We're sick of reading about our absentee governor

Police say the street memorial to Cliffside Park Special Police Officer Stephen Petruzzello on Walker Street near First Street was set up close to where he and a second officer were struck by a small SUV after dark on Dec. 27. He died last Monday and was buried on Saturday, The Record reports on Page 1 today.

The Record hasn't pursued details of the accident that killed Petruzzello, who was thrown 25 feet and suffered a severe brain injury, according to Cliffview Pilot.com. Among unanswered questions are why the officers appear to have tried to cross the street many feet away from an intersection, how fast the driver was going on the narrow street and whether she will be charged with vehicular homicide.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Even in death, Cliffside Park Police Officer Stephen Petruzzello has to suffer the indignity of sharing The Record's front page today with Three Bimbos -- Governor Christie, Columnist Charles Stile and Teresa Giudice.

How many hundreds of times has the phrase, "If Christie runs ..." appeared in the Woodland Park daily in the past few years (A-1)?

Editor Martin Gottlieb doesn't seem to understand North Jersey residents simply don't care anymore whether Christie seeks the Republican presidential nomination.

They're more concerned about who is going to rehabilitate the Garden State's image after the GOP bully ran amok, including what is possibly the largest number of vetoes by any New Jersey governor.

How well-lit is Walker Street where Special Police Officer Stephen Petruzzello was struck by a small SUV after dark on Dec. 27? 

Officer's death

Ani Kalayjian, 62, the Cliffside Park driver charged in Petruzzello's death, claims she "didn't see" the 22-year-old and a second officer she knocked down with her Honda CR-V as they were crossing Walker Street in darkness around 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 27.

Today's front-page story on the officer's funeral was incorrect in saying Petruzzello and Special Officer Thaier Abdallah were on foot patrol "a week ago," when it should be a week and a day.

A-2 carries corrections to Friday's Page 1 stories written by Staff Writer Todd South. 

Restaurant news?

Half of the Better Living front is devoted to restaurants that received at least 3 out of 4 stars from Elisa Ung, The Record's dessert-obsessed restaurant critic, and a preview of new places.

The two stories read like thinly disguised advertisements for some of the most expensive restaurants in North Jersey.

Boring headline

Leave it to the Opinion editors to kill any interest in what appears to be a rare hard-hitting column from Mike Kelly, he of the shit-eating grin (O-1).

"Change comes
slowly at the
Port Authority" 

That headline could have run any time in the past 30 years.

The right headline would have done exactly what the columnist does:

Point the finger of blame at Christie, whose aides and cronies engineered the George Washington Bridge lane closures as political retribution against Democrats who didn't support his re-election.

Then, Christie vetoed a package of Port Authority reforms sent to him by the state Legislature in reaction to the scandal.