Christie may look like a beached whale, but he won't hesitate to screw New Jersey

Governor Christie on July 2 enjoying Island Beach State Park -- closed to the public during a government shutdown -- looks like a beached whale, but he still is capable of hurting New Jerseyans before he leaves office in January (Photo credit: Andrew Mills of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com).

At an unapologetic press conference, Christie noted he was staying in the official Jersey shore mansion for New Jersey governors on July 2.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Despite an overwhelming Democratic majority in the state Legislature, New Jersey's GOP bully has ruled the state with an iron fist for nearly 8 years.

And yet, The Record of Woodland Park and other big and small news outlets just don't get it.

Today's banner headline in The Record screams "stealth veto," a reference to Governor Christie secretly taking language out of the state budget so he can divert hundreds of millions of dollars from polluters into the general fund (1A).

ABC's "Good Morning America" referred to Christie vacationing with his family on a beach closed to the public as "Beachgate," and other media claimed the governor's in-your-face explanation generated an "international firestorm" of protest.

But even as Christie is rated the most unpopular governor in the nation, he simply doesn't give a shit.

With little media scrutiny, the GOP thug has successfully used more than 500 vetoes to assert his radical conservatism, and thwart the will of the Democrats who rule the state Legislature and the public.

At the same time, Christie exploited Trenton reporters like The Record's Charles Stile to write story after story heralding his "reform agenda." 

Stile even touted him as a "bipartisan compromiser" poised for a White House run.

Years ago, another reporter, Dustin Racioppi, wrote a story exposing Christie's vetoes when they passed the 300 mark, but never touched the subject again.

The Record has ignored what many suspect -- Christie set a veto record in the course of becoming the worst New Jersey governor ever.

Liar-In-Chief

@GovChristie even had the balls to tweet that the final budget he signed early Tuesday "delivered 2 full terms of unprecedented pension stability, fiscal responsibility & tax relief" -- when nothing could be farther from the truth.

And in a front-page column on Wednesday, the gullible Stile, still in the dark about Christie's latest diversion of funds, quoted Democrats as praising the budget as the best they have ever gotten.

Today, Staff Writer Scott Fallon reports Christie's stealthy budget editing could mean only $50 million of a proposed $225 million state settlement with Exxon Mobil Corp. would go "to a state fund used to restore land and water affected by hazardous waste" (1A). 

"The veto follows a pattern by Christie, who had diverted almost $300 million from the polluters of the Passaic River ... to the general fund," Fallon says.

Not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars in mass-transit money Christie grabbed to repair roads and bridges after canceling Hudson River rail tunnels in 2010. 

Thunder Thighs

Photos of Christie roasting in the sun on July 2 showed he has two enormous thighs and lots of belly fat, yet reporters never asked him what happened to the weight he lost initially after lap-band surgery in February 2013.

In April 2015, he told a friendly Matt Lauer on "Today" the surgery is "the best thing I've ever done for my health" and "I wish I had done it years ago."

After Christie first took office in 2010, only "60 Minutes" asked the obese governor how much he weighed (he refused to answer, of course), and whether he was healthy enough for a White House campaign.

Comedian David Letterman guessed Christie weighed 400 pounds:

Guess how much Governor Christie weighs

Christie labors in Trump's shadow

The Record's strong environmental report ignores huge death toll from auto fumes

This photo was published by AutoBlog.com in a report on the number of premature deaths from emissions, including those from automobiles.

 -- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

When The Record's editors plaster an environmental story all over Page 1, readers get it.

Today's sensational report on a "giant bird-killer in the meadowlands" and Monday's huge front-page layout on the Hackensack River, one of the dirtiest in North Jersey, have one thing in common:

They steer clear of alienating such big advertisers as automakers and their dealers.

Auto and truck emissions kill 58,000 people prematurely every year, MIT's Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment reported in 2013.

That figure was cited by Elon Musk last March, when the CEO of Tesla unveiled the Model 3, a smaller, more-affordable zero-emissions car that is expected to go into production this year.

The Record and most other news outlets have ignored the environmental benefits of all-electric vehicles, because there is literally nothing in those stories for them.

Tesla doesn't advertise, and Nissan, BMW and other companies do little or no marketing and promotion of their EVs.

What you will find advertised in The Record are all of the gas-guzzling SUVs and performance cars automakers are churning out to take advantage of low gas prices.

And John Cichowski, The Record's so-called commuting columnist, has been pandering to drivers for more than 13 years, and refusing to cover environmentally friendly mass transit.

Negative EV report

The Record's front page carried a largely negative story on all-electric cars in December 2015. 

Scott Fallon, a veteran environmental reporter, focused only on EVs with limited range and the lack of charging stations for them in New Jersey.

Only in passing did he mention Tesla's Model S, which has a range of more than 200 miles and free, fast-charging stations for owners located in highway service areas and New Jersey malls.

Fallon also was unaware buyers of all-electric cars pay no N.J. sales tax (that's a savings of $5,600 on an $80,000 Tesla), or that even electric cars with a range of 80 miles to 100 miles are ideal for seniors, whose driving is limited.

And nowhere did Fallon mention battery driven cars are the key to reducing deaths from auto emissions.

Christie and Trump

Record Staff Writer Charles Stile apparently still hasn't given up his dream of working for Governor Christie in the nation's capital, if his Sunday political column is any indication.

"In some ways, Christie would be a seamless fit in the chaotic Trump world," Stile wrote of the governor who was removed as head of the president-elect's transition team and lost out to others on a Cabinet post.