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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The right to bear arms claims another innocent victim

Did anyone go to work today? This is Summit Avenue in Hackensack at about 8:15 this morning, usually the height of the rush hour.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A 29-year-old mother of four died in a Walmart when her 2-year-old son reached into her purse "and her concealed gun fired," The Record reports today.

You'd think this story -- not just a brief -- would appear on Page 1.

But it got pushed aside by dry "process" stories -- one on the Affordable Care Act and the other on Democrats launching a futile attempt to override Governor Christie's Port Authority veto (A-1).

As it is, The Associated Press story on the mother's accidental death raises more questions than it answers, much like the stories edited by the paper's local assignment desk.

The story doesn't identify the woman, but says she "had a concealed weapons permit."

So, this another case of the so-called right of citizens to bear arms ending an innocent life.

What a great country. We have so many freedoms, including the right to die by gunshot.

More gun deaths

Just below that story, another Associated Press report says the number of law enforcement officers killed by firearms jumped by 56% this year (A-3).

That included 15 ambush deaths, including the fatal Dec. 20 attacks on two police officers in Brooklyn.

A-2 carries another embarrassing correction -- a name was misspelled in a story on the retirement of a Clifton deputy fire chief.

Christie veto

On A-8 today, an editorial urges the state Legislature to override Christie's veto of Port Authority reforms, but notes lawmakers have "failed to override a single Christie veto" since 2010.

What The Record has never reported in its overwhelmingly favorable coverage of the GOP bully -- including endless portrayals of him as a compromiser -- is whether he has set a record for vetoes by a New Jersey governor.

In a letter to the editor on A-8, Ted Noble of Wayne says there is enough evidence "to indict Christie for mismanagement of New Jersey."

Nazerah Bugg

Of all the 2014 local deaths recognized on Page 1 and the Local front today, the murder of a 14-year-old Paterson teen was among the most unjust.

Nazerah Bugg, an aspiring basketball player, was shot and killed on a street corner on Sept. 20, the victim of gang gunfire (L-1).

Her death followed the July murder of Genesis Rincon, 12, as she was riding her bike to a grocery store in Paterson.

Paterson police laid off 125 officers after Christie cut state aid to the impoverished city in 2011.

The Record has reported "mismanagement of the city budget" contributed to those personnel cuts.

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Editors miraculously transform vetoes into PA 'reforms'

In Hackensack, North Jersey Media Group turned The Record's old River Street parking lot into a cash cow. Parking costs a flat fee of $5, but the first 50 minutes are free. Parking for the disabled also costs $5 with the first 90 minutes free. Jurors park free.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's Page 1 headline on Sunday tried to hide how Governors Christie and Cuomo killed any hope of real reform at the mammoth Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Today, another front-page headline miraculously transforms the governors' vetoes of bills passed by two state Legislatures into "PA reforms" (A-1).

Staff Writer Shawn Boburg reports "it could take years to enact the [governors'] most complex and politically fraught proposals."

But Boburg devotes a lot of space to a possible takeover of the PATH rail system, and none to the construction of a new midtown Manhattan bus terminal, which is at the top of the list for weary Bergen County commuters. 

Boburg is the reporter assigned to cover the Port Authority, but he has ignored the agency's refusal to expand PATH and add a second bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel.

Today, he continues to voice PA propaganda against mass transit by citing PATH's yearly losses of $300 million as an impediment to a takeover by NJ Transit.

Does The Record know of any mass-transit system that makes money? The benefits are less tangible, ranging from cleaner air to less traffic congestion to reduced reliance on fossil fuels.

Sports garbage

The other major elements on today's front page -- especially the column on the Giants' coach -- are a colossal waste of space.

Why didn't Editor Martin Gottlieb give better play to Bill Bratton, the New York police commissioner, who said nationwide demonstrations are "about the continuing poverty rates, the continuing growing disparity between the wealthy and the poor" (A-1 brief and A-3)?

Contrast Bratton's comments to the racial stereotyping from Bernard Kerik, the crook who served as the city's police commissioner more than a decade ago.

Kerik was quoted last week by Columnist Mike Kelly.

Lame editors

The local assignment editors still can't provide readers with a complete story two days after a woman drove her small SUV into two special police officers in Cliffside Park.

Today, The Record reports one of the officers, Stephen Petruzzello, was in critical condition after surgery (L-1).

