Another scandal brewing: NJ Lame Duck News Media

Hank Butehorn at Conservatives with Attitude has a post written by "Willie Stark" about a Federal Law suit alledging corruption by ultimate insider Joe Doria. Doria is the former Mayor of Bayonne, former Assembly Speaker, former State Senator and the current Department of Community Affairs Commissioner in the Corzine administration.

"Stark" writes:

The first tremors of the next Corzine Administration political corruption scandal rippled through the Bayonne Evening Star last week and will likely tumble through the state’s major papers this coming week. The City of Bayonne is abuzz because the Star printed in its entirety a lawsuit against Joe Doria and a host of Bayonne political cronies, and the City of Bayonne. This story has everything: Suspicious envelopes of cash, taxpayer funded junkets to Florida, ticket fixing and profiting from a public office, not to mention a paper shredder or two.

But wait; there’s more!

Former Bayonne employees Peter Hilburn and Felicia Ryan sued because they were fired by then Mayor Joe Doria for raising questions about the corruption that they suspected. But there was a surprise in store for Doria: Mr. Hilburn was a confidential informant for the Office of the Attorney General!

If the Bayonne Evening Star is online, I can't find it. The paper is an Associate Member of the New Jersey Press Association.

Obviously this story bears watching and could have far reaching effects on the Corzine administration. However what troubles me about this story is not Doria's alleged behavior, the likes of which we come to expect from distinguished trough swillers. I'm troubled about what this story tells us about the main stream news media, or lack thereof, in New Jersey.

Why is this story breaking in the Bayonne Evening Star and getting its legs on blogs?

Hilburn and Ryan were fired from their positions at the Bayonne Parking Authority in July. They filed their lawsuit on October 29, 2007. On November 16, the lawsuit was referred to in a Jersey Journal article posted on NJ.com with no mention of the scandalous allegations. NJ.com is a cooperative website of 16 New Jersey newspapers, including the Star Ledger and the Trenton Times.

One scandal buried until after election day could be no big deal, given how many scandals we have here in New Jersey. But its not only one. On November 12, Debbie Holtz wrote, What did they know and when did they know it? on Politickernj.com questioning why the Star Ledger waited until after election day to break the story of the Attorney General's investigation of Union County Democrats when subpoenas were issued in September and a blog broke the story a week before the election.

Consider this story, about legislators using their staffing allowance to reward cronies and family members with pensions and expensive health care benefits, in today's Star Ledger. That is a story voters could have acted on if it was published in October. What is the point of publishing it on November 25?

These perks are not news to readers of the Asbury Park Press. If the Star Ledger editors ran the Asbury Park Press, John Bennett would be governor.

It seems to me that the NJ news media, particularly the Star Ledger, is operating with a lame duck mentality, much like the legislature, and holding back on big issues until after they won't effect the outcome of an election.