Hackensack, city attorney in showdown over $3M Zisa deal

Alexander H. Carver III, a former Superior Court judge, was appointed Hackensack city attorney on Sept. 30, 2015 (Credit: Harwood Lloyd law firm).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

This week, Hackensack's City Council is prepared to vote on a resolution terminating the services of City Attorney Alexander H. Carver III, a former judge who has had the job for only 13 months.

In a letter to the editor of The Record today, Mayor John Labrosse and Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino complained Carver agreed to pay nearly $3 million to former Police Chief Ken Zisa "without informing the mayor and council" (O-3).

"We knew the matter was being discussed -- but not decided," they say in the letter.

"Why did the city settle the case without insisting Zisa drop his $30 million tort claim against taxpayers?

"Why did the city settle before the deadline the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office had set for deciding whether to file administrative charges against Zisa, even though we specifically asked Carver to wait for that decision?

"Why did Carver agree to pay Zisa more than $1.2 million in legal fees without first reviewing the detailed invoices himself or have another attorney review them?

"Why did the city cut a $600,000-plus check to Zisa without a vote of the council or an appropriation?

"We have lost faith in Carver. If he won't resign before [this] Tuesday's [regular council] meeting, we will have to terminate his services."

Carver is not a city employee and doesn't have a signed contract. He is being paid $175,000 a year -- equal to Governor Christie's salary.

Zisa is a member of a family political dynasty that ruled Hackensack for decades. The city once was referred to mockingly as "Zisaville."

Mayor John Labrosse, seated, and other members of the City Council, including Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino, second from left.

Manager OK'd deal

As reported on Oct. 5 by Eye on The Record, Carver and David R. Troast, on his last day as city manager, agreed to a deal that would pay Zisa nearly $1,755,000 in back pay, vacation and sick days, and other job-related compensation.

Zisa, who was suspended in 2010 after 34 years in the Police Department, had been tried and convicted in 2012.

A Superior Court jury found him guilty of official misconduct and insurance fraud, and he was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

But he was placed under house arrest during appeals, and those charges were eventually dismissed.

Carver and Troast, who said he reviewed the "legal bills and invoices" submitted by Zisa's lawyer, also agreed to pay the former chief nearly $1,203,000 to cover fees through Sept. 30.

At a special meeting on Oct. 25, the City Council passed a resolution indicating officials hope to hire a new city attorney by Dec. 1.


Bridgegate trial

If you aren't already sick of The Record's wall-to-wall coverage of the Bridgegate trial, the Sunday edition should do the trick (A-1 and O-1).

The lead Page 1 story is by Paul Berger, the Port Authority reporter who need a navigation system to find the federal courthouse in Newark.

After six week of testimony from 34 witnesses, Berger declares, "several large questions remain unanswered."

Readers have their own questions, including why Berger and Dustin Racioppi, another court novice, was assigned to perhaps the most important federal criminal trial in decades.

On the Opinion front, the editors came up with a provocative headline for Carl Golden's take on the trial:

"AND THE VERDICT IS ..."

Golden is former press aide to Tom Kean and Christie Whitman, who were the worst New Jersey governors before GOP thug Chris Christie came along to claim the crown.

Below Golden's wordy column, Record Columnist Mike Kelly declares:

"Thanks to the Bridgegate trial, we now know that Christie's version of history is, at best, threadbare and highly questionable. At worst, it's a damnable lie" (O-1). 

Other stories

Page 1 has two other stories that could distract readers sick of all the repetitious Bridgegate trial stories and columns.

Retailing reporter Joan Verdon recalls Donald J. Trump's grandiose plans in 1989 for "the finest shopping center in New Jersey and beyond" at Routes 4 and 17 in Paramus (A-1).

Trump gave North Jersey residents "a preview of some of the talking points of his presidential campaign, including blustery claims about his building prowess and his ability to fix long-standing government problems, lawsuits and insults against the competition, and an allegation that the approval process might be stacked against him."