But CliffviewPilot.com said the officer died at 5 this morning.

The Record's L-1 story reports the driver, Ani Kalayjian, 62, was "cited" for "various traffic violations," but does not specify them.

There is no description of how the accident happened on Saturday night or whether the officers were in a crosswalk when they were run down.

Today's account finally has the names of the officers, Petruzzello and Thaier Abdallah.

Instead of providing important details, the reporters make sure to fill the story with the trivial, such as where the two officers sat during graduation in November. 

Cliffview Pilot

Jerry DeMarco reports on CliffviewPilot.com that Petruzzello, 22, sustained severe brain injuries and died at 5 a.m. today.

DeMarco showed a photo of the driver, and identified her as an "internationally known trauma expert and author."

He quotes police as saying the woman claimed she "didn't see" the officers. She was in the vehicle with her 93-year-old mother.

See: Stephen Petruzzello dies from injuries

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Christie's chances of a White House win are fading fast

In Hackensack on Saturday, construction continued on a new Bergen County Justice Center and parking deck, above, across Court Street from Church on the Green, below. Has pile driving, heavy equipment and other work knocked loose plaster in the historic building, which dates to 1791?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

"With Governor Christie again considering a run for president, his constituents appear to be tiring of the whole routine.

"Polls taken over the last three months reveal a list of home-state complaints:

"Christie's favorability is at its lowest point, with more voters disapproving than approving of his job performance.

"New Jersey residents think he is making decisions with an eye on his national standing rather than on what is good for the state.

"They do not think he should run for president -- they are, as the slogan goes, ready for Hillary -- but most expect he will, and want him to resign if he does."

You'd expect The Record to run this appraisal of Christie, who is expected in the new year to announce his decision on running.

But you'd be wrong. The article appears in The New York Times today under the headline:

"As Christie Roams the Country,
 His Popularity Takes a Hit in New Jersey."

Slanted coverage

What readers of The Record get is more of the same largely favorable Christie coverage that has been rammed down their throats since he took office in January 2010:

In his Page 1 column, Staff Writer Charles Stile doesn't list all the negatives of a Christie candidacy, but focuses awkwardly on the GOP bully as "a candidate-in-progress" -- whatever that is --"sharpening his message and strategy" (A-1).

In reader polls, Stile finishes a close second behind Mike Kelly on fracturing the English language.

Awful headline

Even the headline leading The Record's front page today soft pedals what Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo did in vetoing changes at the behemoth Port Authority that were approved by lawmakers in the two states (A-1). 

Who approved the bland "Governors unveil their PA plan" as a banner headline under The Sunday Record masthead?

No. Christie and Cuomo rejected sweeping reform of politics and patronage as usual at the bi-state transportation agency.

The words "reject lawmakers' reform" appear in The Record's far smaller sub-headline, but The Times and other media focused on the governors squelching real change in how the PA is run. 

Christie and Cuomo mostly call for brick-and-mortar changes, while their state Legislatures sought to end PA board members' ethical lapses and corrupt practices. 

Thumbnail photos

We expect actors and singers to use outdated photos that show their youth and vitality, but should journalists do the same?

The thumbnail column photos of Kelly and Stile on A-1 today; Bill Ervolino on the Better Living front and the partial image of Staff Writer Elisa Ung on the same page have been in use for up to eight years.

Kelly's is especially unflattering, with his shit-eating grin. 

Ung's chipmunk cheeks now probably resemble a cow chewing its cud after she has consumed thousands of high-calorie desserts as the paper's chief restaurant reviewer.

And there's no point of showing Ung with a wine glass; the paper reimburses restaurant reviewers for their food purchases, but never for drinking alcohol, and she rarely writes about wine.

Where is the shrimp?

I was disappointed in Ung's "Best dishes I ate this year" for her emphasis on meat and dessert (BL-1 and BL-3).

And her listing of Miang Kham from Sapphire Thai in Teaneck is a real joke.

The actual dish, which I tried, contained a minuscule amount of shrimp.

Local news?

The Local news section today contains exactly one local story -- on an unidentified woman who drove her small SUV into two special police officers in Cliffside Park, seriously injuring them (L-1).

The story carries two bylines, and includes a description of the accident scene, but the reporters also relied on a statement from the acting mayor.

