Trump-Kim cock fight, Ivanka is 'dumb as a brick' and much more hilarity from D.C.

"President Trumped holed up in his White House bedroom in February 2017," according to New York magazine, which printed excerpts from "Fire and Fury: Inside Trump's White House," the explosive new book by Michael Wolff, who portrays the billionaire as a petulant idiot. Trump is shown in this illustration by Jeffrey Smith holding a Mcdonald's cheeseburger and his cellphone.

WHAT THE F? KEN ZISA RESTORED

 AS POLICE CHIEF IN HACKENSACK

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

President Trump boasting that he has a "bigger, more powerful" nuclear button than North Korea's dictator seems like a distant memory, even though that tweet appeared only 5 days ago.

Comparisons of "button" to "penis" were drowned out by excerpts in New York magazine and then publication of "Fire and Fury," an explosive new book by Michael Wolff.

Wolff, based on conversations with Trump and others, provides an inside look at this chaotic presidency, and at potentially treasonous meetings with Russians in Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.

The headlines in New York magazine:

"Donald Trump Didn't

 Want to Be President"

"The plan to lose, and the

administration's shocked first days"

On Election Night, when Trump's actual victory seemed confirmed, Don Jr. told a friend his father "looked as if he had seen a ghost," Wolff reported. "There was, in the space of little more than an hour, in Steve Bannon's not unamused observation," when a "befuddled," "disbelieving" and "horrified" Trump "became a man who believed that he deserved to be, and was wholly capable of being president of the United States" (illustration by Jeffrey Smith).

Trump berating Jared Kushner on Jan. 29, 2017 (illustration by Jeffrey Smith).

A Trump network?

As the 2016 presidential campaign came to an end, Wolff says, "Trump himself was sanguine.

"His ultimate goal, after all, had never been to win. 'I can be the most famous man in the world,' he had told his aide Sam Nunberg at the outset of the race.... "Now Trump ... was floating rumors about a Trump network."

Steve Bannon, who became chief executive of Trump's team in August, called it "the broke-dick campaign."

Bannon also called first daughter Ivanka "dumb as a brick."

"Not only did Trump disregard the potential conflicts of his own business deals and real estate holdings, he audaciously refused to release his tax returns," Wolff reports.

"Why should he? Once he lost, Trump would be both insanely famous and a martyr to Crooked Hillary. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared would be international celebrities."

Electoral College

Although Trump lost the popular vote, he was elected president in the antiquated Electoral College.

"The decisions that Trump and his top advisers made in the first few months -- from the slapdash transition to the disarray in the West Wing -- set the chaos and dysfunction that have persisted throughout his first year in office."

Read about Trump's executive order excluding Muslims from the United States, his scalp-reduction surgery and use of Just for Men, his longtime fear of being poisoned (one reason why he likes to eat at McDonald's, where they don't know he is coming and the food is premade), and much more:

'Fire and Fury' excerpts in New York magazine

Ken Zisa

Ken Zisa has been reinstated as Hackensack police chief in name only, and he plans to officially retire on Feb. 1 and collect his pension.

Zisa, part of a family based political dynasty that ruled the city for decades, was charged with official misconduct and insurance fraud in 2009, and fired from his post as police chief in 2010.

He had held the job since December 1995 after serving as acting chief for about 6 months.

A jury found him guilty in 2012, but the verdicts were overturned by appeals court judges, who cited prosecutorial misconduct and missteps by the trial judge.

But after Zisa sued to get his job back, city officials insisted no judge had ever ruled that Zisa didn't commit the crimes originally alleged in the grand jury indictment.

Today, in a long column in The Record, my local daily newspaper, Mike Kelly writes about the "last gasp of the 'Zisaville' political machine" (Opinion front).

You can search the column in vain for Kelly's opinion, but all he does here is pad his column with endless background information.

The strongest thing he says is this:

"... In Zisaville, the Zisas often tried to write their own rules."

See:

When the Zisas ruled Hackensack,

 greed, nepotism and partisan politics were king

Local news?

Today's Local section is dominated by town reorganization meetings, where new members of councils were sworn in (1L, 3L and 7L).

The Glen Rock Council swore in "its first woman of color," Arati Kreibich (3L).

But the Local front carries real breaking news:

"Ponds open for skating

thanks to the deep freeze"

Restaurants

Wednesday's Better Living cover promoted "7 MOST ANTICIPATED RESTAURANTS."

But Food Editor Esther Davidowitz neglects to say whether two of them, Mighty Quinn's Barbecue and Delaney Chicken, both in Paramus, will serve anything but mystery beef, pork or poultry raised on harmful antibiotics.

A jury found former Police Chief Ken Zisa guilty; no appeals court has said otherwise

Former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa and former City Attorney Joseph Zisa, back to camera, at the kickoff in March of the Zisa-backed Hackensack United for Progress, a City Council slate that went down in flames in the May election despite spending nearly $200,000 on the campaign.

