Star-Ledger

The Star-Ledger won’t be administering a polygraph test any time soon.

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce had said that he would take a lie detector test to verify his account of an argument in which he alleged that Senate President Dick Codey tried to warn him off of pursuing details about a legislative slush fund through a mix of threats and temptations with state funds.

But since Codey has refused to take the test, DeCroce told the paper that he would not agree to take it either. 

An e-mail from Star-Ledger Deputy Editor Tom Curran listing the reporters who will remain in the newspaper following the buyouts:

From: CURRAN, THOMAS
Sent: Fri 10/31/2008 4:41 PM
To: ~ EDITORIAL "ALL"
Subject: Who's staying

Many of you asked for a list of people who are staying at The Ledger.

Here it is:

Veteran reporter Jeff Whelan, who was part of the Star-Ledger's team that won the Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of Gov. James E. McGreevey's resignation, will leave the newspaper this week as part of the newspaper's buyout program.  Whelan, along with Josh Margolin, was a statehouse reporter until moving to cover the U.S. Attorney's office last year.

The must-read story of the day comes from the Star-Ledger's Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman, who report Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce's allegation that Senate President Richard Codey "alternately threatened and tempted him with state grant money in an effort to halt a Republican hunt for documents that would expose how state funds were really being doled out by ruling Democrats."  The reporters say that DeCroce and Codey "traded charges of impropriety...as allegations over backroom budget deals involving millions of dollars grew increasingly heated and personal - even by New Jersey standards."

"It seemed like he was trying to pacify me by offering me some money," DeCroce told the Star-Ledger.  "I am prepared to take a lie detector test if it comes down to that...and it may come down to that." Margolin reports that Codey "called the assertion 'an absolute lie' and said the only conversation he had with DeCroce was over the use of GOP legislative staffers to conduct 'political opposition research' on state time." 

Click here to read the Star-Ledger story.

Members of the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union are voting until 10:00 PM tonight on a new agreement with The Star-Ledger.  If the union votes against ratifying the contract, The Star-Ledger could be closed or sold.

"Union ratifies new contract with Star-Ledger."
AP Newswire
 
"New Jersey cannot lose its' only paper!", cry readers. This, according to news stories in the Bergen Record, Courier News, Asbury Park Press, the Press of Atlantic City and the New Jersey section of The New York Times.

Teamsters Local 1100, which represents 400 Star-Ledger mailers [or it might be Teamsters Local 400 representing 1100 Star-Ledger mailers, I can never remember], voted on a contract ratification. One-hundred eighty-three voted for the ratification, 18 voted to oppose and 75 abstained.

While Governor Corzine makes occasional campaign stops for Barack Obama touting an economic plan that will create new jobs, New Jersey faces a potential loss of 2,000 jobs if The Star-Ledger and its sister publications go under.

The Ledger’s management has already threatened that it may need to either be sold off or close shop altogether if it can’t hammer out a contractual agreement with its drivers union by October 8th.

But when asked if there’s anything the State of New Jersey can do to help its largest newspaper, Corzine said that his hands were, for the most part, tied.

“We can’t bail them out. If you want a bail out you have to go to Washington these days. There’s plenty of that going on there,” he said. “But if there were economic support programs that would keep jobs in New Jersey – we have programs that will help make that happen, but we can’t bail out the shareholders or the owners of the Star-Ledger. That’s what free enterprise is about.”

The Star-Ledger, whose editorial page has urged private and public sector employment benefit equality for same sex couples, is not offering those health benefits to partners of employees considering retirement under their buy out plan, according to sources familiar with the employee buyout offer.   The Star-Ledger has been a strong advocate of marriage equality and domestic partnerships, and offered domestic partner benefits before the current state law was in effect.

So, I’m sipping a cup of Wawa hazelnut coffee yesterday scrolling PolitickerNJ on my laptop when I see this ominous headline: Publisher says Star Ledger could be sold or closed by January.

My first thought was Yikes! I can’t imagine Jersey without the Ledger.  What will Christie do to keep his name recognition numbers up?

My second thought after seeing the Star Ledger’s own story in its business section today was it’s admirable the Ledger assign a veteran reporter to write a real news story about its own business troubles.  

The Star-Ledger could be sold or closed by January if the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union doesn't ratify a labor agreement by October 8, according to an internal e-mail from publisher George Arwady.  Arwady says that the contract with the union, which represents about 90 drivers, is one of three conditions Advance Publications, the owner of the Star-Ledger, has established to keep the state's largest newspaper in operation.

In July, Arwady said the Star-Ledger is on "life support" and that the paper could be sold if 200 employees don’t agree to buyouts by October 1, and if the paper doesn’t reach agreements with labor unions.  Last week, Editor & Publisher said that Arwady told reporter Ron Marsico that the paper has not yet received the 100 news staff buyouts they need.  Marsico is expected to take the buyout, and has reportedly accepted a job with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which he has covered since 1982.

Read the Arwady e-mail: