Where are 'The Real Editors of New Jersey'?

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On a day when the USDA issued new dietary guidelines, why didn't The Record ask Governor Christie to discuss what he is doing to fight obesity?

The Record has described Governor Christie as "testy" and a hypocrite. A columnist said he is the hero of  "slash-and-burn conservatives."

You'd think all this harsh language was generated by his war on unions and the drastic state-aid cuts he's made -- while refusing to raise taxes on millionaires -- or how little he's done to fight overeating in a state with the nation's highest reported rate of obesity among low-income kids ages 2 to 5.

You'd be wrong. Today, The Record and other media are in an uproar over Christie using a state helicopter to go to his son's baseball games Tuesday and last Friday. The media missed the first ride altogether until now.

War on obesity

On a day the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a new strategy for fighting obesity (A-1), sheepish reporters confined their questions to Coptergate, but you'd think the governor had resigned, given how much of the front page is devoted to the story. 

Today's coverage includes five photos of the governor, none of which show how big he is. I caught a glimpse of his son on TV and he appears to be emulating his father's obsessive overeating.

Editor Francis Scandale had more important things on his mind, such as A-1 coverage of an unpaid bill by a male cast member of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey."

Where are the editors?

Readers are asking, Where are "The Real Editors of New Jersey"? Certainly not at The Record, where Scandale and his cadre of sub-editors seem unable to connect the dots.

Scandale, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, Projects Editor Tim Nostrand, former Food Editor Bill Pitcher and others have avoided a series on the obesity epidemic like the plague.

Scandale seems to think it's not polite to discuss publicly, not even when the chief of state's deplorable eating habits and the poor example they set cry out for coverage.

In Local, Leonia coverage consists of a burglar with good hygiene (L-1), Hackensack stories report a restaurant fire (L-2) and the closing of two Head Start sites (L-3); and the big Englewood news is a house fire (L-3).

Unbalanced

Does Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung ever eat vegetables or salad? 

In her favorable appraisal of Chengdu 46 (Better Living centerfold), there are no superb Asian greens in sight. And she rarely orders salad at non-Asian restaurants.

Barbara Jaeger, her cheap editor, has restricted Ung to a single guest, so why did she order a 2.5-pound fish for $46? Surely, the restaurant must have had something smaller. Let's hope she at least took home the leftovers.

Why waste money on dessert, especially when this so-called fine-dining restaurant offers nothing more imaginative than gussied-up bananas?

And can anyone figure out what she is trying to say here? "Phone cords ran in artfully across the ceiling...."