I love my hometown, it's a great city. The best city and most livable urban center in New Jersey.
It's such a disgrace to see what is going on, and I really wish the City Council would make some public statements to distance themselves from all the police controversies. I truly believe the current city council are reformers, and that they WANT to have nothing to do with the controversy. The problem is that they are afraid to make strong public statements to that effect; they are afraid because the Zisa machine still controls hundreds of votes as well as the city attorney post, and those hundreds of votes could be the difference between Melfi, Townes, and the others being re-elected in 2013, or the city going over to the LaBrosse folks.
Here's a comment in today's Record from columnist Mike Kelly:
"One concern, however, is whether a city so in the grip of a political machine that it is nicknamed "Zisaville" is capable of enacting reforms.
"Hackensack is different," said Miles Feinstein, a prominent North Jersey defense attorney who has represented a wide range of clients accused of crossing ethical lines. "It wasn't a matter of trying to get away with something. It was an atmosphere of fear — fear for your job and everything else. To me, it's complete control."