Times backs Phil Murphy for governor, saying N.J. can't afford more chaotic rule

During one of their debates, Democrat Phil Murphy, left, grimaces at a statement from Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who has been employing Trump-like lies and wild exaggerations during the election campaign to replace Governor Christie (AP Photo).

DO GOP LIES, VOTER APATHY

 POSE DANGER TO DEMOCRAT?

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Next Tuesday, New Jersey voters get another chance to replace Governor Christie and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who have done their best to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, hurt the environment and cripple mass transit.

Now, The New York Times has endorsed Democrat Phil Murphy over Guadagno, noting "that's not even a close call."

"There is only one choice on the ballot next week who guarantees voters an end to the Chris Christie era, and that's the Democratic candidate, Phil Murphy," according to The Times' Editorial Board.

"Mr. Murphy, who was ambassador to Germany during the Obama years, is running against Mr. Christie's loyal lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, whose agenda differs little from that of her boss.

"New Jersey can't afford another four years of Christie-inspired chaos.

"Indeed, Mr. Murphy would be taking on a formidable task. Eight years ago, Mr. Christie arrived promising to fix 'our broken state,' as he called it. Instead, he is leaving it even more damaged than he found it."

Times v. Record

The Times' Editorial Board on Monday was far less kind to Christie than The Record, my local daily newspaper, which also endorsed Murphy, but which backed the GOP bully in his successful 2013 re-election bid.

The Woodland Park daily actually praised Christie for his so-called bipartisan deals during his first term, conveniently ignoring the hundreds of vetoes or threats to veto Democratic initiatives on everything from a tax surcharge against millionaires to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The Record's editors also assigned Staff Writer Dustin Racioppi, who is assigned to cover Christie, as the main reporter on the election, and he doesn't seek comment from the Murphy campaign on the lies and distortion in GOP ads. 

For example, The Times editorial noted Murphy has pledged to provide a check on President Trump, "especially when it comes to the treatment of undocumented immigrants."

"Ms. Guadagno's campaign has met this pledge with a bitterly negative, fearmongering ad that accuses Mr. Murphy of welcoming in immigrants like one who murdered three people a decade ago."

The indictment

Here is The Times' Editorial Board indictment of the Christie years:

"Mr. Christie leaves behind an economy still struggling to recover a decade after the Great Recession. New Jersey's unemployment growth lags well behind the rate for the country.

"The state's credit rating has been downgraded 11 times in the Christie era, primarily because of the underfunded pension system. Schools, likewise, aren't fully funded.

"And traffic and public transit are a daily trial, thanks in part to Mr. Christie's shortsighted cancellation of a new rail tunnel under the Hudson.

"(A recent report estimated the average driver in the state spends an unnecessary $600 a year on lost time, car repairs and wasted fuel)."

'Christie's shadow'

The Times editorial said: 

"Ms. Guadagno's real problem, however, is that, as lieutenant governor, she served as Governor Christie's shadow."

She said she opposed the governor's decision to raise the gas tax, but The Times noted that was one of the things Christie "got right."

"New Jersey had among the lowest gas taxes in the nation, and those funds were desperately needed to fix dilapidated roads and NJ Transit."

Murphy's promises

Murphy spent 23 years at Goldman Sachs before he became campaign chairman of the Democratic Party.

Among his priorities, according to The Times, is using his expertise "to start restoring the pension system and improving its investments," fixing NJ Transit, raising the minimum wage, creating a public bank to offer low-interest loans to residents, and adjusting the tax codes to make the wealthy and big corporations pay higher taxes.

"Like former Gov. Jon Corzine, who also has Wall Street roots, Mr. Murphy has little political experience in the state," The Times noted.

"It is hard to see how new taxes or other revenue sources would pay for his high-end promises. Still, he is not Christie-lite."

"On the campaign trail, Mr. Murphy likes to say that he sees New Jersey as America's best opportunity for a turnaround. We agree and recommend Phil Murphy for governor."

Manafort indicted

Almost the entire front page of The Record today is devoted to the indictment of former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, his associate; and the guilty plea entered by former foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos (1A).

But the deadly dull banner headline -- "Mueller files criminal charges" -- merely confirms Saturday's Page 1 story that Mueller was going to file charges.

And it misses the biggest news, the guilty plea from Papadopoulos, who lied to the FBI about meeting with a Russian professor with Kremlin ties who promised "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.

