Untold story of Zisas' attempted comeback betrays readers

In February, former four-term Hackensack Mayor Jack Zisa spoke to an overflow crowd of loyalists at the Crow's Nest Restaurant, where Team Hackensack was launched. The so-called community organization, backed by the Zisa family, sponsored candidates in April's school board and school budget election, and plans to run a slate in next May's municipal election.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Six months after the Zisa family got three candidates elected or appointed to the city's Board of Education, The Record still hasn't printed a word about their new political organization, Team Hackensack. 

The Zisas ruled Hackensack for more than 30 years, beginning with the election of Frank Zisa in 1977.

Through the years, their influence was so pervasive, the city soon was cursed with the label of "Zisaville."

Now, Team Hackensack plans to run candidates in next May's municipal election, hoping to defeat the slate of reformers elected in 2013.

At the inaugural meeting of Team Hackensack in February, supporters were greeted by:

Jack Zisa, who served as mayor from 1989-2005; former City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr.; and Ken Zisa, the former police chief who last week reached an agreement with the city that will bring him nearly $3 million.

See: Ken Zisa hits municipal jackpot

Today's paper

So-called Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to turn his back on commuters to write about a "traffic trap" in Cedar Grove that snared rapper Fetty Wap (A-1).

The Paterson native is shown on Page 1 holding some of the $175,000 in cash he brought to municipal court (A-1).

Let's hope the rapper, whose real name is Willie J. Maxwell II, doesn't become the target of the same kind of gunpoint robbery that reportedly stripped celebrity Kim Kardashian of $10 million in jewels.

Christie's F-bombs

When a Monmouth County freeholder left an expletive-filled voicemail complaining about Governor Christie taking credit for Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts in 2012, the GOP bully upped the ante with several F-bombs of his own.

In a Page 1 story on testimony in the Bridgegate trial, The Record quoted Christie with "expletive" in brackets, but on Twitter, Staff Writer Paul Berger was far more explicit:

"Who the fuck do you think you are calling me 'a fat fuck?' I'm the fucking Governor of this state," Christie told Freeholder John P. Curley.

"If you're not in Keansburg tomorrow, standing behind me on the podium, I will fucking destroy you. I will have a robo call sent out to every Republican before Election Day telling them not to vote for you."

Coal-fired plants

In another Page 1 story today, environmental reporter James O'Neill fails to mention that coal-fired power plants are the main source of mercury in fish (A-1).

Opponents of a 23-cents-per-gallon hike in the gasoline tax haven't come up with an alternative way of funding the Transportation Trust Fund, which is run by an independent agency of state government (A-1).

The legislative logjam lasted for years until Christie got Democrats to agree to cut taxes on the wealthy.

In unending Ken Zisa saga, lawyers are the biggest winners

In this February photo from the Bergen Dispatch, defense attorney Patricia Prezioso is asking a Superior Court judge to throw out an official misconduct charge against former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa, right.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A Page 1 headline in The Record today -- "Zisa can pursue return to force in Hackensack" -- set off panic attacks in thousands of residents.

But if they bothered to read the entire story about Ken Zisa -- especially the last four paragraphs -- they'd learn the disgraced former police chief must first "face a disciplinary hearing for his conduct," City Attorney Alexander Carver says (A-7).

"Another roadblock for Zisa," Staff Writer John Seasly reports, "is ... that the city eliminated the position of police chief following his arrest."

Today's story focuses on Superior Court Judge Susan Steele dismissing the single remaining criminal charge against Zisa, citing misconduct by the prosecutor (A-1).

Seasly quotes defense attorney Patricia Prezioso saying "Mr. Zisa will begin the impossible task of reconstructing his life."

Reviving 'Zisaville'

But nowhere does The Record mention residents' anger and resentment toward the Zisa family political dynasty that transformed the city into a North Jersey laughing stock called "Zisaville."

Nor has Seasly reported that Zisa; his brother, former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa; and their cousin, former City Attorney Joseph Zisa have launched Team Hackensack in their bid to wrest control from a reform City Council elected in 2013.

In fact, Team Hackensack already succeeded in putting three candidates on the Board of Education this year, and the organization is expected to challenge the council in next May's municipal election.

$8M in legal fees

After Ken Zisa was indicted in 2010, about two dozen police officers sued him and the city, alleging corruption and intimidation.

