Why is Joe Zisa still Hackensack city attorney?

The Hackensack seal behind City Council members has been hanging crooked for many weeks, but was adjusted for Tuesday night's meeting. City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr., cousin of convicted former Police Chief Ken Zisa, is at left.

Hackensack City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono says 12 to 15 city employees drive home in city owned cars, including this gas-guzzling Ford Crown Victoria that was parked on Spring Valley Avenue last weekend. Can hard-pressed property tax payers afford such a luxury? If the cars were sold, the money could be put to much better use.

Hackensack City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr. says he won't ask a judge for a ruling on the reasonableness of more than $500,000 in legal fees that will be paid for police officers acquitted of charges linked to the disgraced Ken Zisa, the former police chief and his cousin.

Today's Page 1 story in The Record quotes Joe Zisa extensively on why the city is paying the fees, but doesn't explain why he didn't recuse himself, as he did in many of the civil suits filed against Ken Zisa, a former assemblyman.

Time to go

More than 10 months after Ken Zisa was convicted, no City Council member or city official has called on Joe Zisa to end his relationship with a city that has become known derisively as "Zisaville" -- or at least The Record hasn't reported it.

Councilman John Labrosse, the only incumbent seeking another term, hasn't spoken at recent meetings about the need to cut Zisa loose, even as Labrosse supporters and running mates blast the city's stratospheric legal bills.

In today's story, Joe Zisa is quoted as saying the city "has a right to pay officers' legal fees under state law," but he wasn't asked if the city is obligated to do so.

There goes the judge

In a brief telephone interview this morning, Joe Zisa told Eye on The Record the city won't go before a judge in an effort to reduce its payment on behalf of the two cops, who were charged an outrageous $390 an hour and $225 an hour -- compared to the $125 an hour the city pays to outside counsel.

In fact, no one except the city attorney and other officials have reviewed the reasonableness of the fees, Joe Zisa said.

That position amounts to defending the high legal fees charged by his greedy fellow practitioners -- fees that greatly restrict access to the courts. 

Today's paper

Staff Writer Jay Levin's search for the oldest New Jersey centenarian is mildly interesting, but I wish he reported more on their health practices and what they eat and drink (A-1).

Page A-2 carries two corrections today -- but ignores so many other errors, especially those committed three times a week by tired Staff Writer John Cichowski, also known as the Road Kill Warrior.

Local snooze

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, put out another scintillating Local news section today, including the 12th or 13th story on a Paterson book drive sponsored by the paper (L-1) and a plan to fix school roofs in Midland Park (L-6).

On L-2, they run another gee-whiz photo of a non-fatal collision with a photo caption devoid of any information on how the accident happened or if one of the drivers was charged.

We're sick of Sandy

Why is a story on a shocking film exposing the practice of killing baby girls in India and China buried on BL-3 in Better Living today, and not displayed on A-1, in place of one of the two Sandy stories?

How many more Page 1 stories about the Oct. 29 superstorm can readers take, and when will Editors Sykes and Sforza, and Chief Honcho Marty Gottlieb stop using Sandy as a crutch?