Trump hired Thomas Wells, a Paramus attorney. In July, Wells wrote a piece for The Huffington Post. Here are excerpts the reporter doesn't mention:

"After the initial interview, my client contact with Donald was actually not very much. One low point I do remember (actually will never forget) is a limousine ride to a meeting with the editorial board of a New Jersey newspaper in which my married client sought to regale me with the number and quality of eligible young women who in his words “want me.” I was just plain shocked and embarrassed, but I kept smiling. I wanted and needed this client happy. 

"While I was working for Donald, various press reports had Trump and his then-wife Ivanna living in a personal apartment in the Trump Tower of 8, 16 and even 20 or 30 rooms. Genuinely curious, I once asked him how many rooms the apartment actually had. I will never forget his response to me: “However many they will print.”

No trick-or-treat

Below the tortured Trump tale, local obituary writer Jay Levin reports no trick-or-treaters ever come to the door of the Kostka home, because "the house is inside a cemetery" (A-1).

Guy Kostka, superintendent of Valleau Cemetery in Ridgewood, has lived on the grounds with his family since 1982.

Trump denounced for endless con, but Christie is off hook

NBC fired GOP presidential hopeful Donald J. Trump after he called Mexicans rapists and drug runners.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A hard-hitting Page 1 story and headline in The Record today denounces Donald J. Trump for disavowing his "crackpot con" about President Obama's birthplace.

"Trump
gives up 
old con
for new"

"Peddling false
theories just part
of his reality show"

Reporter Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post said Trump "immediately peddled another false conspiracy and even went so far as to claim credit for rectifying the situation" (A-6).

"'Hilary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it,' Trump said, falsely .... 'President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Period.'"

"Trump even claimed in 2011 to have sent a team of investigators to Hawaii, to discover whether Obama had really been born there, as he -- and all the public records -- attested."

Two GOP thugs

The Record of Woodland Park, acquired by Gannett on July 6, remains the only major daily in the state that hasn't called on Governor Christie to resign for endorsing Trump, the wacko racist who is the GOP presidential nominee.

Gannett owned five of the six dailies that issued that call early this year, after Christie dropped out of the presidential race.

The Woodland Park daily also has ignored how Christie's 500-plus vetoes have hurt New Jersey residents in so many areas, as well as caused gridlock in the state Legislature.

Frivolous suit

Even though I'm a loyal Costco Wholesale member, I cannot believe a Leonia couple is wasting the court's time with a suit "alleging they were illegally charged sales tax on toilet paper at the retailer's stores in Wayne and Hackensack," for a loss of only about $6 (L-1).

Let's see, I've been buying toilet paper at Costco for 20 years.

But the savings I've enjoyed on fresh fish, other high-quality food, tires and so much more -- plus thousands of dollars in cash rebates from Costco, gas stations, restaurants and other retailers -- make whatever sales tax I've paid on toilet paper insignificant.

The larger problem is that lawsuits like this one are clogging the courts, denying other plaintiffs speedy resolution of their complaints.

Lawsuits like this one mean plaintiffs, if they can afford the inflated fees most lawyers charge, wait two, three or more years before their cases go to trial or are settled.

Now, that's a real injustice.

Common error

In reporting the suit against the toilet-paper tax, Staff Writer Nicholas Pugliese commits an error I've seen so many times before in The Record.

He parrots the plaintiffs' attorney, who says she filed "a class-action complaint" against Costco.

Only a judge can certify a lawsuit as a class action.

Today's focus on local news is welcome, but may not last

Atlantic and Main streets in Hackensack once was the site of the Washington Institute, founded in 1769 and considered to be "one of the finest educational institutions in the state, according to this marker, and "it brought recognition to the Village of Hackensack."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Three of the four major elements on Page 1 of The Record today focus on local issues, and the local-news section actually has reports from towns on almost every page.

Although local news bores most of the editors and reporters, this is the stuff homeowners and others need to know to judge how well their tax dollars are being spent.