"Most of the lawsuits stemmed from a bitterly contentious relationship between Zisa and police officers who accused him of engaging in campaigns of retribution and harassment as paybacks for their refusal to go along with his political demands [as a Democratic state assemblyman]," The Record has reported.

The city racked up $8 million in legal fees defending against those allegations, and insurers paid out many millions more to settle the cases, minus the deductible.

See: Zisa nearly broke Hackensack

Pay to play

If you live in New Jersey -- where "pay to play" seems to have been invented -- you have to laugh at Republican charges that many of the people who met with Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state gave money to the Clinton Foundation (A-1).

Pay to play is ingrained in New Jersey's home rule communities -- political donations often lead to an appointment as auditor, engineer and so forth -- as well as in Trenton and in the nation's capitol.

In Washington, congressional lobbyists are actually writing bills to protect the biggest, wealthiest corporations from regulation.

At least in the case of the Clinton Foundation, the money went to good causes -- not to corrupt our law-making process.

Oscar leaving N.J.

In another Page 1 story today, Staff Writer Lindy Washburn again gives Governor Christie a pass for refusing to set up a New Jersey marketplace for buying coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Christie isn't even mentioned in her story about another insurer, Oscar Health Insurance, withdrawing next year.

But an editorial slams Christie for peddling an "unfair school funding plan" (A-8).

Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin calls the proposal "Jersey Wrong," a play on the governor's "Jersey Strong" message after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

That fortifies the impression Doblin can't write an editorial or opinion column about Christie or anything else unless he can find a play on words or a movie, play, book or song to compare it to.

Scallops and steak

Food Editor Esther Davidowitz apparently thinks those extraordinary wild-caught sea scallops are so weird she has to sell them to readers by comparing them to "a good piece of steak" (BL-2).

Better she should advise readers to look for "dry" scallops -- the ones that are sold in fish markets without a liquid preservative.

News taking a back seat to politics, restaurant promotions

The front page of the Daily News. Philip Affuso of Ridgewood wrote a letter to the editor of The Record today, predicting the Republican Party, with Donald Trump at the head of the ticket, will meet "a crushing defeat in the general election" and may also lose control of the Senate and House (A-10).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The front page of The Record today reflects the media's obsession with politics and sensationalism instead of news.

The idiotic Associated Press story splashed all over Page 1 describes Donald Trump as "a political outsider," not the hate monger who has rallied millions of racists to his cause (A-1).

Now that the two parties' presidential nominations appear to have been decided, what will The Record and other news media write about until the November election?

When Governor Christie dropped out of the GOP race and threw his support to Trump, every major New Jersey daily except The Record called on him to resign.

Should we expect an avalanche of boring columns from Staff Writer Charles Stile -- one of the governor's biggest boosters -- analyzing Christie's chances of becoming Trump's running mate for hate?

Newark murder

The headline over a follow-up to the murder of a white college student, who lived in off-campus Newark housing, uses two words from Christie's reaction, calling the death an "extraordinary tragedy" (A-1).

Editor Deirdre Sykes assigned four reporters to work on the story, as if minority Newark residents don't die in robberies or drive-by shootings nearly every day thanks to a police force that is unable or unwilling to protect them.

The story never explains why Joseph Micalizzi's life is worth any more than those unnamed victims.

Sykes and her gullible reporters also swallow Christie's B.S. that the slaying is "an extraordinary tragedy, not only for this university's community but also for us as a state and for me as a father" (A-6).

His son is graduating from Princeton, so how is the Micalizzi murder a "tragedy" for Christie? 

Local news?

After weeks of coverage, the big local news today is the suspension of Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox, who allegedly condoned racial profiling in a 2014 email (L-1).

North Jersey's home-rule communities seem to have their fair share of bad police chiefs, led by Hackensack's Ken Zisa.

Yet, The Record took no interest in the Zisa family's new political initiative, Team Hackensack, which backed two of the winning candidates in the April 19 school election.

'Hamilton' and Paterson

The Broadway musical "Hamilton" may have been nominated for 16 Tonys, but does the show touch on Alexander Hamilton's role in setting up the nation's first planned industrial city that later became Paterson, known as "Silk City" for all of the mills that were powered by the Great Falls?

Readers have no clue from today's coverage on the Better Living front (BL-1).

The editors also knock themselves out promoting the return of Park & Orchard, an Italian-American restaurant in East Rutherford (BL-1).

