Apartments wouldn't seem suitable for what former employees recall as a property prone to frequent flooding that claimed the cars of more than one staffer.

I can recall one storm that surrounded the 150 River St. building with so much water the managers pressed into service newspaper delivery trucks to pick up employees from higher ground a block away.

See a previous post:

Borgs prepare to screw Hackensack again

CIA torture

It's hard to tell who is more upset by the CIA's "brutal interrogation program" after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on America (A-1).

Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the harsh interrogation techniques a "stain on the nation's history."

But the media are playing up incidents that occurred more than a decade ago before reforms instituted by President Obama.

Could CNN and other media outlets really be upset they've been denied sensational YouTube videos of CIA operatives decapitating suspected terrorists?

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Editors are scraping bottom of the barrel for local news

Old and new architecture in lower Manhattan: The Municipal and Woolworth buildings, center left, and One World Trade Center.

Editor's note: Today's post has been updated and expanded.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If The Record ran a story and photos every time officers were promoted by one of the 86 police departments in Bergen and Passaic counties, there would be no room for other local news.

So, readers can only conclude the Fort Lee promotions and hirings reported on L-2 today are a desperate attempt to plug a hole in the sleepy summer local report.

This is the kind of news that belongs in a weekly newspaper, of which North Jersey Media Group has many, not in the publishing company's flagship.

Even the 10 thumbnail photos of the promoted officers and new hires are out of focus, something you'd see in a weekly.

Production Editor Liz Houlton must be on vacation, though she doesn't do much better when she is there, asleep at her computer.

Feel-good police news

You get the feeling local-news Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza run these police promotion and hiring stories as a way of making nice with the departments.

Many law-enforcement agencies refuse to release routine accident and crime news to the paper, judging from how often those reports have holes big enough to drive a tractor-trailer through.

This may be Sykes' and Sforza's way of getting the departments to be more forthcoming.

Below the Fort Lee story is the stupid DEAN'S LIST, a fixture on L-2 that for years has filled a hole in the thin local-news report. 

Botched project

On the opposite page in Local today is a long, tortured story about a street in Ramsey that has been closed since last Nov. 4, forcing 10 businesses to relocate or close, according to the Chamber of Commerce (L-3).

Did I miss the interviews with business owners, denouncing the incompetence of county officials and the contractor for wanting to keep the street closed to two-way traffic for an entire year to replace a "culvert"?

Now, Lake Street is scheduled to open on Aug. 14, as we learn in great detail today from Staff Writer Allison Pries. 

For other momentous local news, see "Emerson field is ready for its artificial turf" (L-3), which undoubtedly will be followed by "Emerson field face-lift is complete."

Poor play

The L-1 story on Paterson, Newark and Jersey City joining to combat violent crime should have gotten far better play on Page 1.

Conspicuously absent is any mention of assistance from Governor Christie, who allegedly has retaliated against Democratic mayors who won't endorse his mean-spirited politics.

When Christie visited Paterson to swear-in Democratic Mayor Joey Torres on July 1, he was greeted by loud boos from protesters, according to the web site of PolitickerNJ.

There is apparently no truth to rumors the GOP bully threatened to dam the Passaic River and dry up the Great Falls, if Torres ever mentioned how the city had to lay off 125 police officers after Christie cut aid to the poor city.

The Record has been doing many strong follow-ups to the July 5 shooting of Genesis Rincon, a 12-year-old Paterson girl killed by a random gunshot as she was riding her scooter.

But the editors are not touching one touchy subject: The inability of Paterson police to protect citizens from drive-by shooting and other gun violence.

More casino news

The major Page 1 story today -- on a $1.5 billion hotel and casino proposed for Sterling Forest, north of the New Jersey border -- makes one reference to "a Malaysia-based hospitality company."

Can you trust a resort developer from a country whose civil aviation authority is in shambles?

This is the second speculative story on a casino in as many days, but how real is the threat to New Jersey's water supply?

On the continuation page, the story notes "the resort is one of 17 contenders for four casino licenses" (A-6). 

But there are no interviews with town officials and residents who would live near the behemoth and have to contend with traffic, noise and drunk gambling addicts.