No one apparently spoke to residents or witnesses who might know the names of the injured officers or the identity of the driver.

The rest of Local is devoted to the year in review and an unusually high number of death notices.

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, inadvertently reveal their long-held contempt for the problems of North Jersey bus and rail commuters by using only one mass-transit photo on the Local front:

It shows fans who faced delays leaving the Super Toilet Bowl football farce last February in the Meadowlands.

Funny business

How hard can the Business editors be working when their entire 8-page section today contains only one story from their staff?

Does North Jersey Media Group have to pay two veteran editors a ton of money to run wire copy? 

Gas savings

I heard a news report on WNYC-FM, a National Public Radio station, about the billions of dollars trucking companies are saving on diesel fuel.

One company with 15-trucks actually passed the savings onto employees, raising their salaries 10%.

No one has ever discussed the extra fuel cost of the decision, six or seven years ago, to move printing of The Record and Herald News to Rockaway Township from Hackensack-- a 60-mile-plus round trip for NJMG's thirsty Mercedes-Benz delivery trucks.

The publishing company was able to lay off more than 50 pressmen, but that must have cost a fortune in extra fuel purchases. 

Now that diesel prices have plummeted, does NJMG plan to raise delivery truck drivers' salaries?

If you are one of those drivers, don't hold your breath.

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Port Authority adds 'runway robbery' to 'highway robbery'

My purchase of a large snow blower may have been one of the factors limiting Thursday's snowfall to a dusting.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Isn't it rich?

One of the airlines that soaks travelers with fees on checked luggage and added legroom, plus charges extra for food in economy, is complaining about "skyrocketing fees" at the airport in Newark.

The Record reports today that United Airlines is asking federal officials to investigate the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for "runway robbery," similar to the "highway robbery" drivers experience at the Hudson River toll crossings (A-1).

The biggest airline serving New Jersey cites "unwise choices, inefficiencies and political influences" at the massive bi-state agency for making "flying out of Newark more than twice as expensive as trips from other major cities." 

United, which pays landing and other fees, says $2 billion has been diverted from Newark Liberty International Airport since 2004, including $181 million this year alone that went to rehab the Pulaski Skyway -- under pressure from Governor Christie.

The Record put this story on Page 1 even though the airline's complaint was reported first by The Wall Street Journal (A-10).

Christie fading

The Record's editors -- who have knocked themselves out promoting the GOP bully's White House dreams -- seem to be the only ones surprised by news that Christie is struggling in a presidential poll, even in New Jersey (A-8).

Voters favor Democrat Hillary Clinton over Christie, the worst New Jersey governor ever.

Another front-page story today reports heart attacks jumped 22 percent in the two weeks after Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey in October 2012, and the death rate was 31 percent higher within a month of being stricken (A-1).

The story doesn't say what has happened to victims in the past two years, when the Christie administration bungled distribution of billions of federal dollars for Sandy recovery and relief.

More corrections

Six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton ordered two more corrections, further evidence of her incompetence in supervising the news, layout and copy desks (A-2).

Jamie Silverman of the Elmwood Park Public Library was "incorrectly identified" in a story on Tuesday's L-2.

And an A-7 photo caption on Sunday "misidentified the substance that caused two deaths at a music studio in the city of Passaic."

The wrong caption said "carbon dioxide" instead of the correct "carbon monoxide," which appeared in the headline and caption on Sunday's front page.

Pair mourned

It took the carbon-monoxide deaths of skateboard impresario Noel Korman and girlfriend Alice Park last Saturday for the lazy local assignment editors to discover the fascinating subculture the victims once inhabited.

Today and in an earlier story, The Record reports Korman used the music studio to headquarter the Shralpers Union, an organization he founded "to promote skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing" (L-1).

Leonia suit

Attorney Rosemarie Arnold of Fort Lee calls the $320,000 settlement she won in a lawsuit filed by the parents of a molested boy "significant" money for the family (L-1).

Indeed. Also "significant" is the $100,000 or more the lawyer will receive from the settlement, though you won't find any mention of that in The Record story.  

Greek speak

With her checks paid by The Record, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung ignores the exorbitant prices Greek restaurants charge for whole fish (BL-18).

In her 3-star evaluation of Syros Taverna in Englewood, she matter of factly mentions the restaurant hits up customers for $39, if they order a wild red snapper, and $29 for a farmed branzino.