But readers might be experiencing sticker shock, with pasta dishes priced at $22 to $29 -- more than at many restaurants in Manhattan. 

Chef is out

And why should readers care about the employment problems of Adam Weiss, who left as executive chef of Due, an Italian-American restaurant in Ridgewood (BL-2)?

Weiss is best remembered for advice that sent many readers' blood pressures soaring, even if they weren't watching their intake of sodium as recommended by American Heart Association:

When he was working at Due, an overweight Weiss mocked using only one teaspoon of salt per gallon of pasta water.

"No," he insisted in a September 2014 interview with The Record. "It has to be salted like the ocean, because when you drain it you want the salt to adhere to the pasta."

What nonsense. Many home cooks don't even salt pasta water, knowing the sauce they use already has plenty of sodium.

This Atlantic City front page is irrelevant to North Jerseyans

Jackson Avenue School is one of the poorest performing elementary schools in Hackensack, earning only a 2 from state education officials on a scale of 1-10. The Record, which doesn't cover Hackensack school board meetings, also isn't reporting on issues in Tuesday's election for three board seats.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The words "Atlantic City" in big type on the front page of The Record today sent droves of North Jersey readers back to sleep.

And that's before they saw the piece was another long, boring column from Mike Kelly, whose first paragraph was little more than a weather report.

Meanwhile, in Hackensack, nine candidates are campaigning for three seats on the Board of Education, which has done nothing to improve test scores or engage parents in the education of their children.

In a race that is being ignored by the local-news staff of The Record, three candidates calling themselves Citizens for Better Schools say they will work with city officials to build a new school.

Wasteful lease

Now, the board is leasing a Catholic school building for more than $3 million over five years, with an option to renew for another five years.

The building is worth only $1.2 million.

Six other candidates are backed by the Zisas, who ruled Hackensack for decades, or the political machine that propped them up.

Attempting a political comeback, former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa and his brother, Ken, the disgraced former police chief, announced the formation of Team Hackensack, which is backing three candidates.

The Zisa brothers upset the teachers union when they somehow obtained the addresses of members and sent them an invitation to a barbecue at the home of Anthony Zisa, a high school teacher and Ken's son.

School board candidates went door-to-door in Hackensack's Fairmount section on Sunday, above and below.

Campaign flier for Citizens for Better Schools, above and below.

Local news?

There is so little local news today that most of L-2 is filled with photos.

One is an unusually large one of traffic on Route 80, near The Record's Woodland Park newsroom, after a motorcyclist was "seriously injured Sunday when he rear-ended a Toyota Camry." 

The editors lead the section with an incomprehensible story about "pi" that holds even less interest than the Page 1 takeout on Atlantic City.

Union objects to Zisas' use of teacher addresses in election

The Hackensack Scoop blog says school board candidates Timothy Hoffman, an incumbent; Modesto Romero, a former board member; and Johanna Calle are being backed by the Zisas, who ruled Hackensack for decades and ran the city into the ground.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The president of the union representing Hackensack teachers is objecting to the Zisa political organization's use of members' addresses to solicit support in the school election next week.

In an email, Michael DeOrio said:

"I just received a call regarding a letter that was sent out to HEA [Hackensack Education Association] members, who live in Hackensack, inviting them to a meet-and-greet bbq at [teacher] Anthony Zisa's home.

"This letter came from Team Hackensack, a political organization, endorsing a particular ticket for BOE trustees in the upcoming election. It is well-known who the players are in this political organization."

Team Hackensack is principally supported by Jack Zisa, a former four-term mayor; and his brother, Ken Zisa, the disgraced former police chief, whose son, Anthony, is a teacher at Hackensack High School.

The meet-and-greet barbecue is scheduled for Friday afternoon at Anthony Zisa's home, 337 Maple Hill Drive, Hackensack.

Team Hackensack sent out letters with the salutation, "Dear Hackensack Educator," and listed the three candidates the Zisas are backing in hopes of consolidating their control of the school board.

"Feel free to bring family members, colleagues, neighbors and friends" to the backyard reception, the letter said.

$104 million budget

There are three vacancies on the nine-member board, and voters also can say "yes" or "no" to a $79 million tax levy in support of a proposed $104 million budget for 2016-17.

The spending plan for the schools exceeds the city's own budget, and represents nearly half of residents' property tax bills.

In Tuesday's election, the Zisas are backing three candidates:

Timothy Hoffman, an incumbent; Modesto Romero, a former board member; and Johanna Calle.

