Byline: CATHY WOODRUFF Staff writer
Troy Rensselaer County's director of veterans services has resigned his post, saying he plans to resume his private sector career as a building products sales representative.
Gary Taylor, 50, said he decided leave the $47,000-a-year director's post earlier this week for personal reasons after a three-year stint.
``My three years there were fantastic,'' said Taylor, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam. ``We accomplished a lot. I feel good about it, but it's time for me to move on.''
Taylor won wide praise for raising the profile of veterans issues in the county and helping to establish new alliances and programs benefiting former service personnel. He said he expects to remain active in veterans affairs with the state American Legion Rehabilitation Committee and several local organizations.
Taylor is a former county Conservative Party chairman credited with delivering the critical Conservative ballot line that helped Republican County Executive Henry Zwack win his first term in 1995. He was among the last remaining members of a team of key political supporters Zwack brought with him in January 1996.
This past January, county Health Director Janet Atwater, part of the Republican backbone of Zwack's early campaigns, resigned her $64,000-a-year job to return to her previous post as director of health services at Hudson Valley Community College.
In January 1997, just a year after taking office as county executive, Zwack demanded resignations from his computer chief and former top political operative, Victor Cipolla, and Personnel Director Susan Martin, who also had been a Zwack campaign stalwart.
Later, Cipolla and Martin were acquitted of misdemeanor official misconduct charges stemming from claims that Zwack harbored a no-show staffer on the county payroll.
