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.

What did we do to deserve Governor Christie and Ken Zisa?

The Hudson Riverfront 9/11 Memorial in Weehawken marks the site where about 60,000 people were evacuated to New Jersey after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Governor Christie was conspicuously absent when the memorial was unveiled on Sept. 7, 2011.

The land surrounding the memorial is a huge construction zone for apartments with a river view.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

For the second day in a row, Hackensack taxpayers are horrified over the prospect of a long legal battle with their disgraced former police chief, Ken Zisa, whose never-ending saga again lands on Page 1 of The Record. 

And when they turn to A-3, they learn that despite continuing gun violence in Paterson and other cities, Governor Christie wants to make it easier to carry a concealed weapon in New Jersey. 

Christie also vetoed a bill that would bring "smart gun" technology to retailers statewide.

Governor Veto

What did long-suffering taxpayers do to deserve these two? 

The Record hasn't bothered recently to report just how many times Christie has vetoed progressive legislation (more than 500), but he surely has set a record for a New Jersey governor. 

We can thank apathetic voters for his reelection to a second term just a couple of months after the George Washington Bridge lane closures in September 2013. 

The voter turnout was the lowest for any gubernatorial contest in state history.

Ex-Chief Zisa

Ken Zisa joined the Hackensack Police Department in 1976, according to today's Page 1 story. He was arrested and suspended from his post as police chief in 2010.

Yet, here we are about six years later and his legal problems haven't been resolved -- a testament to a glacially slow system that guarantees lawyers hundreds of thousands of dollars in exorbitantly high legal fees, which are only loosely regulated.

On Tuesday, a Superior Court judge dismissed the remaining charge from Zisa's 2012 trial, official misconduct, ruling that to retry the ex-chief would violate his constitutional rights.

Now, Zisa may sue Hackensack and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office for $35 million, but he's declared his intention to get his old job back, even though the city abolished the position a few years ago.

More hearings

The prosecutor, on the other hand, may restart his investigation of disciplinary charges alleging Zisa intervened in a 2008 accident involving his girlfriend, Kathleen Tiernan, whom he drove away before a sobriety test, and in a 2004 incident involving her teenage sons, who took part in an assault on a classmate.

City Attorney Alexander Carver said a disciplinary hearing --plus any appeal -- could take years to resolve. 

The Record doesn't take a guess at how much the city will have to pay lawyers to hold the disciplinary hearing and handle any appeal or what it will cost to defend against a $35 million lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Zisa; and his brother, former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa, have formed Team Hackensack, which is expected to field a slate of candidates in next May's municipal election in hopes of once again flying the despised "Zisaville" flag from the roof of City Hall.

Sloppy editing

In his lead paragraph, Staff Writer John Seasly wrote the judge "threw out the last criminal conviction" against Zisa.

Four paragraphs later, the reporter refers to it as "the remaining charge of official misconduct" (A-1).

A "charge" and a "conviction" aren't the same.

In the next paragraph, he has Judge Susan Steele "arguing ...." Judges don't argue; they rule.

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.

Hackensack, you can stop Zisa virus from infecting schools

A change in landing patterns ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration to keep noisy business jets away from Hackensack University Medical Center, as reported by The Record, hasn't brought much relief to city residents. This jet, with its landing gear down, was one of four or five to pass over southwest Hackensack homes and the Fanny Meyer Hillers School in about 30 minutes on Monday afternoon.

Many parents picking up their children at the Hillers School were unaware a Board of Education election is taking place today. The Record's local-news staff has ignored the issues or the attempted political comeback by the Zisa family. Three seats on the school board are up for grabs, and voters can say "yes" or "no" to a $79 million tax levy in support of a bloated $104 million school budget.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The powers that be don't want you to vote in today's Hackensack Board of Education and school budget election.

First and foremost are former Mayor Jack Zisa; brother Ken, the disgraced former police chief; their cousin, former City Attorney Joseph Zisa; and Ken's son, high school teacher Anthony Zisa.

The Zisas ruled Hackensack for decades, and stigmatized the small city with the accursed name of "Zisaville."

Now, they are attempting a political comeback by backing three Board of Education candidates under the banner of Team Hackensack. 

The world may be worrying about the Zika virus, but Hackensack fears the spread of the Zisa virus throughout the schools.

Three other candidates are believed to have the support of the political machine that propped up the Zisas for so many years before Citizens for Change, a slate of reformers, was elected to the City Council in May 2013.

This campaign flier urges voters to pick candidates 1-4-6, but someone ordered removal of the numbers on today's school ballot, below.