Good soju news

Another touchy subject The Record's editors won't touch is how restaurants dramatically mark up beer, wine and liquor to boost their profits, even as they pay slave wages to servers and other staff.

Today, another front page story reports the "illegal serving of soju at BYOBs" in Palisades Park and other towns "has led to a 30 [percent] to 40 percent decline in sales at county restaurants that sell liquor," according to the Bergen County Korean Restaurant Association (A-4).

And in good news for restaurant goers, many restaurants with liquor licenses have slashed their price for a 375-milliliter bottle of the traditional alcoholic drink to $6.99 and $5.99 from $12.99.

Liquor stores sell the same bottle for $3.99.

An appreciation of soju by Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung fails to mention that some popular brands contain high fructose corn syrup, which is linked to the obesity epidemic (A-4).

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Stupid front page gets even more stupid below the fold

The lower level of an NJ Transit double-decker rail car. To avoid writing about mass transit and other commuting issues, Road Warrior John Cichowski often goes far afield. Today's Page 1 column is a new low in irrelevance.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Just when I thought a professional baseball player at his last All-Star Game is the silliest Page 1 photo I have ever seen in The Record, I looked below the fold, only to find the so-called commuting columnist writing about historic New Bridge Landing.

Staff Writer John Cichowksi may be old enough to have fought in the Revolutionary War, but even he seems ashamed of this new, irrelevant tack for the commuting column he has been writing for more than a decade (A-1).

So, in his fourth paragraph, he throws in a familiar locator for commuters, "Only seven miles from the George Washington Bridge ...."

Instead of writing about the sad state of the Steuben House, which was built in 1752, Cichowski should be writing about the sad state of public transit and the resulting nightmarish traffic jams in North Jersey. 

Confusing editing

On the Local front, the lead paragraph of the main story refers to "warring gang sets" in Paterson (L-1).

Is "set" a police term? Does the reporter mean "gang members"?

Where was Production Editor Liz Houlton, asleep at her computer?

Is 'Mr. Green' here?

The reporter notes Jeffrey Ellerbee, one of the three suspects in the July 5 fatal shooting of Genesis Rincon, 12, "may be represented by one of North Jersey's most prominent attorneys, Miles Feinstein" (L-1).

Feinstein won't be representing Ellerbee unless the suspect's family comes up with a hefty retainer, as the attorney makes clear on L-6, where he is quoted as saying he had been approached, but "no arrangements" have been made.

Criminal defense attorneys like Feinstein have been known to ask judges for postponements, explaining in open court, "Your honor, Mr. Green [money] isn't here." 

Hole in head

A photo caption on L-3 shows a flooded street in Cliffside Park and "water gushing out of a drainage hole ...."

Did the copy editor mean to write "sewer grate"?

Maybe Houlton was stuck in traffic and couldn't get to work.

A story on the first Business page expects readers to believe luxury condo buyers are willing to pay $1.1 million to $2 million to live next to a construction site on the Hudson River in Weehawken (L-7).

More about chefs

Better Living is top heavy with stories about chefs, and issues faced by restaurant goers are almost completely ignored, even in the weekly fine-dining restaurant review.

Today, the Better Living cover carries a profile of Kevin Kohler, the chef who opened Cafe Panache in Ramsey 30 years ago this month. (BL-1).

He deserves respect, of course, but why run the piece on the same day as the weekly COFFEE WITH THE CHEF feature on L-2?

Money talks

Of course, restaurants are big advertisers in The Record, but in general, North Jersey Media Group has a hard time keeping journalism and promotion apart.

Tuesday's Better Living section carried a full-page ad for an Englewood event produced by Exposure, a marketing arm of NJMG (L-12).

The event also was promoted in stories.

Let's hope it doesn't turn into the traffic nightmare of Exposure's food-truck event at the new Overpeck Park last summer, when thousands were turned away.

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More and more, editors speak for the rich and powerful

The Johnson Public Library in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's Page 1 "ANALYSIS" of Governor Christie's growing business-tax cuts takes literally forever to tell readers they have done little to improve the state's anemic economic recovery (see last three paragraphs on A-4).