If he makes a deal with prosecutors, he could agree to provide evidence and testify against other Trump associates or campaign officials or even Don Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Trump blame game, obsession with lying have us trapped in a trick-or-treat America

As Halloween approaches, tens of millions of people feel they are trapped in a trick-or-treat America, where, if you didn't vote for Donald J. Trump, you are powerless to stop the president's celebration of white supremacy, assault on the environment and repeated attempts to erode our democracy. The Lowe's in Paramus is asking $199 for this Skeleton Couple. 

GUADAGNO LAGS IN THE POLLS,

BUT GAINS AT THE RECORD

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Today's post was inspired by a Wyckoff man's letter to the editor of The Record, my local daily newspaper.

The letter from Ronald Barone appeared on Thursday's Editorial Page under this heading:

"Tales of a self-absorbed, 

insecure president"

As happens often, letters from readers like Barone often say what the editors of the Woodland Park daily don't or won't say about President Trump's nine months in office.

"One has to wonder how this totally insecure individual, Donald Trump, became president," Barone began. "Why does he feel the need to continually blame others for his failures?

"Why, everytime he speaks, does he feel the need to lie? Does he think people can't check his facts? What is his compulsive obsession with President Obama? Could it be he knows he will never measure up to Obama's presidency?

"Does Trump know that he hasn't the intelligence or empathy required for this position? His recent statements that he's not taking the blame for the failure of the Republican Congress to overturn Obamacare should not be surprising.

"He has not taken responsibility for anything he promised on the campaign trail, which was plentiful.  

"Everything he speaks of ultimately comes back to how it affects him. Have we ever had a more self-absorbed president? I don't think it's close."

Barone's letters to the editor of The Record have been published frequently.

A Bernie Sanders supporter shows her loyalty on her car's rear bumper.

How Trump did it

Of course, one of the factors in the election of Trump was the millions of registered Democrats who stayed home on Nov. 8.

Another was the 12% of Bernie Sanders supporters who voted for the Vermont senator, a Democrat, in the primaries, then voted for Trump in the general election.

That's according to the Cooperative Congressional Election Study, a survey among 50,000 people by Brian Schaffner, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts. 

In the key swing states -- Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- the Sanders supporters who voted for Trump were potentially enough to have handed Clinton those states and the presidency. 

Can happen in N.J.

That kind of voter apathy among Democrats could sink the candidacy of Phil Murphy, who hopes to succeed Governor Christie, New Jersey's own GOP bully.

In the Nov. 7 election, Murphy, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany, is facing Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who is using such Trump-like tactics as lying about what Murphy would do if elected.

In 2013, Christie was re-elected, but the turnout was the lowest for a gubernatorial election in state history, and that hurt his opponent, Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono.

On Thursday, The Record's front-page coverage of the second of two Murphy-Guadagno debates was played below the Yankees' chances of going to the World Series.

More slanted coverage

Dustin Racioppi, the same reporter assigned to cover Christie, has filed one slanted story after another favoring Guadagno, and his debate story on Thursday was no exception. 

Racioppi's second paragraph is a classic example of a reporter stacking the deck against the Democratic candidate:

"Guadagno insisted repeatedly that she would lower taxes in New Jersey, and that Murphy would raise them," Racioppi wrote, without telling readers the Democrat wants to raise the income taxes paid by millionaires, and the wealthy corporations and hedge funds the Christie-Guadagno team shielded from taxes.

Guadagno isn't pledging to lower income taxes; she claims she'll be able to lower local property taxes, even though governors have little or no control over levies set by local councils and school boards.

Pulled from air

"She calculated a multitude of promises Murphy has made during the campaign to run between $50 billion to $65 billion, all of it to be borne by taxpayers," Racioppi said, strongly suggesting Murphy would raise taxes on the middle class.

And Racioppi doesn't mention that Guadagno's claim is that she can lower property taxes -- the highest in the nation -- the same Big Lie that got Christie elected in 2009.

As one of the paper's Christie apologists in recent years, Racioppi is absolutely the wrong reporter to assign to the gubernatorial election.

Obama, Bush

Former President Barack Obama campaigned for Murphy on Thursday, saying a victory for the Democrat would reject "the same old politics and division that we have seen so many times before" (1A in The Record).

Meanwhile, in Manhattan, former President George W. Bush called on Americans to reject bigotry and white supremacy -- a veiled reference to Trump's divisive policies (5A).

