The smear begins: New Jersey Star Ledger publishes false perjury accusations against Dawn Zimmer

[Bjorn Against]

And so it begins. As many predicted the smear campaign against Dawn Zimmer is picking up, and the New Jersey Star Ledger has decided to help give credibility to the smears.

Christie scandal: Lawyer questions whether Zimmer told truth about diary
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer wrote in her diary that Gov. Chris Christie withheld Sandy aid. A lawyer is claiming that Zimmer testified she didn't keep a diary.
By David Giambusso/The Star-Ledger
on January 25, 2014 at 9:09 PM, updated January 26, 2014 at 9:50 AM

HOBOKEN — A Hudson County lawyer who filed a lawsuit against Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer is raising questions about whether or not she answered truthfully during a July 2013 deposition when she was asked if she kept a diary.

Snip

On Friday, during an interview with a local news outlet, Hudson County TV, Zayas accused Zimmer of concealing the existence of her diary in that deposition. Reached tonight by The Star-Ledger, Zayas repeated his claims.

“When we asked her about that journal, she claimed she didn’t have one,” Zayas said. “Now she’s claiming that she has a diary or calendar of some sort that she wrote down this incident between the lieutenant governor and herself.”

Sounds pretty bad doesn't it? The article is suggesting Zimmer lied under oath and claimed she did not keep a journal when we all know that she did. The problem? Nowhere in Zimmer's deposition did she actually say she did not keep a journal. In fact Dawn Zimmer was never even asked if she kept a journal during her testimony, but the Star Ledger waits until near the end of the article to tell us what she was actually asked.

Zayas then asked if she writes “notes in a calendar or some sort of memo pad that says follow up on a text or this was said during this meeting; anything that would help you recall what was said during the course of the meeting?”

Zimmer replied, “No, I don’t.”

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/christie_scandal_lawyer_questions_whether_zimmer_told_truth_about_diary.html

Notice the words I bolded, she was not asked if she kept a journal she was only asked if she took notes during one specific meeting, a meeting that had nothing to do with Guadagno or Sandy aid. The New Jersey Star Ledger is publishing a straight up lie despite the fact that there are transcripts of the deposition which show that she was not even asked the question they are accusing her of lying about.

As this story unfolds take note of this outright lie the New Jersey Star Ledger decided to spread, this paper obviously is not ashamed of using poor journalism to take down Christie's opponents and anything they report in the future should be met with skepicism because if they lie once they will lie again.

[Scuba]

1. So the accusations of perjury are false?

I'm so confused.

[Bjorn Against]

2. Lewis Zayas is accusing Zimmer of lying under oath during his deposition of her

The problem is that Zayas never even asked her the question he is accusing her of lying about. It is actually Zayas that is lying, but the Star Ledger printed his lies with little critical analysis despite the fact that there is a transcript that shows Zimmer never said what he claims she said.

[Scuba]

5. Then the OP subject line is correctly written.

Thanks.

[LiberalEsto]

3. The Star-Ledger did not create the lie; it reported the claim by Zayas

and it wasn't the first media outlet to report it either. This excerpt is from your OP:

"On Friday, during an interview with a local news outlet, Hudson County TV, Zayas accused Zimmer of concealing the existence of her diary in that deposition. Reached tonight by The Star-Ledger, Zayas repeated his claims."

The Star-Ledger is simply reporting what this guy said about Zimmer, which is what a newspaper is supposed to do. The lie is from Zayas not the paper.

I worked as a reporter for the Star-Ledger for more than a decade in the 1980s, although I don't have any connection with it now. I hate to see a paper being blamed for reporting on something that is newsworthy, like accusations from a "Hudson County lawyer who filed a lawsuit against Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer..."

It's not the Star-Ledger's responsibility to decide who is telling the truth. Its responsibility is to print all sides and let the readers, the investigators and the courts decide.

[Bjorn Against]

6. There is nothing that requires them to publish a lie

It is not the job of paper to print a lie and let us decide if it is true. When they saw that she was never asked the question that she is accused of lying about they should have killed the story, it is piss poor journalism to publish something that can easily be shown to be a lie without stating upfront that the facts do not match this guy's accusations.

[LiberalEsto]

7. It's possibly that they didn't know about this transcript's existence

at the time the story was written.

Having worked as a journalist for more than 25 years, I think I have a bit more working knowledge of journalism and what goes on in a newsroom.

[Bjorn Against]

8. Well if you had a bit more working knowledge maybe you would have read the story

The story references the transcript, I even posted an excerpt from it above that I got straight from the story on the Star Ledger's website.

Sorry, but your knowledge of the workings of the newsroom means nothing if you make a statement which clearly shows you did not read the story.

[LiberalEsto]

9. You are correct, I did not read the entire story until just now.

But I still maintain that the paper is doing its job by reporting these accusations.
If you want to blame someone, blame the Zayas guy.

[Bjorn Against]

10. I will blame both Zayas and the media outlets that repeat his lie.

[rocktivity]

13. At the very least, the S-L should have noticed the discrepancy

between Zayas' allegation and the question he asked Zimmer, and asked him to explain it. They could then have decided if they actually had a story -- or a story of an ATTEMPTED smear.


rocktivity

[Laxman]

14. Perhaps The Star-Ledger Should Notice This....

So why the vitriol?

Well Zayas is sitting on a million dollar verdict bonanza courtesy of a Jersey City jury (no Hoboken residents were on the panel) in the Alicea discrimination lawsuit and the City is showing every intention of appealing it - tying up a huge payday to him and his client.

In addition, Zayas' other client, Carmelo Garcia was humiliated seeing a questionable obviously politically motivated civil case thrown out of court on the first pass in Hudson County Superior Court. The "ethnic cleansing" aspect of the case brought national attention on Hoboken and is a stain on both Carmelo Garcia and Louis Zayas.

In the filing, Zayas and Garcia claimed Mayor Dawn Zimmer sought to implement a competing Vision 20/20 plan - where none exists.

Has Hoboken heard the last of this and Louis Zayas? Absolutely not. The political-public aspects are clear. Carmelo Garcia was handed a position for NJ assembly on the machine line courtesy of State Senator Brian Stack, a staunch Gov. Christie backer.

http://www.hobokenhorse.com/2014/01/ethnic-cleansing-attorney-louis-zayas.html

Check out the picture in the article. Mr. Zayas and the good governor Christie on his bookcase behind him! Plus the highlighted Stack/Garcia connections! Ahh, the creepy crawleys are scurrying out from under the rocks now.

[Cha]

4. My money's on Mayor Zimmer.

[rocktivity]

11. There's a vauge reference to "room for speculation on what type of journal Zayas was asking about"

I guess that's their idea of fairness and balance.

But given the clarity and specificity of Zayas' question, the Star-Ledger should have either noticed and pointed out the nature of his "error," or declined to run the (non)story.


rocktivity

[Laxman]

12. This Is An Open Wound For Christie....

and this is where he will fight with everything he's got using every tool and trick at his disposal. Fortunately he has other wounds being opened at the same time and soon he will be unable to fight all of them off.

Dawn Zimmer just has to put on her asbestos underwear and get ready for the attacks that are inevitably coming. These are ruthless and relentless predators. But as long as the pressure keeps up, there is a good chance that this administration will either fall or be seriously weakened. But it will take more brave people like Dawn Zimmer.

[spanone]

15. k&r...