Regarding “Garrett criticized after refusing to donate” (Page A-1, July 17) and “Waldwick still waiting on honor for slain Marine” (Page L-3, July 17):
The Record featured a one-two punch attack on Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, unworthy of an objective newspaper. The first punch, displayed above the fold on the front page, declares that Garrett has “stayed out of sight” (implication: cravenly) to avoid the “uproar” generated by a handful of politicos and advocates supposedly unhappy about his not donating to a GOP campaign group.
This hit piece seizes on inside-the-Beltway gossip to provide a soapbox for those who do not share Garrett’s positions and views, such as his being (shockingly?) “a Christian whose children were home-schooled” and labors to discredit him as an outlier within his party. Whatever limited merit such one-sided, meandering commentary might have as an editorial, it hardly warrants treatment as news, let alone on the front page.
The second punch thrown is a non-news item in the local section, which lends its soapbox this time to complaints from Waldwick Mayor Thomas Giordano, who bizarrely asserts that Waldwick is “still waiting” because of Garrett. The mayor says Garrett “really dropped the ball” and “hasn’t done much” to have the town post office renamed to honor a local hero, even though the congressman has three times introduced a bill to rename the post office.
In short, The Record publishes parochial gossip, partisan sniping and personal ruminations masquerading as “news” to portray Garrett as overly conservative and ineffec-tual.
Douglas Mayer
Allendale, July 17