'Unacceptable'

Referring to the use of teachers' addresses, DeOrio, the union president, said:

"How did this happen? Why did this happen? Who released our members' addresses? To compromise our members' right to privacy for political interest is UNACCEPTABLE.

"I do not condone this action and find it to be warranted of an investigation. The HEA CANNOT do these things without the proper proposal and consent of our membership.

"Sanctions and/or discipline will be sought for those involved in the matter," DeOrio's email said.

Zisas attempt a political comeback, upstaging Christie

Former Hackensack Mayor Jack Zisa speaking to an overflow crowd of loyalists on Wednesday night at the inaugural meeting of Team Hackensack, a new "community organization" that will back candidates in school board and municipal elections.

A banner displayed in a room at the Crow's Nest Restaurant &  Pub in Hackensack on Wednesday night, where chicken, pasta, rice and salad were served. The motto -- "One city. One future" -- wasn't explained.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The big political news in Hackensack on Wednesday had nothing to do with Governor Christie's unsurprising decision to end his presidential bid.

Instead, all eyes were on the Zisa family hosting the first meeting of Team Hackensack, a so-called community group that will back candidates in April's non-partisan school board election and next year's council race.

The Zisas ruled Hackensack for more than 30 years, beginning with the election of Frank Zisa as mayor in 1977.

Through the years, their influence was so pervasive, the city soon was cursed with the label of "Zisaville."

Zisa troika

On Wednesday night at the Crow's Nest Restaurant & Pub, supporters were greeted at the door of a meeting room by:

Former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa, former City Attorney Joseph Zisa; and disgraced former Police Chief Ken Zisa, a Democrat who once also served as a state assemblyman.

Ken Zisa, who was suspended without pay in May 2010, still faces an official misconduct charge relating to when he was police chief.

Jack Zisa told the crowd the new group, Team Hackensack, "is going to move the city forward."

No one choked on their food.

Non-partisan?

Hackensack elections are called non-partisan and candidates run under such banners as Citizens for Change, not party labels.

But party politics simmer just below the surface, and the city's Democratic Party machine was always the power behind the Zisa family political dynasty.

In 2011, 45.1% of the 19,123 registered voters were listed as Democrats, 10.4% were Republicans and 44.4% were unaffiliated.

'Real change'

After a slate of mostly Republican reformers was elected to the City Council in May 2013, they moved to eliminate past Zisa family influence by refusing to reappoint Joseph Zisa as city attorney, Richard Salkin as municipal prosecutor and the Scirocco Insurance Group as the city's insurance broker. 

Jack Zisa was a Scirocco insurance agent at the time.

At the July 1, 2013, meeting where 19 changes in municipal government were made, supporters held up signs reading, "Real change begins today!"

In the crowd

Assemblyman Gordon M. Johnson, the Democrat from Englewood, was the most prominent official in the standing-room-only crowd of more than 150 people on Wednesday night at the Crow's Nest.

Also in attendance were former Councilman Jason Some, former City Manager Andrew Rottino and Board of Education member Timothy J. Hoffman.

Fat guy sings

No one is going to read all of The Record's coverage today on Christie's anticlimactic decision to return to his duties as governor of New Jersey (A-1, A-4, A-5, A-6, A-18 and L-1).

On A-6, a full-page text-and-photo graphic labeled "It's Over" makes no mention of Christie's failure to deliver on his 2009 campaign promise to lower local property taxes, among the highest in the nation.

Despite his 2% cap, taxes have continued to rise in Hackensack, and just about every other town in the state. 

State residents are relieved Christie is returning, but also bracing themselves for bitter partisan warfare in Trenton in the nearly two years the GOP bully still has in office.

More than six years after he took over, the state continues to struggle with providing basic services, including expanded mass transit, affordable housing, a fully funded state public workers' pension system and a cleaner environment.

And Christie surely has set a record by executing more than 500 vetoes, cementing his reputation as New Jersey's worst governor ever.

Bimbo, bimba

If Christie is the state's official bimbo, then reality TV "star" Teresa Giudice is the unofficial bimba, closely followed by Columnist Virginia Rohan and Editor Deirdre Sykes.

Sykes made a ridiculous choice in running Rohan's Page 1 column on Giudice signing a new book, especially when a so-called news story on the same event appears on the Local front (L-1).

Today's local-news section continues the embargo on Hackensack news.