The ballot in today's election lists nine candidates for three seats on the Board of Education, center, and a proposition on the school budget, right.

Citizens for Change

Citizens for Change is supporting three other candidates, who call themselves Citizens for Better Schools:

Lawrence E. EISEN, Lancelot POWELL and Victor E. SASSON.

Their platform includes improving poor test scores and engaging parents in the education of their children.

Last week, the Zisas obtained the addresses of all of the members in the teachers union, and sent them an invitation to a Team Hackensack barbecue at Anthony Zisa's home, which was handed down from his grandfather, Frank C. Zisa, who was on the City Council for 16 years and mayor from 1977-81. 

Teachers union President Michael DeOrio blasted the Zisas, and called for "sanctions and/or discipline" for those involved.

The ballot

You need a PhD to figure out the ballot in today's school election.

Citizens for Better Schools is appealing to voters to pick candidates in positions 1-4-6, but someone ordered the numbers removed.

So, voters should look for candidates' last names in capital letters: EISEN, POWELL and SASSON.

Many residents also don't know they can vote on the school budget, which represents 44 percent of the property tax bill in Hackensack.

A tax levy of $79 million is up for a "yes" or "no" vote, but the total school budget is about $104 million.

The budget is bloated by administrators' salaries (some make nearly as much as or more than Governor Christie); legal fees and high rent for a Catholic school building.

A "no" vote would send the budget to the City Council, which has the power to trim it.

Campaign signs on Main Street in Hackensack.

Voter suppression

The powers that be have long conspired to suppress the vote in school elections by holding them in April, and not opening the polls until 2 p.m.

Today, the polls will be open until 9 p.m.

Although Hackensack has about 20,000 registered voters, only about 1,300 cast ballots in the last school election.

That apathy is fed by Editor Deirdre Sykes of The Record, which moved out of Hackensack in 2009.

Sykes was elevated to editor this year after many years of running the paper's local-news section.

Her distaste for local elections is well-known, and a couple of decades ago, she streamlined coverage of Boards of Education by reporting only on contested elections.

Now, she is ignoring even the hotly contested Hackensack school election.

Update

At 2 this afternoon, when the polls opened, only a small sign indicated where voters should cast their ballots at Hackensack High School, above and below.

Most of the voters I saw between 2 and 2:30 this afternoon were seniors from the neighborhood, which includes many of the high-rises on Prospect Avenue.

Today's paper

Three of the four major elements on Page 1 today are what editors call "process stories."

None of them are news, just endless descriptions of the process of repealing the estate tax in New Jersey, electing a president and how the Supreme Court will rule on a better deal for undocumented aliens (A-1).

The fourth major story is an incredible waste of space describing the legal pissing match between a millionaire with 30 Rolls-Royces and Bentleys, and The Plaza co-op high-rise in Fort Lee (A-1).

3 board seats, $104M budget at stake in April 19 election

Citizens for Better Schools say they will usher in a new era of cooperation between the Hackensack Board of Education and City Council.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

School taxes make up nearly half of the property tax bill in Hackensack, where nine candidates are vying for three seats on the city Board of Education.

Residents also will be able to vote "yes" or "no" on a proposed school budget of more than $104 million.

Polls will be open from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on April 19.

Three candidates, calling themselves Citizens for Better Schools, believe the current school board has done nothing to improve poor test scores and engage parents in the education of their children.

They are:

• Lawrence E. Eisen, president and a math tutor at Project Literacy, and a 3rd-grade reading mentor at the Nellie K. Parker School in Hackensack. 
• Lancelot Powell, a native of Jamaica and an educator for 23 years, has a son who is a freshman at Hackensack High School.
• Victor E. Sasson, a retired reporter and copy editor at The Record, saw his son graduate from Hackensack High School in June 2015.

Zisas try comeback

Three other candidates are being backed by the Zisa family political dynasty, which ruled Hackensack for decades before a reform City Council slate was elected in May 2013.

The Zisas were so dominant Hackensack became known as "Zisaville," a curse the city still is trying to live down.

Property taxes soared a total of 30% in three years before the recession hit in December 2007.

The Zisa cadidates, calling themselves Team Hackensack, are incumbent Timothy Hoffman, Johanna Calle and Modesto Romero.

Team Hackensack is headquartered at 77 Hudson St., where former City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr. has his law firm. 

Prominent at the kickoff of Team Hackensack in February was the disgraced former police chief, Ken Zisa, who once also served as a state assemblyman.

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.

Hackensack Democrats try to claw way back into power

In June, Board of Education Attorney Richard Salkin conferred with Lynne Hurwitz, who runs the Hackensack Democratic Organization, which suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2013 City Council election. Salkin lost his second job as municipal prosecutor as a result.