She also ignores the noise and pollution from passing cars and trucks on Palisade Avenue when she reports the restaurant has windows that can open and "make warm weather dining much more pleasant."

Smell the aroma of the Shrimp Saganaki's "rich tomato-pepper sauce laced with ... ouzo" -- then breathe in those fumes.

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Why are these columnists wasting their time and ours?

On the upper level of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan, you can get your shoes shined for $5 while waiting for your overdue NJ Transit bus.

A week ago, I gave the man who shined my shoes a $2 tip, and he seemed miffed.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's Road Warrior column is supposed to focus on commuting issues.

But that would take real legwork, including riding trains and buses, and reporting on the quality of service.

Or, challenging the Port Authority on why it doesn't add a second bus lane to the Lincoln Tunnel, and run the two lanes mornings and afternoons.

Instead, Staff Writer John Cichowski has ranged far afield in the more than 11 years he's written the column, often taking the lead from readers who pepper him with emails in hopes of seeing their names in print.

Transit's present

On Sunday, the veteran reporter devoted an entire column to a solar-powered monorail system in the Meadowlands that may not be built for another five, 10 or 15 years -- or ever (L-1 on Sunday).

I guess it's OK to write about "transit's future," as the headline put it, but what are commuters supposed to do now when they can't find a seat on a train or bus or they get home an hour or two late because of Manhattan gridlock?

Cichowski's Sunday column reminded me of the stories on "highways of the future" that Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza wrote when he covered transportation for The Record.

Sforza could have looked into why new NJ Transit cruiser buses, the ones that ply routes to Manhattan, had defective rear brakes and were much noisier than their predecessors -- to the consternation of people who live on such bus routes as Grand Avenue in Englewood. 

But that would have taken a lot more work than writing about highways that would never get built.

Out of touch

If Sforza and Cichowski are out of touch with the needs of their readers, what can you say about Staff Writer Mike Kelly, whose Sunday column sounded like he had assumed the mantle of Road Warrior (O-1 on Sunday)?

Kelly filled his column with potholes and ruts in the road, dented and bent guard rails, and aging bridges.

Sounds like he ran out of ideas again, and found himself in another writing rut. 

Overfed and boring

Meanwhile, Staff Writer Elisa Ung's The Corner Table column took on an issue that really put me to sleep on Sunday.

The headline says it all: "Why do waiters automatically give the check to the man?"

As the paper's chief restaurant reviewer, Ung routinely ignores the universally hated tipping system, slave wages paid to servers, how those aged steaks she loves are raised on harmful antibiotics and growth hormones, the outrageous restaurant markup on wine and other far more compelling issues. 

Today's paper

One of the stories on today's front page takes on the "financial and political drawbacks" of raising the gasoline tax to revive the bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund -- the same subject Kelly tackled on Sunday.

The Sunday column and today's takeout by Staff Writer Christopher Maag never ask this question:

If drivers don't pay for road and bridge repairs and mass-transit improvements through higher gasoline taxes, who should pay for them?

Gagging on Gaga

What was Staff Writer Jim Norman going for with the bewildering first paragraph of his story on the settlement of a lawsuit filed by the woman who discovered Lady Gaga (A-1)? 

And with all such stories that dazzle readers with multimillion dollar legal settlements, why not put the windfall into perspective and report that up to a third or more will be going to the lawyer?

Violence against women

The main story on Page 1 today is about an Englewood high school football coach who encourages male athletes "to become advocates in the fight against violence toward women" (A-1).

With women facing brutality, lower wages than men and other forms of discrimination and inequality, is who gets the restaurant check really that big of a deal?

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It's not enough to criticize the PA behemoth from afar

The Record has written thousands of words criticizing the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan, but no reporter has actually boarded a bus to the city or joined the long lines of home-bound commuters who face delays on the platforms, where spring-loaded seating resembles a torture device outlawed by the Geneva Convention, above.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

How does a North Jersey newspaper cover the region's crowded public transit system?

If you are Editor Marty Gottlieb of The Record, you buy into what the lazy local assignment editors have done for decades:

You send reporters to cover the meetings of the mass-transit agencies, including NJ Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

In recent months, thousands of critical words about the antiquated Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan have merely parroted complaining letters to the editor, a state legislative hearing and the experiences of the bi-state agency's new chairman.