This is the fifth year in a row the GOP bully plans to balance the state budget on the backs of public workers, senior citizens and middle-class homeowners.

Yet, the editors continue to fight any notion of higher taxes on millionaires or a modest gas-tax hike (O-2).

And, with only two weeks to go before the June 30 budget deadline, they refuse to condemn all the time Christie is spending out of the state raising money for conservative Republicans like himself (Saturday's A-4).

Borgs' mouthpiece

The Record's news stories, columns and editorials continue to speak for the rich and powerful -- reflecting the views of the Borg publishing family -- despite the governor's dismal record and the political dirty tricks he used to get reelected last November.

Another story on today's front page argues observant, well-to-do Orthodox Jews in Teaneck, Bergenfield, Fair Lawn and Englewood are under-served (A-1). Really?

The Record has consistently under-reported how parents who send their children to expensive religious schools undermine public schools, and sometimes actively work to slash school budgets as a way to cut their property taxes. 

Noisy skies

The major element on the Local front today promotes the Wings & Wheels Expo at Teterboro Airport -- where noisy, unregulated business jets represent the biggest impact on the quality of life in Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns near a hub favored by the rich and famous (L-1).

Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg of Englewood was one of the biggest boosters of the airport's aviation museum.

The elder Borg also was listed as "managing partner" of Trio Air Holdings LLC in a testimonial to the broker who upgraded the 1984 Citation III business jet he owned with a friend. See:

Did the Borgs meddle in the news?

Unfortunately, today's Teterboro story is written by Staff Writer Christopher Maag, who covers Hackensack, but couldn't manage to find anything about the city to report.

Restaurant mogul

Staff Writer Elisa Ung cranks up her publicity machine for restaurant owners with another gee-whiz piece on multimillionaire Drew Nieporent, the Ridgewood fat cat behind Tribeca Grill, Nobu and other fine-dining venues (BL-1).

How can Ung serve as the chief restaurant reviewer, presumably representing customers, and yet write one promotional story after another about Nieporent and other wealthy restaurant owners in her column, The Corner Table?

One of my strongest memories of lunches at Tribeca and Nobu more than a decade ago were of flies in the dining rooms, and how I actually asked the server at the former to move me to a table free of the dirty insects.

Saturday's paper

The follow-up to Thursday's fatal tractor-trailer crash on the George Washington Bridge struggled to answer all of the unanswered questions in the original account of the resulting regional traffic paralysis.

Joao Daponta, 59, the trucker who died after his rig slammed into the back of another tractor-trailer at 2 in the morning, had been cited for speeding and careless driving,

But two reporters couldn't find out if he was behind the wheel of a truck or a car when he got them (Saturday's L-6).

They also couldn't find out the name of the second tractor-trailer driver.

However, the story was poorly edited, and said the "Port Authority didn't release ... the name of the rear-ended truck."

Like many stories in The Record, this one made readers fell they are the ones who are constantly being rear-ended.

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Gravely injured comedian rode in van prone to rollover

A busy crosswalk near the J.C. Penney entrance to Westfield Garden State Plaza was closed on Saturday afternoon, prompting many visitors to cross where there was no crosswalk or pedestrian signal, below. The Paramus mall, the biggest in the state, apparently couldn't find an employee to help shoppers cross the road, as it does when that crosswalk is open.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Federal auto safety officials have expressed concern about the high rollover risk of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van similar to the one involved in a crash that left comedian Tracy Morgan in critical condition.

On A-3 today, the Record used an Associated Press story about the New Jersey Turnpike chain-reaction crash on Saturday that left a fellow comedian dead and two others seriously hurt.

The driver of the Walmart tractor-trailer that rammed Morgan's Mercedes-Benz "limo bus" has been charged with death by auto, the wire service reported.

But the story makes no mention of National Highway Transportation Safety Administration officials who rated the 2012 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 Van's risk of rollover at 84.3%.

The vehicle -- on which the limo bus is based -- was given a safety rating of one star, the lowest on the 5-star safety scale, according to safecar.gov, the NHTSA Web site. 

I have spoken to drivers of the M-B Sprinter Van who say they have to be careful when turning corners because of the vehicle's high center of gravity.