Board of Education President Jason Nunnermacker is hoping to take back one City Council seat for the Democrats in a special November election, even though he was a member of the losing sate in 2013. The Record has done a poor job of exposing the partisan rancor that has dominated meetings for more than two years.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Behind the facade of Hackensack's non-partisan City Council elections, the two major parties battle for the hearts and minds of an apathetic electorate.

Only 3,000 to 4,000 votes are cast in the May balloting every four years in a city with about 20,000 registered voters.

Now, the city's Democratic Organization is trying to claw its way back into power after its entire slate went down in defeat in 2013.

Zisaville

Bergen County Democrats were part of the political establishment that kept the Zisa family in power for decades, filling jobs with loyal party members and contributors.

In a message to Bergen Democrats, Lynne Hurwitz, head of city Democrats, is asking for financial support to elect Board of Education President Jason Nunnermacker to a vacant seat on the council.

Nunnermacker was part of the Open Government slate, allied with the Zisas, that lost the May 2013 election to reformers who ran under the banner of Citizens for Change.

Council critics

Since losing the election, Nunnermacker, former running mates and fellow board members have appeared at nearly every meeting to attack the reformers, including Councilwoman Rose Greenman, who resigned, setting up the special Nov. 3 election.

In her message, Hurwitz claims Nunnermacker "has dedicated himself to improving his hometown," but provides no specifics.

Other candidates on Nov. 3 are Richard L. Cerbo, the son of a former mayor; businessman Jason Some, who was appointed to fill Greenman's seat; and Deborah Keeling-Geddis, a teacher's assistant in the city schools.

Any of them have greater appeal than Nunnermacker, 38, an attorney some Democrats refer to as "a turkey."

Today's paper

Editor Martin Gottlieb again devotes most of Page 1 today to two of The Record's burned-out columnists (A-1).

Writing from Havana, Staff Writer Mike Kelly perpetuates media stereotypes of the Cuban Revolution.

But Kelly didn't find any political prisoners.

Instead, he focuses on pianist Angel Cabo, who left the island because he needed "more freedom to choose the songs he wanted to play" (A-7).

The Record's copy desk dusted off a photo over line the paper used the last time a pope visited the Caribbean's biggest island in 2012:

"Pope's visit raises curtain on Cuba"

After putting together this non-story, Kelly likely will go in search of Jo Ann Chesimard, a New Jersey fugitive and a central figure in many of his previous columns.

Christie's 'brand'

Meanwhile, it's hard to believe Gottlieb would allow Columnist Charles Stile to report Governor Christie is campaigning for president as a defender of the middle class without challenging the GOP bully in print (A-1).

Gottlieb and Stile are being irresponsible by not listing all of the programs and policies Christie has used in his war on the middle class in New Jersey, and his repeated veto of a tax surcharge on millionaires.

Stile's columns often are the print version of the sound bite that dominates TV news.

Christie is allowed to go unchallenged when he claims the middle class are "getting plowed over by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton" -- exactly the opposite of their record.

Local news?

There are few municipal-news stories in Local today to tell readers how well or how poorly their towns are being run in return for all those property taxes they pay.

Except for the centerpiece on new immigrants, including a man who left Cuba nine years ago, the entire Local front today is devoted to Law & Order developments and settlement of a lawsuit against the Teaneck Public Library director (L-1).

Englewood schools

On L-3, no one asked the new superintendent in Englewood what he will do to integrate the elementary and middle schools.

Instead, Robert Kravitz was praised for his management and business skills, including starting a company that sold desserts to local restaurants.

Staff Writer Kim Lueddeke doesn't say where Kravitz lives, whether he has children and where he will send them to school.

Kravitz has been superintendent of the Englewood Cliffs district since 2012.

Sugar puzzle

Freelancer Julia Sexton warns readers that the chef at Grange in Westwood has given the New American menu "a sugary, pan-tropical spin."

One dish, Floribbean Shrimp, is made with spiced rum and pineapple cream sauce ($12).

The delicate flavor of the shellfish, Sexton explains, "struggled to be heard in all that sugar" (BL-16).

Yet, one of the two dishes she recommends in the 2-star review is creme brulee "whose warm crust of caramelized sugar yielded with a pleasing crack."

Sexton is no better than Elisa Ung, the dessert-obsessed chief restaurant critic.

With both, the legions of diabetic readers also are struggling to be heard.