Rouse et al.

Commuters will cheer news the Port Authority board on Wednesday voted to approve $90 million in emergency repairs this year (A-1).

But that emergency spending could have come a lot sooner, if only the paper's transportation reporters actually rode mass transit and reported on the quality of the service, as the New York papers did for years with their subway columns.

A couple of years ago, Staff Writer Karen Rouse did report firsthand on the afternoon stampede for trains at New York's Penn Station, but Rouse apparently has never actually tried to get a seat on a city bound train or bus during the morning rush hour.

She also refused to ride the decrepit local buses in North Jersey -- relied on mostly by people who can't afford cars -- in the years before NJ Transit replaced them with new "talking" buses.

Boburg, Cichowski, Sforza

Shawn Boburg, who covers the Port Authority, has never reported on the need to expand the PATH commuter rail system or the reverse bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel -- two parts of his beat.

The befuddled Road Warrior, John Cichowski, is hopelessly lost in the suburbs, and the so-called commuting column he has written for more than a decade has been taken hostage by drivers whose sanity is questionable. 

Anti-transit reporting

Of course, none of this is a surprise to readers who remember long, anti-light rail stories aimed at Englewood and Tenafly readers from then-reporter Tom Davis that were ordered by Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza, himself a failed transportation reporter.

Lines of home-bound commuters are as long as ever at the Manhattan hub, but the Port Authority did install touch-screen terminals on the main level that show bus routes and, more importantly for occasional users, the number of the gate where they can catch a bus.

I haven't seen that improvement reported in The Record.

Today, an editorial on the new Port Authority chairman, John Degnan, and emergency terminal repairs is careful to avoid reviewing all that Governor Christie has done to hurt mass transit (A-12).

Forgotten responsibility

I chuckled at Boburg's lead paragraph this morning:

"For years, the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan has seemed frozen in time, a forgotten giant in the agency's vast portfolio of transportation facilities" (A-1).

Indeed. The terminal has long been forgotten in the Hackensack and Woodland Park newsrooms, too.

More corrections

Three long corrections appear on A-2 today, including a rare error in a local obituary.

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LOL: Cops make Page 1 for enforcing traffic laws

A long, elaborate wheelchair ramp connects the Avalon luxury apartment complex on Hackensack Avenue in Hackensack with the Home Depot Shopping Center. The rent for a 483-square-foot studio is $2,165 a month, according to the Avalon Communities Web site. The apartments, built between two shopping centers, are perfect for shopaholics.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's Dave Sheingold seems to have a bug up his ass that the annual police crackdown on seat-belt and child-restraint violators is catching a growing number of uninsured, drunk and reckless drivers (A-1).

Is there something wrong with that or with the extra revenue collected by cash-strapped towns, where property taxes seem to climb inexorably amid declining services?

During the two-week 2013 Click It or Ticket Campaign, Hackensack police issued 1,587 summonses -- triple the number given out in other communities -- but only 17.4% for seat-belt violations (A-8).

Does anybody care but the law-breaking drivers who were undone by the aggressive enforcement of traffic laws that began with the appointment of Police Director Mike Mordaga in February 2013.

Quoting morons

The anal Sheingold, the paper's computer-assisted numbers cruncher, even quotes Steve Carrellas, the moron who calls himself the "New Jersey coordinator" of the National Motorists Association, whatever that is.

"It's turning into a stop-and-fleece program. You're stopping people and taking their money away," claims Carrellas, who proves reporters will quote the most idiotic person they can find just to stir up needless controversy (A-8).

Someone should tell Carrellas driving is a privilege, not a right, and if reckless drivers, speeders, drunks, car thieves and other law-breakers are taken off the road, that's great.

We need the money

And if there is even a small chance Hackensack can use the extra money to help it climb out of the deep financial hole dug by Zisa family allies in the past decade, I say hooray.

As  a property taxpayer, I can't wait for the time when hundreds of red-light and speeding cameras are installed to generate real money for towns.

That's especially the case in Hackensack, where officials have been reluctant to ask Hackensack University Medical Center and other tax-exempt entities to contribute financially to the city, which was fleeced by Ken Zisa, the corrupt former police chief and state assemblyman.

Hackensack should follow Jersey City, which is seeking $400 million from the Port Authority in a federal lawsuit that alleges the bistate agency "is not giving enough financial assistance in exchange for dozens of tax-exempt properties" (A-3).

