“Reporting” on Lt. Gov. Guadagno’s “image” and “hurt feelings”

Lt. Gov. Guadagno Chairs Red Tape Commission public hearing at Montclair State.

In a remarkably vapid piece of reporting, the Star Ledger today writes a page one above the fold story (with huge photo!) about Lt. Governor Guadagno’s “image” in the Christie Administration and her “hurt feelings” at being boo’d and heckled during her William Paterson Commencement speech. (see: Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno says her role is more than a ‘stand-in’ for Gov. Christie

Aside from the likelihood that if a man ever wrote a story like that it would immediately be blasted as sexist, the story was amazingly fact free.

We’re fairly certain that the lobbyists for the Chamber of Commerce, Manhattan Institute, and other corporations are not meeting with the Lt. Governor to discuss her feelings or her “image” (or her blue outfits – even the story’s photo was empty and sexist. In comparison, our photos depict Guadagno acting in an official capacity, shot from the neck up ).

Is the Star Ledger not even curious about what those meetings entail and how they impact the people of NJ?

Is their state house reporter even capable of writing a policy piece?

Guadagno’s record as Christie’s “Red Tape Czar” is robust, and we have written about it here several times, and somehow never deigned to discuss her “image” or “feelings”.

You see, it’s a complicated story, but it all started here: Christie Regulatory Czar Given The Power and Tools To Rollback Environmental and Public Health Protections

So if any intrepid reporters out there are looking for substance to hold a female elected official as accountable as a male, see:

• We Don’t Keep Track of Specifics
• Now and Then (from Wallace to Christie) 
• The Dialectic of Red Tape 
• A Year When Slogans Masked Policy: “Red Tape” &“ “Common Sense Regulation”
•  DEP Transformation 
• Christie “Red Tape” Rollback Bills Re-Emerge – Backed by Democratic Legislators
• Red Tape Rollback Rolls at Montclair 
• Christie “Red Tape Review Group” Holds Final Public Hearing Tomorrow 
• Clean Water Held Hostage by Christie Moratorium
• Christie Rule Freeze Kills Drinking Water Standard for Chemical Found in Rocket Fuel & Military Explosives