HACKENSACK VOWS TO FIGHT

SUIT SEEKING $29.8M IN DAMAGES

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

Editor's note: I've updated this post with a link to the Appellate Court opinion that ultimately freed former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

An appeals court cited misconduct by the prosecutor and serious missteps by the judge during the 2012 jury trial of former Police Chief Ken Zisa, who was found guilty of official misconduct and insurance fraud.

But in freeing Zisa, no court or judge has ever said he didn't do what he was charged with doing when he intervened at an accident scene involving his girlfriend, who crashed his SUV, allegedly while intoxicated, and then filed a bogus $11,000 insurance claim.

For that reason, Hackensack officials will fight a federal lawsuit that seeks nearly $30 million in damages, alleging Zisa's civil rights were violated by a law-enforcement conspiracy in Bergen County.

The filing of the suit was reported by the Hackensack Daily Voice on Aug. 1, four days before the story appeared in The Record of Woodland Park.

The state Appellate Court opinion that ultimately freed Zisa noted the trial judge let stand "defendant's conviction on one count of official misconduct ... for affirmatively interfering" in the the auto accident investigation in 2008, as well as his conviction on one count of insurance fraud.

See the full opinion:

State of New Jersey v. Charles K. Zisa 

$2.95M payment

Last October, the city began paying Zisa the $2.95 million ordered by the judge that freed him last August -- $1,755,000 in back pay, vacation days, sick days and other compensation (money he lost after he was suspended) and nearly $1,203,000 in legal fees

This year, the former police chief said that he had no intention of suing the city, but that was before a City Council slate backed by the Zisa family political dynasty lost the non-partisan May election.

The Zisas -- including the disgraced chief, former four-term mayor Jack Zisa; and their cousin, former City Attorney Joseph Zisa -- had transformed the city into a North Jersey laughing stock called "Zisaville" before City Council reformers were elected in 2013.

'Money grab'

"There is apparently no end to the pain the Zisa family is willing to inflict on Hackensack," Mayor John Labrosse told The Record (Saturday's Page 1).

"This lawsuit has no merit and the city will vigorously defend taxpayers from this money grab," said the mayor, who was reelected in May, when his slate won all five council seats. 

"Earlier this year, Ken Zisa said he has no intention of suing the city, but now we know that the truth is."

History of litigation

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 him, and insurers paid out many millions more to settle the cases, minus the deductibles.

In August 2012, the city paid $2.48 million to a Police Department dispatcher and former girlfriend of Frank Zisa, who was the city's deputy police chief.

The plaintiff, Alessandra Viola, alleged she faced disciplinary charges after she resisted sexual advances by both Ken and Frank Zisa.

In unending Zisa saga, lawyers are biggest winners

Ken Zisa claims he's broke
Defense lawyer has link to The Record

Today's Record

Two-thirds of the front page and a page and a half inside are devoted to whether opposition in Mahwah to an eruv or religious boundary for Orthodox Jews is anti-Semitism (1A, 6A and 7A).

An editor with The Forward argues the eruv allows Orthodox Jewish mothers to leave the house and thus promotes women's rights (6A).

Left unsaid in recent coverage of the controversy is that Orthodox Jews are the first group to be treated as badly by Mahwah as the Ramapough Mountain Indians, who have been ordered to take down tepees erected in a flood plain and conservation zone.

Veteran columnists

Three of The Record's columnists drone on and on today:

Political Columnist Charles Stile calls Sheila Oliver a "safe choice" as running mate for Democrat Phil Murphy, who is expected to win the November election to replace Chris Christie, the GOP bully who is the worst governor in state history (1A).

Columnist Mike Kelly is alarmed at the push to legalize marijuana, claiming "pot is unhealthy" (1O).

And Columnist Bill Ervolino, who is also a stand-up comedian, explores the culinary uses of bananas (1BL).

Hide-and-seek

Saturday's Better Living cover included two photos of the kitchen in the Saddle River home of rapper Joseph Ward Simmons, also known as Rev. Run.

One of the photo captions says, "Above, Joseph Ward Simmons, also known as Rev. Run from Run DMC, loves his kitchen," but he isn't in the photo, as readers would expect.

When the Zisas ruled Hackensack, greed, nepotism and partisan politics were king

In 2000, then-Hackensack Mayor Jack Zisa bought this Main Street building from Bergen Community College and, a month or so later, rented the property to the Bergen County Special Services School District. The initial six-year lease more than doubled his purchase price. The district now pays more than $380,000 per year to lease the property from Zisa's company.

The L-shaped building is much larger than it appears on Main Street. A portion of the building, painted white, is visible on Camden Street, above.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

More than a decade after he stepped down as Hackensack mayor, Jack Zisa collects nearly $400,000 a year from leasing a Main Street building he acquired in a sweetheart deal made possible by friendly Bergen County officials.