Lazy reporting

Why does reader Dom Calicchio have to point out problems at NJ Transit's Kingsland rail station in Lyndhurst (A-15 letter to the editor)?

Transportation reporter Karen Rouse and Road Warrior John Cichowski should get off their duffs and give commuters firsthand reports on rail and bus service.

Apparently, they've been infected by the lazy bug that long ago bit Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, who run the local-news assignment desk.

Sykes and Sforza had to fill today's thin Local section with two long wire-service obituaries for an obscure Venezuelan ex-president and a screenwriter nobody knows (L-5).

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Editors prefer to wait for a crisis to cover news

A little after noon on Monday, only one clerk was available at the Hackensack Post Office on State Street (Zip Code: 07601). Later, a second clerk came on duty, but the total wait before I got to a window was about 25 minutes. I made sure I had plenty of time on the parking meter.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The leaders of New Jersey and New York have been treating the Port Authority as their political cookie jar for decades.

But The Record has been reporting on insider deals and exorbitant payments by the Port Authority only since last September.

That's when members of Governor Christie's inner circle closed lanes on the George Washington Bridge as a form of political retribution.

Sunday's Page 1 opus on a $500,000 Port Authority payment to Santiago Calatrava for architectural plans no one asked for or used describes events dating to mid-2011.

Similarly, another front-page report on Sunday discussed the tradition of drinking at firehouses, but it took an allegedly drunk volunteer crashing a fire truck this month to get the editors' attention.

Today's lead story, reporting an $800 million New Jersey budget shortfall, can be traced to Christie's repeated vetoes of a tax surcharge on millionaires during his first term in office.

Long overdue is an examination by The Record of fiscal mismanagemt dating to the Republican admininistrations of Christine Whitman and Tom Kean.

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Christie the bully ensures his survival, not ours

After a breather on Monday and Tuesday, the first two days of Passover, the New Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel was as congested as ever this morning.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

As New Jersey goes down the tubes, Governor Christie is spending more and more time raising money to ensure his political future.

Today and Wednesday, The Record's front page reports about contributions to the Republican Governors Association, which Christie heads and which he credits with electing him in 2009 to his first term.

On Wednesday, the Woodland Park daily reported that the law firm of Gibson Dunn gave $10,000 to the group, nine days before its lawyers issued a reporting clearing Christie of any wrongdoing in the George Washington Bridge lane closures (A-1).

That self-serving whitewash will cost taxpayers as much as $1 million, according to media reports.

Drug deal

Today, the paper reports the GOP bully appeared at a groundbreaking for Celgene, a drug company that donated $26,00o last year to the RGA (A-1).

The year before, the drug company hired Rich Bagger, a former Christie chief of staff, as senior vice president.

Then, Christie named Bagger to the Port Authority's board of commissioners. And in 2013, Bagger gave $10,000 to the RGA.

All of this really stinks.

Where's the fire?

Why does anybody move into Elmwood Park, where liquor is served at the borough's firehouses and where a reportedly intoxicated fireman crashed a ladder truck into utility poles (A-1)?

Today's Page 1 story doesn't say whether the borough has a volunteer or professional fire department, but it mentions that River Edge ended and Lodi restricts firehouse drinking (A-8).

I'm a pretty close reader of the Local news section, and have been for years, and can't recall every reading a story about firehouses that serve liquor.

What exactly are the local-news editors doing?

Horsing around

As the onetime owner of a 1966 Ford Mustang GT, I enjoyed the Better Living cover story on the iconic car's 50th anniversary (BL-1).

But what was the point of running two photos of owner John Pestrichelli of River Edge and his 1973 Mustang, especially the shocking shot of the grossly overweight man behind the wheel on BL-3?

Two other photos of a second Mustang owner also run with the story. Couldn't the editors find four different Mustang owners?

And the story deserves a less-amateurish headline then: 

"A PONY WITH

 GIDDYUP"

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Too little, too late on road fund, GWB whitewash

In the all-electric Tesla Model S sedan, a 17-inch touch screen allows the owner to perform most of the functions controlled by buttons and switches in a conventional car.

