Mexican president should be wary of 'Christie's Revenge'

The owner of this Range Rover, seen at the 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus, appears to be getting rich off of other people's problems. Come to think of it, that's the model for the news media, including newspapers such as The Record of Woodland Park.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Mexico is the second largest market for New Jersey exports after Canada, but is that any reason for Governor Christie to visit Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto next month?

The Record's story today doesn't specify which goods are among the state's $2 billion in exports or the $3 billion imported from Mexico (A-3).

That's a lot of Mexican beer, tequila and Mole Poblano. 

Mexico also has a significant petroleum industry, and its wild-caught shrimp are sold in New Jersey markets.

U.S. trade officials say New Jersey's top export is chemicals followed by petroleum and coal products; computer and electronic products; transportation equipment and primary metal manufactures.

That should make for stimulating conversation between the GOP bully and Pena Nieto.

Someone should warn the Mexican president about "Christie's Revenge," the practice of visiting retribution on Fort Lee, Hoboken and Jersey City officials who didn't endorse the governor for a second term last year.

Viva Passaic!

If Christie has a political motive for the trip, he could cross the Passaic River, instead of the Rio Grande, and visit thousands of Mexican-Americans, who comprise nearly a third of the city of Passaic's population, many from the state of Puebla.

Democrats have another spin on the visit:

"Chris Christie is a failed absentee governor, and it matters little where he goes," says John Currie, chairman of the New Jersey Democratic Party (A-3).

"What's significant is that he's an embarrassment to our state who promotes policies that have undermined progress and our economy."

Limited clarity

In a welcome change, political columnist Charles Stile gets to the point in his first paragraph today:

"A backroom tradition in Trenton explains why justice is slowing to a crawl in the courtrooms of Bergen County" (A-1).

Well, civil lawsuits have always crawled through the court system, and there is nothing in the thousands of words that follow about the impact of judicial vacancies on plaintiffs and defendants.

Stile spends virtually all of his time delving into the secret system of senatorial courtesy, and ignores the possibility the majority Democrats are striking back at Christie -- for vetoing most of their major initiatives -- in the only way they can.

The Democrats also suffer from a lack of support from The Record, and legions of apathetic voters.

A real loss

From the story on the Local front today, Leyla Kan, 60, of Fort Lee sounds like a loving mother and grandmother, a compassionate restaurant owner and a woman proud of her Turkish roots (L-1).

Kan was struck, dragged and killed by a school bus whose driver failed to yield to her as she was crossing Broad Avenue in Leonia, police said.

Missing from the story are whether Kan was in the crosswalk and walking toward or away from the vehicle when she was struck, and the time of the accident on Thursday morning.

The story also fails to make the connection between her death and a plea from Leonia Police Chief Thomas Rowe to Christie and the Port Authority for help in dealing with George Washington Bridge and turnpike traffic during the rush hour (L-6).

In the category of sloppy editing of the Kan story, Chipotle Mexican Grill in Englewood is referred to as "a chipotle restaurant" (L-6), and three men wearing "BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF" shirts are referred to as "authorities" in the L-1 photo caption.

Disoriented

Staff Writer Elisa Ung's sugar high must be affecting her judgement when it comes to the Good to Excellent review she gives Pizzeria Mandara in Wyckoff today (BL-16).

The pizzeria is noisy and crowded, but entree prices are what you'd find in a white-tablecloth restaurant: $26 for shrimp and $33 for steak.

As usual, Ung provides no information on quality that might justify those prices.