Padilla 'expose' is 2 years in the making

The first editor of The Record, left, makes a deal to publish the paper in Hackensack.

Two years after the Bergen County prosecutor tapped Tomas Padilla to run the troubled Hackensack Police Department, The Record today finally "exposes" his strong ties to the convicted police chief.

The Page 1 story by Staff Writer Stephanie Akin reports the interim police chief "is a close friend and political protege of his disgraced predecessor."

Padilla also is a co-defendant in three of the lawsuits filed by subordinates against the suspended chief, Charles "Ken I Am The Law" Zisa, the Woodland Park  daily reports.

The suits allege Zisa and Padilla "tried to coerce officers to donate" to their political campaigns for the state Assembly and Freeholder Board, respectively, Akin says.

Contrast today's A-1 story with a report that ran in The Record in early May 2010, when head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado made Padilla sound like a reformer:

"Capt. Tomas Padilla, who was named the department’s acting officer in charge, signed the administrative charges against [Ken] Zisa, who earns $191,606 annually. The chief was placed on a paid leave of absence on Friday by the city manager, a day after he surrendered to authorities on an insurance-fraud charge.

 “'We did this under the authority and with the approval of the prosecutor and the advice of our labor counsel,' Padilla said Monday. '… We received copies of the criminal charges, and based on those criminal charges, under the Attorney General Guidelines, we have a duty to act, and I did.'”

"Last week, after Zisa’s arrest, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli announced that his office would begin to monitor the 107-member police department for at least six months. Under an agreement between the city and the prosecutor, Zisa was stripped of his chief’s duties, and Padilla was named the department’s acting leader.

"Residents are expected to attend Tuesday's council meeting — the first since Zisa’s arrest — to protest Padilla’s appointment, which some are saying is not the best choice because of his political background. Padilla, a Bergen County Democratic freeholder, said he plans to resign that post in June.

"Lt. Timothy Condon, of the prosecutor’s office’s special investigation section, will be in daily contact with Padilla.

"Padilla said Condon was at police headquarters on Monday morning, and issued directives. Among them is that each officer will get a copy of the agreement, and understand how the monitoring will work.

“'There are specific issues that were addressed by the prosecutor, no political contributions, disclosure of any business arrangements that officers may have with each other,' he said. 'We are in the process, through all my commanders, to make sure that each one of our officers is given a copy of the agreement, reads it, and if they have any questions they can be addressed, and fully understand it.'”

"Padilla said he expects officers to disclose by the end of next week if they have been hired to do outside work for any of their colleagues in the department."

Local news?

The entire front of the Local news section today is devoted to honoring North Jersey armed services members who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That lets Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, off the hook of trying to inspire their reporters to produce any meaningful municipal news.