Now, the former four-term mayor (1989-2005) and other members of the Zisa family political dynasty are seeking to return to power in Tuesday's non-partisan municipal election.

Jack Zisa; his brother, disgraced former Police Chief Ken Zisa; and their cousin, former City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr., are backing a five-member slate they hope will defeat Mayor John Labrosse and his running mates.

All three Zisas appeared at the kickoff of the Hackensack United for Progress' campaign in March.

If the past is any guide, a Zisa victory on Tuesday would raise the potential of a return to the greed, nepotism and nasty partisan politics that marked the family's long reign.

If their slate wins, what would stop Ken Zisa from seeking the civilian job of police director (now vacant), and Joe Zisa from returning as city attorney?

On a Facebook page, members of the Hackensack United for Progress slate are portrayed as puppets of the Zisa family.

'My business'

On Saturday, The Record of Woodland Park quoted Jack Zisa as saying the slate he supports in Tuesday's election "is my business." 

But he didn't deny his family, supporters and friends are backing the so-called Progress slate, led by school board Vice President Lara Rodriguez.

Under the banner of Citizens for Change, Labrosse led a slate of City Council reformers to victory over other Zisa loyalists in the May 2013 election, breaking the family's decades-long grip on a city that had become a laughing stock called "Zisaville."

The mayor and other council members, now called Team Labrosse, are backing an ambitious downtown rehabilitation plan to boost ratables, reduce property taxes and pay for a major expansion of recreation.

The Zisas retained their power base on the Board of Education, where longtime ally Richard Salkin serves as legal counsel to the current Zisa-backed slate.

The original entrance to 293-295 Main St. in Hackensack, a building owned by Underwood Properties LLC -- a company Jack Zisa and his wife established in March 2000, when he was mayor. A previous owner of the building was the Evening Record Publishing Co., a precursor to North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record. 

295 Main St.

Jack Zisa pounced in 2000 after Bergen County College announced it was moving out of 295 Main St., which it owned.

Meanwhile, another county agency, the Special Services School District, was looking for more space, and it would have made sense for it to move into 295 Main.

But with a Republican county executive and a Republican Board of Freeholders in power, Zisa, as a registered Republican, managed to buy the building from the college for $725,000 in August 2000.

A month or so later, he rented the building to the Special Services School District for $266,666.66 a year, taking in $1.6 million on a six-year lease.

The county school district's attorney was a Hackensack resident who was very active in Republican politics, and a friend of Jack Zisa's.

But the lease wouldn't have been possible unless Jack Zisa was able to add 45 parking spaces to the 20 that existed at 295 Main.

So, in March of 2000, the City Council, including Mayor Zisa, approved an $850,000 bond to buy 295 State St., which was torn down to provide a total of 65 parking spaces for the building.

To this day, Jack Zisa's company leases 45 parking spaces from the city.

The Record reported:

"If Underwood Properties LLC -- the company Zisa and his wife established -- extends the [building] lease through 2011, they stand to collect more than $3.5 million in rent."

The lease has been renewed twice, and the Zisas are collecting more than $380,000 a year in lease payments from the county school district.

So far, by one estimate, they've collected more than $6 million in lease payments for the building.

More politics

Although Jack Zisa calls himself a Republican, brother Ken Zisa worked the other side of the aisle, serving as a Democratic state assemblyman from 1993 to 2001.

Lynn Hurwitz, head of the city's Democratic Party and a longtime supporter of the Zisa family, was reimbursed $925 for printed materials for the Hackensack United campaign, The Record reported on Saturday.

Ken Zisa became acting police chief in Hackensack on June 1, 1995, and took the oath as police chief that December, serving until 2010.

He was the target of more than 20 lawsuits, which the city was obligated to defend, paying more than $8 million in legal fees to his attorneys.

In January 2014, The Record reported four current and former Hackensack police officers won a $2 million settlement from the Police Department.

Their lawsuit accused former Police Chief Ken Zisa "of extorting money to support his candidacy in legislative races and to back his favored candidates in public and union elections," NJ.com reported.

Frank Zisa Jr.

In 2012, Hackensack agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Alessandra Viola, a police officer and the ex-girlfriend of Frank Zisa Jr., then-deputy police chief and Ken Zisa's brother.

Viola alleged Ken Zisa filed criminal and disciplinary charges against her when she refused sexual advances from him and his brother Frank after she ended her relationship with Frank.

The charges were dismissed, but the city suspended her without pay for 75 days in February 2011.

Viola was to receive $2.48 million in the settlement.

City to pay $3M

After a Superior Court jury convicted Ken Zisa of official misconduct and insurance fraud, an appeals court threw out the verdicts, citing misconduct by the prosecutor and missteps by the trial judge.

Hackensack official were ordered to pay the former police chief nearly $1,755,000 in back pay, vacation days, sick pay and other compensation.

And the city also was ordered to pay nearly $1,203,000 to cover Ken Zisa's legal fees through last Sept. 30.