Morgan's vehicle ended up on its side. The AP story also neglects to mention whether the comedian and other passengers were wearing seat belts or were protected by air bags.

Horse's asses

Today's front page carries a story on Saturday's Belmont Stakes by Staff Writer John Rowe, a lifer.

What a waste of space. Which horse's ass in the newsroom decided to give this turd of a story Page 1 play?

A-1 also brings us yet another column speculating on what Governor Christie's former chief of staff will tell investigators about the George Washington Bridge lane closures in Democratic Fort Lee.

Columnist Charles Stile could have written just one word: "Nothing."

Older drivers

On the Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski wastes our time with another boring column on teen drivers (L-1).

Cichowski knows older drivers like himself are the ones who need safety retraining, but he has resisted reporting on that issue since he took over the column in 2003.

Teaneck reporter Aaron Morrison should get a bonus for being one of the few writers who profile prominent residents while they are still alive (L-1).

Today, he writes about jazz photographer Chuck Stewart.

On the Business front, a photo caption shows Taro Eizumi outside Fort Lee's BNB Hana Bank, which "caters to Korean-Americans" (B-1).

But judging from his last name, Eizumi is Japanese, not Korean.

Selling out

Staff Writer Elisa Ung today has a second column about no-show restaurant customers, as if this is such an overwhelming problem (BL-1).

If she chose to write about issues facing customers in her column, The Corner Table, she could do 52 columns a year on the slave wages restaurant owners pay servers and how they expect the customer to tip well to make up the difference.

Drew Nieporent, John Pilourias and the other wealthy restaurateurs or chefs she quotes have duped her into ignoring this conflict.

When the kitchen burns your food or serves you cheap fish instead of the red snapper listed on the menu, what are you going to do? 

If you stiff the server, you're letting the owner off of the hook, but isn't that the whole point of the corrupt tipping system?

Tipping likely tops restaurant customers' complaints, but it's been a few years since Ung even made any attempt to discuss the issue.

And we know why. Restaurant advertising is a major source of revenue for North Jersey Media Group.

Ung is not about to bite the hand that feeds her. OK. She eats enough for two or three. So, it's the hand that stuffs her face.

Haggard traveler

Travel Editor Jill Schensul likely shocked readers a week ago, when she published "selfies" of her haggard face on a bad-hair day -- a stark contrast to her column's thumbnail photo (T-1).

Today, the column photo, which was taken more than a decade ago, appears on the Travel front above one of her selfies.

Other outdated column photos appear in the paper today: Mike Kelly's shit-eating grin on O-1, and John Rowe's uncharacteristic smile on A-1.

Poor Virginia Rohan. A new, unattractive column photo of The Record's TV writer has been used for the past few months, showing her bloated face.

Saturday's paper

Lodi and Hackensack taxpayers' blood was boiling after reading stories on A-1 and L-3 of Saturday's paper.

Lodi Police Chief Vincent Caruso is one in a long line of department heads who collect hundreds of thousands of dollars for unused time off -- in his case, $342,000, according to the front-page account.

The Record has never questioned why Christie put a ceiling on the salaries of school superintendents, but not on police chiefs, or failed to reform these outrageous payouts.

In Hackensack, allies of the disgraced Zisa family, which ran the city for decades, may cost taxpayers $20,000, according to a report from Staff Writer Christopher Maag.

The $20,000 would cover legal fees in a dispute over copies of bills submitted by City Attorney Thomas Scrivo between October and Jan. 15, Maag reported.

Maag notes the new City Council "fired Richard Salkin, the city attorney with close ties to the Zisa family and to city Democratic Party Chairwoman Lynn Hurwitz, and replaced him with Scrivo."

But that is wrong. Salkin, a double dipper, was municipal prosecutor as well as Board of Education attorney.  He continues in the school board job.

I didn't see a correction in today's paper.

Masterful editing

In Saturday's lead story on Page 1, I didn't see a single reference to the hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks Christie has given wealthy business owners and the pitifully few jobs created in return.

The story reported the national economy has replaced all of the jobs lost in the recession, but New Jersey "so far has recovered only half of its vanished jobs."