On Page 1 today, Staff Photographer Tariq Zehawi turned in a great enterprise shot from Hackensack's Junior Police Academy, showing he has a lot more talent than readers see in his ambulance-chasing accident photos, which are often used as filler in Local.

But Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado did a poor job of researching her story on Palisades Park's Korean residents asking for an interpreter at Borough Council meetings (A-1).

Her first paragraph mentions interpreters in municipal courts and hospitals, but that ignores the interpreting staff attached to every state Superior Court.

Trump, Clinton

The Record and other media largely continue to ignore the issues in the presidential campaign, but at least the stories about GOP nominee Donald J. Trump's racism and Democrat Hillary Clinton's emails are played on A-7 today.

The lead story -- "Chilling posts by Trump staffers" -- is from The Associated Press:

"Donald Trump's paid campaign staffers have declared on their social media accounts that Muslims are unfit to be American citizens, ridiculed Mexican accents, called for Secretary of State John Kerry's death by hanging and stated their readiness for a possible civil war" (A-7).

Catholic sex abuse

In contrast to all of the Page 1 stories about the pope and the Newark archbishop, settlement of a child sex-abuse lawsuit against Bergen Catholic High School was pushed back to the Local front today.

Still, there is no explanation why the $1.9 million settlement from last November is just being reported, nor any mention that lawyers for the victims will likely take about a third of the money (L-1).

Traffic tickets

Monday's Page 1 story on the drop in the number of tickets issued to drivers on Bergen County roads and highways is missing so much information you have to wonder why The Record published it.

Staff Writer Jean Rimbach begins by reporting that "most drivers" will welcome the decline in enforcement by the Bergen County Bureau of Police Services, but that would mean the majority break traffic laws.

That's preposterous.

In fact, a minority of drivers speed and drive recklessly, and endanger others who have enough to worry about on Bergen County's antiquated road network.

There is one reference to "a reduction in moving and non-moving violations," but nowhere does Rimbach discuss such specifics as speeding tickets.

Least productive

Typically, Rimbach spends weeks or months on such projects, under the protection of Editor Deirdre Sykes, the newsroom's mother hen, and Sykes publishes the results no matter how flawed.

The Record already missed a bigger story -- a dramatic drop in the number of speeding summonses issued by state police on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway in the past five years. 

See: 

Speeders are having a field day

Reporter again ignores bitter partisan battle for Hackensack

Hackensack Board of Education President Jason Nunnermacker ran unsuccessfully for City Council twice with the backing of the Zisa family political dynasty, which controlled the city for decades before reformers were elected in 2013. Now, he attends council meeting regularly to attack Mayor John Labrosse and other officials.

At a council meeting in May, Nunnermacker, in a hoodie, tried to hide from the camera after Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino rebuked him publicly for falsely claiming he and other school board members were responsible for cutting taxes $214 for the average homeowner. A citywide revaluation cut city and school taxes an average of $400 for about one-third of homeowners, she noted.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

John Seasly, The Record's Hackensack reporter, continues to ignore the Zisa family's battle to regain control of the city they ruled for decades.

A slate of Zisa allies -- including school board member Jason Nunnermacker -- was defeated in the 2013 municipal election, but the family continued to control the Board of Education, where Nunnermacker is now president.

And Richard Salkin, the board attorney and a former city attorney, lost his second job as municipal prosecutor after Mayor John Labrosse and other council members took office.

In April, two members of Team Hackensack, backed by former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa and other Zisas, were elected to the Board of Education and the third member of the slate was appointed later to fill a vacancy -- solidifying their control.

Seasly completed ignored the Zisa family's role in the school election, as well as the issues brought up by the other candidates, including three backed by the current council.

He also ignored the proposed $104 million school budget, which accounts for 44% of a homeowner's property tax bill and which exceeded the city's own spending plan.

'A frequent critic'

Today, in a story on the Local front, Seasly identifies Salkin as "a frequent critic of the municipal government," but doesn't mention all of the jobs the attorney held during Zisa administrations or when the council was controlled by the family's allies (L-1).