Zisa nearly broke Hackensack; now, he claims he's broke

Charles "Ken" Zisa was the police chief in Hackensack from 1995 until he was suspended without pay in 2010, pending his trial. He also served as a state assemblyman.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Long-suffering Hackensack residents have little to salvage from the stunning appeals court decision freeing former Police Chief Ken Zisa from house arrest and a pending 5-year prison sentence. 

But the smug look on his face in a photo on The Record's front page today likely will generate more anger and resentment toward a family dynasty that transformed the city into a North Jersey laughing stock called "Zisaville" (A-1).

Isn't it rich?

After Zisa was indicted in 2010, he was suspended without pay, and about two dozen Hackensack police officers sued him and the city, alleging corruption and intimidation (A-6).

"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 state assemblyman]," The Record reports.

(Sounds a little like the political retribution Governor Christie visited on the mayor of Fort Lee and other Democrats for not supporting his election to a second term.)

The city resolved the last of the Zisa lawsuits in April 2014, racking up more than $8 million in legal fees.

That doesn't include the cost to the city and insurer of settling the cases. 

Zisa was formally fired after a jury found him guilty in late 2012 of official misconduct and insurance fraud, the convictions that were thrown out on Friday.

Broken city

Also on Friday, defense attorneys got the $50,000 bail released, claiming Zisa hasn't been able to work, and "needed the money to buy food and pay his mortgage and other living expenses" (A-1).

Unmentioned are the high legal fees Zisa faces for his trial, appeal and possible retrial.

But taxpayers also have been stunned by the financial impact of the litigious Zisa years, and now they face the possibility the former police chief will prevail at a retrial, and demand back pay totaling about $1 million.

That's the million-dollar question, not, as Columnist Mike Kelly asks, whether Zisa "deserves to return" as police chief, a position the city abolished (A-1).

Zisa was paid about $193,000 a year as police chief.

Lazy reporting

The burned-out Kelly and his assignment editor are so lazy they didn't bother interviewing any ordinary Hackensack residents about the appeals court unexpectedly throwing out the guilty verdicts.

Instead, Kelly quotes the same Zisa allies and critics he has had on speed dial for years, including Richard Salkin, the Board of Education attorney who is described as a close friend and vocal supporter of Zisa.

Salkin served as city attorney and municipal prosecutor, but lost the latter position in 2013, after voters picked a reform slate for City Council over Zisa family allies.

Since then, Salkin and school board members who ran unsuccessfully for council have appeared at nearly every council meeting with a massive case of sour grapes to criticize the reformers. 

Meanwhile, Salkin hasn't responded to charges that in 2014, he over-billed the school board by about $58,000 for legal services.

Nor does Kelly mention that in his column today (A-1 and A-6).

If Kelly bothered to ask city residents, I'm sure a majority would say Zisa has no legitimate claim on running a Police Department he nearly destroyed.

Court criticism

The Record's Zisa coverage today reports the three-judge appellate panel harshly criticized the conduct of the trial prosecutor, Daniel Kietel, and the trial judge, Joseph S. Conte, who left Superior Court to join a Hackensack law firm, Nowell Amoroso Klein Bierman.

The appeals court said:

"The trial was 'tainted from the outset,'" when the assistant prosecutor improperly said in his opening statement to the jury that "Zisa's family was like royalty who thought they were above the law, but they were not" (A-6).

The appeals court said Zisa "was not on trial for being politically connected and his family was not on trial."

Meanwhile, "the judge did not forcefully tell the jury that the prosecutor's remarks as to those matters were improper, and he did not unequivocally tell them that the improper information must be disregarded," the ruling stated.

See the ruling:

State of New Jersey v. Charles K. Zisa

Zisa at crash

But the appeals court ruling didn't resolve the insurance fraud charge, which could be retried.

That comes down to whether Zisa acted improperly after his girlfriend allegedly was driving while intoxicated when she crashed his SUV into a telephone pole on Feb. 11, 2008.

She called Zisa, who went to the scene, put her into his car and drove her away from the accident.

Conte, the trial judge, "concluded the defendant's actions [Zisa] were unauthorized regardless of whether K.T. [the girlfriend] was intoxicated, because he interfered with the on-scene officers' investigation of the accident," the appeals panel wrote.

"The judge also found that defendant used his position as police chief to enable to remove K.T. from the scene," according to the ruling.

DWI involved?

On an insurance questionnaire, Zisa and his girlfriend said a cat ran in front of the vehicle and she "swerved to the right [and] hit a telephone pole," the appellate judges noted.

They also checked a box "No" to the question, "Was there any evidence of intoxication?"

The insurance company paid the claim, issuing checks totaling $11,391.88, the court said.