This kind of irresponsible editing ensured the GOP bully's reelection last November, despite one of the worst records of any New Jersey governor.

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Christie will be gone when pension fund goes broke

The air is fragrant in Hackensack, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today's front page "ANALYSIS" of the deepening state pension system crisis is good, but Staff Writer John Reitmeyer of The Record could be accused of burying the lead.

Readers who stick with his account -- which begins by saying "Governor Christie is following the well-worn path" of his predecessors by skipping payments -- might be shocked to see what awaits them on the continuation page:

"What all this means is that at some point in the future, according to experts, New Jersey's pension system, currently underfunded by an estimated $52 billion, could become simply too costly to keep afloat" (A-6).

That should have been the first paragraph on A-1 for crying out loud.

Derelict editors

Who was Editor Marty Gottlieb or one of his minions thinking of when they worked on this Page 1 story?

Certainly not public employees or even readers of the Woodland Park daily.

Readers also find out on A-6 the GOP bully basically told another lie: 

"Christie ... recently erroneously lumped [former Governor Jon] Corzine among the list of New Jersey governors who made no pension payments during their tenure."

Taxing readers

Now, Christie is facing a $1 billion budget shortfall, because he has refused, among other things, to impose a tax surcharge on millionaires or raise the low gasoline tax to fund road and mass-transit improvements.

Reitmeyer doesn't cite the conservative's inflexible no-tax policies or his past practice of balancing the budget on the backs of the middle and working classes.

In fact, the reporter doesn't even bother telling readers how many public employees are covered by the state's pension system or who they are.

Are they just bureaucrats in Trenton or are they teachers, police officers and firefighters -- in other words our neighbors?

The story says Christie is cutting his planned $1.58 billion pension contribution back to $696 million and, in the fiscal year that begins July 1, a $2.25 billion pension payment would now be just $681 million.

Christie also says he will "put forward new public worker benefit changes in the next few weeks" (A-6).

If I was a public worker who is already contributing more to my pension thanks to Christie, I'd really be worried.

Breathe deep.

Crash landing

Why was a pea-brained former sports reporter assigned to the story on the untimely demise of New Jersey multimillionaire Lewis Katz, killed in the "fiery crash" of a Gulfstream private jet on Saturday night (A-3)?

Staff Writer John Brennan reports "National Transportation Safety Board officials said it was too soon to discuss the cause of the crash."

They always say that less than two days after a crash, but there are usually only two possible causes: Pilot error or a mechanical problem.

Private-jet travel is one of the privileges of wealth, but Brennan doesn't even say whether it is safer to fly commercial.


The Borgs and Main Street

The Borgs' North Jersey Media Group has never had much affection for Main Street, judging by the abysmal lack of coverage of struggling downtowns in Englewood, Teaneck and other communities.

And Hackensack -- where The Record prospered for more than 110 years -- and its Main Street are still trying to recover from Publisher Stephen A. Borg's decision in 2009 to close the paper's headquarters on River Street, and move to the sticks.

Where money talks

Joan Verdon, the paper's retail reporter, writes almost exclusively about North Jersey's malls and highway retailers -- where the Borgs reap millions of dollars in advertising revenue.

You could think of this as journalism pay to play. Do merchants have to advertise in The Record to get coverage?

But the Business page on Monday carries a feature called "Main Street" that appears to be the editors' attempt to fool readers into thinking otherwise.

Today's piece is about North Jersey's pet-walking and pet-sitting businesses. Another recent "Main Street" feature reported on the maker of custom golf pants.

What a farce.

Teaneck police

The lead story in Local today is an upbeat report on the 100th anniversary of the Teaneck Police Department (L-1).

Staff Writer Jim Norman notes the onetime all-male force "now includes seven women, two of whom are lieutenants and two detectives."

But Norman fails to tell readers about the sordid period when women in the Teaneck department filed sexual-harassment lawsuits against their male superiors, resulting in legal fees and settlements that cost taxpayers many hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Are local assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza -- veterans who should be familiar with those suits -- deliberately slanting stories so as not to offend the Teaneck police?

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