Tesla provided test drives and took deposits on three versions of the Model S at the Clinton Inn in Tenafly on Saturday. After April 15, New Jersey will bar the California-based company from selling cars directly from showrooms in Paramus and Short Hills, bowing to pressure from a statewide coalition of automobile dealers. The original deadline was April 1. (The Record, A-12 on Saturday).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

All that space on The Record's front page today may look like an investigation or expose of how Governor Christie grabbed $1.8 billion in mass transit money for North Jersey road repairs.

But the story describes events at the Port Authority of three or more years ago, and appears to omit what happened to NJ Transit funds for the Hudson River rail tunnels the GOP bully killed in 2010, the year he took office (A-1 and A-6).

Christie's financial sleight of hand served his conservative political agenda, in the same way he retaliated against Democrats who didn't support his reelection last year with gridlock in Fort Lee and threats to withhold Sandy aid in Hoboken.

Central to his philosophy is an unyielding pledge not to raise taxes, even if the state Transportation Trust Fund is bankrupt or he has to cut programs for middle- and working-residents to balance the state budget.

More road follies

On the Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski warns readers about a crackdown on drivers who talk on their cellphones or text, starting on April Fool's Day (L-1).

Of course, the addled reporter plays the fool every day, as he did in last Sunday's column, which wildly exaggerated the time savings and low cost of commuting by ferry instead of the bus to Manhattan.

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Road Warrior loses touch with reality again

Miracle birth

Another reporter who lost sight of reality is Staff Writer Chris Harris, who described how an Emerson woman gave birth on a nail salon's bathroom floor (L-1):

"GLEN ROCK -- An Emerson woman walked into a Prospect Avenue nail salon last week for a quick mani-pedi and walked out cradling a bouncing baby boy in her arms."

Readers who stick with the feel-good story find out Anna Rubenstein didn't walk out holding son Damien -- she was carried out on a stretcher, and the baby's umbilical cord had to be cut when she got to the hospital (L-2).

Readers who noticed that glaring error -- completely missed by several editors -- might wonder what else in the paper has been exaggerated or reported incorrectly.

And am I the only one who thinks this story was oddly placed next to the one on protests at an Englewood abortion clinic (L-1)?

ShopRite oysters?

On the Business front today, Your Money's Worth Columnist Kevin DeMarrais claims a new ShopRite in Morris County puts "other food courts to shame" (B-1).

DeMarrais apparently has never set foot in a Wegmans or Whole Foods Market or tasted much supermarket prepared food, or he'd temper his remarks.

Most prepared food, even at Whole Foods or Wegmans, doesn't come close to what you'd get in a restaurant.

The big surprise at the Cedar Knolls ShopRite he raves about is an oyster bar, though I'm not sure a landlocked supermarket is where I want to sample those delicate shellfish. 

On whitewashes

I got a big kick out of The Wall Street Journal Sunday's "10 things ... Real-Estate Agents Won't Tell You" (B-5).

This manages to undo in one article much of the promotional coverage The Record has lavished on real-estate agents in its own laughable Real Estate section.

The whitewash Christie commissioned to hide his role in the politically inspired George Washington Bridge lane closures was leaked by The New York Times last Monday.

Fuzzy writing

But that doesn't stop Mike Kelly from putting his own Johnny-come-lately spin on the 300-page report, in his usual deadly dull way (O-1).

It's sad when a veteran reporter can't write with the same clarity as the headline on his column:

$1 million

report is PR

masterpiece

Kelly describes the report's "bold conclusion," then confounds readers with this fuzzy sentence:

"But such boldness is framed by an all-too-obvious set of holes."

Of course, the biggest hole is Kelly's asshole.

Turn the page for Margulies' Sunday cartoon, which tells the same story in only nine words (O-2).

Readers speak

Four letters to the editor manage to express the anger The Record couldn't muster in its editorial the day after the report was released (O-3):

Warren Nitti of Fair Lawn called the Christie-commissioned report "a transparent, self-serving whitewash."

Debra Roman notes Christie's lawyers blame his problems on "emotional and hysterical women."

Who missed this?

A real eye opener on O-2 today is a column on how Christie replaced the executive director of the State Ethics Commission in 2010 with a member of his own staff, and named a longtime friend as chairman.

The column -- "When the watchdog fails" -- is by Seton Hall Law Professor Paula A. Franzese, former chairwoman of the panel.

Is this more Christie sleight of hand The Record's investigative reporters have to catch up to?

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