December 12, 2008

Mr. Robert Mulcahy
Athletic Director
Rutgers University
Louis Brown Athletic Center
83 Rockafeller Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854

IN Re: Star Ledger Coverage of Rutgers & Mayor Sharpe James


Dear Mr. Mulcahy,

I thought you might be interested in reading my exchange with The Star Ledger of New Jersey vis-à-vie their coverage of Rutgers Football/Athletics and in comparison to their coverage of former Newark Mayor Sharpe James.

I was especially critical of the paper for their front-page article this past Sunday (“Rutgers football: A game of secrets”12/7/08). Please find below my exchange with the editor of the Star Ledger..

Anyway, from one ex-Rutgers football Letterwinner (Rutgers College ’90) to you: Thank you for what you have done with our university.

Regards,


John Churchill



Sunday, December 7, 2008

Dear Editor,

The Star Ledger's "investigative" journalism of the Rutgers University football team might be taken more seriously if the paper had at least shown an interest in investigating the mayor of the city in which the Star Ledger is headquartered. I mean the Mayor is indicted on federal charges for corruption -Sharpe James reputation was hardly a state secret to anyone in the City and the paper never even bothered to investigate him...shows willful blindness or worse.

Regards,

John Churchill


Star Ledger’s reply below
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December 8, 2008

Dear John Churchill,

I gather you are not aware it was our stories about James' expense account and land deals that led to the investigation. If you doubt that, just ask the US Attorney.
But thanks for taking the time to write anyway.

Regards,

J Willse
Editor
Star Ledger

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December 11, 2008

Dear Mr. Willse,

I have read the 86 page Federal indictment of Sharpe James and spoken to any and all that have any knowledge of this issue with the federal government. I have to tell you that what they are saying – and the evidence of public records that I have found, show it was ONLY after people in and out of his administration started talking to the Feds with the catalyst being twofold: the various Grand Jury subpoenas being issued and the people of Newark realizing that Mayor Sharpe James was soon to lose his “king’s crown” and power. The Grand Jury subpoenas started flowing to the Newark government’s office from the early days of Mayor James administration.

What I do find in researching the Star Ledger reporting of this issue can be characterized as thus:

1) Reporting of former Deputy Mayor of Economic Development Alfred Faiella’s actions but no mention of Mayor James culpability;

2) Reporting of other people –but not James, profiting from these land deals. Reporting mentioned developers and co’s that profited.

3) A change in the Start Ledger’s reporting following public awareness of US Prosecutor’s probe of James.

4) Once it appeared that Cory Booker was going to win the election, the Star Ledger’s reporting took a much different tone – much more hawkish on James. It started mentioning Mayor James by name in these land deals. The Feds also mentioned that once the people in the James administration realized that James was on his way out, they started to talk.

I cannot find any reporting the Star Ledger of Mayor James involvement in any type of corruption prior public awareness that Mayor James was under investigation.
What one would expect from the nation’s 15th largest paper and the paper of record for New Jersey is some sort of attempt to conduct the type of investigative reporting that columnist Paul Mulshine conducted vis à vie Robert Menendez. Instead what a Star Ledger reader would find prior to the probe becoming public knowledge is the Ledger mentioning people around Mayor James but the paper never questioning James’ ethics, motives and only a cursory attempt to hold him accountable. For example, in 2005 the paper tried to ask the Mayor questions about this subject, but he declined. Paper went no further. The paper submitted certain O.P.R.A requests but when the city didn’t complied, the paper went no further. Where is the front-page article demanding that the Mayor state what he knew and when did he know it and why is there a former felon (Faiella) running the land development of the City? I cite the following article as an example of the water-downed reporting of the Star Ledger from April 12, 2005: http://blog.nj.com/ledgerarchives/2007/07/in_citys_housing_boom_a_select.html

The paper gave Mayor James a pass on this right up to the time when it was clear he was no longer going to be Mayor. Where is the Star Ledger editorial proclaiming “The Buck Stops Here” and Mayor James must be held accountable his subordinates activities-not to mention his own?

Do we really need to wait for a federal prosecutor to announce tapes of phone calls (Illinois corruption) before we demand higher morals from our public representatives?

If you show any reporting to the contrary please tell me as my research does not show it. If you have any articles from the 1990s or early 2000s refuting my criticism then I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

Regards,

John Churchill

(I then included a synopsis of the articles related to James and his corruption investigation…they are in chronological order (from most recent to oldest)


This was Mr. Willse of the Star Ledger’s final response:

December 12, 2008

Dear John Churchill,

I appreciate the time you’re putting into this and only wish I could do the same. Your point seems to be that we gave Sharpe James a pass. You’re wrong.
Thanks for writing.

Regards,

Mr. Willse
Star Ledger
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