To further insulate Salkin from charges of partisan politics, the reporter deftly quotes Labrosse, the mayor, as citing "the lawyer's loyalty to the Zisa political family" (L-7).

"It's a political stunt that stinks of the old-style politics that have plagued this town forever," Labrosse says, referring to another lawsuit Salkin filed against him.

That let's the reporter, his assignment editor and Editor Deirdre Sykes off the hook for their slanted reporting and shocking disregard for Hackensack residents and readers.

2017 election

A Zisa-backed Team Hackensack slate is expected to oppose the reelection of Labrosse and other council members in the non-partisan May 2017 election.

Let's see if Seasly manages to ignore that contest as he did the school board election:

Zisa-backed school trustees sworn, 
editors could care less 

With reporters like Seasly telling only half the story in Hackensack, the county seat may once again be cursed as "Zisaville."

Christie-Trump tax deal

Today's paper carries extensive coverage of Governor Christie becoming "a Trump man," as if readers missed the GOP bully's endorsement of the wacko racist presidential candidate in February (A-1, A-3 and A-6).

Still, I can't find a word about a New York Times report that in December 2011, the Christie administration settled a lawsuit seeking payment of $30 million in overdue taxes and interest owed by his friend Trump's Atlantic City casinos.

After six years in court, the state agreed to accept just $5 million, The Times reported on Tuesday.

Time to lock up Governor Christie and throw away the key

The Evil Twins, Governor Christie and wacko racist Donald J. Trump, are favorite subjects on the front page of the New York Daily News, above and below. This Christie front page is from February.

On Wednesday, the Daily News urged Trump to end his GOP campaign for the White House.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Why wait for the trial?

In the court of public opinion, Governor Christie has been viewed as culpable since he first joked about moving traffic cones to close access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September 2013, causing massive traffic jams for four days.

Now, former Christie aide Christina Renna says the governor "flat out lied" to reporters [in late 2013] about his administration's involvement," The Record reports on Page 1 today.

Christie's continuing denials -- "I absolutely dispute it" -- sound hollow a little over a month before two of his former loyalists go on trial in federal court in Newark for using the lane closures as political retaliation against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee.

Locking up Christie now would likely also break the legislative logjam in Trenton.

Today's columns

What's the point of the Charles Stile column that runs on A-1 today, and largely duplicates what is in the news story next to it?

Do we need Stile, the Woodland Park daily's chief apologist for Christie, to tell us the obvious -- that the former aide's text message about Christie lying is a "bombshell in the court of public opinion" (A-6)?

Another front page column also is a waste, coming a day late on Donald J. Trump's comments that it may be up to "Second Amendment people" to stop Hillary Clinton from getting elected and appointing liberal judges to the U.S. Supreme Court (A-1).

Trump should quit

On Wednesday, New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman compared Trump's inflammatory words to those that led to the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995,

Also on Wednesday, the New York Daily News called on Trump to end his GOP campaign for the White House and if he doesn't, for the Republican Party to abandon him.

What does Record Columnist Mike Kelly say about Trump on Page 1 today? Does the veteran reporter condemn him?

Of course not. He is an opinion columnist without any opinions or balls.

Journalism 101

Kelly sounds like a reporter fresh out of journalism school, claiming with little basis in fact that Trump's comments "further stir [the] nation's gun debate," as the sub-headline says.

What? 

The only debate is whether megalomaniac Trump is fit to hold the office of president.

At least, The Record's editorial -- after attacking Hillary Clinton as "unprincipled and unworthy" to hold office -- says unequivocally:

"A presidential candidate [Trump] making a quip about gun violence should be as out of bounds as jokes about bombs at airports" (A-8).

Local news?

Readers who have to wait on line at the Motor Vehicle Commission every four years to renew their driver's license are pelted with more hysterical coverage in The Record today.

In a Road Warrior column leading Local, Staff Writer John Cichowski reports two state senators are calling for a legislative hearing "as early as next month" (L-1).

That's the bad news, because when has a legislative hearing every accomplished anything?