Slanted reporting, voter apathy may deal fatal blow to Murphy bid for N.J. governor

Democrat Phil Murphy, left, and Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno during the first of two debates before the Nov. 7 election to decide who will replace Chris Christie, the worst governor in New Jersey history (photo from The Associated Press). 

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

With less than a month to go before New Jersey elects a new governor, we may be seeing a rerun of the 2016 presidential election.

The news media seemed to have bent over backward to help the Republican candidate demonize the Democrat, and score an upset after lagging in the polls. 

There was hardly any media pushback when Donald J. Trump lied about his opponent or called her "crooked Hillary."

Now, the coverage of the New Jersey contest between Democrat Phil Murphy, who was ambassador to Germany in the Obama administration, and Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno hardly seems even-handed.

Combine that with Democratic voters who might stay home on Nov. 7, because they are confident  Murphy will win the election, as the polls are predicting, and his campaign could be in trouble.

Turnout in the 2013 election, when Christie defeated Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono and won a second term, was the lowest for a gubernatorial election in New Jersey.

Thousands of Democrats didn't even bother to vote.

Slanted reporting

Murphy and Guadagno debated Tuesday night, and the lead paragraph in The Record of Woodland Park on Wednesday noted she attacked him "as an out-of-touch and cowardly liberal destined to ruin New Jersey's economy."

But nowhere in his story does State House Bureau reporter Dustin Racioppi quote Murphy, who accused Guadagno repeatedly of making up facts or lying outright about him and his proposal to tax millionaires, wealthy corporations and marijuana users.

Harvey Weinstein

She called Murphy a "coward" for not speaking out earlier about Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood producer and major Democratic donor accused of sexually harassing women, but never used the phrase "cowardly liberal."

That was the reporter's own demonization of Murphy, consistent with his earlier slanted stories about the gubernatorial campaign.

In fact, the reporter ignored Guadagno's apparently baseless accusation at the debate and on Twitter that Murphy took campaign contributions from Weinstein; he only quotes the Democrat saying he "didn't get one dime from this guy."

And Racioppi seems to base his first paragraph claim that Murphy is "destined to ruin New Jersey's economy" on GOP ads alleging he'll raise taxes on the middle class by $1.3 billion (that has been revised to $5 billion, as well as higher tolls, in the latest TV spots).

Racioppi doesn't bother pointing out they are total fabrications by the Guadagno campaign.

See: GOP ads in New Jersey lie like Trump

The mail-in ballot for the Nov. 7 general election in New Jersey includes two public questions, below.

One asks for approval of $125 million in bonds to provide grants to public libraries.

The second question would prevent the governor from using monetary damages or fines against those who contaminate the environment for any other purpose than "to repair, restore, replace or preserve the state's natural resources."

WNYC-FM

The report on Tuesday night's debate filed by Karen Rouse of WNYC-FM, New York and New Jersey Public Radio, also appeared to be one sided.

Rouse claimed Guadagno scored a number of "zingers," and said Murphy's responses ran long and were cut off by the moderators.

Rouse is a former education reporter for The Record.

For an impartial report, see the story filed by Michael Catalini of The Associated Press:

Murphy, Guadagno trade jabs

over Weinstein, Christie, Trump

More errors

A letter to the editor of The Record on Tuesday complained a black-and-white photo of Governor Christie in a house ad showed him "as a mean-spirited ogre. A very unflattering photo."

Frank Venditti of Old Tappan contrasted that photo with one of Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin advertising the gubernatorial debate.

The Doblin photo "is one of a very distinguished and knowledgeable man. It is very flattering."

But someone goofed, and ran a photo of President Trump speaking at the Las Vegas Police Department with Venditti's letter.

PABT

PABT is the acronym for the Port Authority's midtown Manhattan Bus Terminal, which is bursting at the seams handling 270,000 daily trips, many of them by North Jersey commuters.

The Record's Opinion Page on Tuesday carried a column by two state senators, urging the agency to add two floors to the terminal instead of building a new hub one block west of the site.

Structural engineers back the plan, which would expand the terminal for more than 30,000 additional commuters, preserve access to 11 New York subway lines and allow rebuilding of the existing six floors.

My question is, Why haven't I read about the "build in place" proposal in the news columns of The Record?

Food for the 1%

Even though only 1 percent of Americans have Celiac disease, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz devoted more than three full pages in last Friday's Better Living tabloid to "great gluten-free eats."

But in the process, Davidowitz promoted restaurants or shops that serve artery clogging red meat raised on harmful human antibiotics, calamari with cured bacon linked to cancer, and sugary cookies and crepes.