Now I know that if a person in found not guilty by a jury, we are supposed to act like he or she is innocent.
But shouldn’t at least ONE New York City newspaper have mentioned that Governor Pataki has nominated a guy who was accused TWICE of engaging in illegal patronage scams?
Will any Democratic State Senator make a stink?
Zwack was elected county executive in 1995 to serve the remainder of John Buono's unfinished term after Pataki appointed Bruono to head the Thruway Authority. He was elected to a full term in 1997.
By 2001 two separate scandals, dozens of indictments and two trials forced him to resign.
In 2001, a jury acquitted him of 10 counts of perjury related to the county's infamous no-show job scandal. It was discovered Dirk Van Ort was collecting a county pay check as a 911 coordinator while working a carnival in Florida. But, a special prosecutor indicted Zwack for his testimony in front of a grand jury that ended up indicting Victor Cipolla and Susan Martin for allowing Van Ort to get away with it for so long. The pair later successfully sued the county for an undisclosed amount of money.
A year later, Zwack, four of his top aides and a Democratic Party boss were indicted for selling political influence in return for civil service favors. It was alleged that Zwack put pressure on county personnel department employees to give North Greenbush Democratic Party Chairman James Germano's grandson another chance to pass the physical fitness aspect of the civil service exam so he could be a town cop.
The long-running scandal came complete with a high powered legal defense team, secretly made tape recordings and was intertwined with enough innuendos and political intrigue to be a made for television movie.
After Zwack and his co-defendants were acquitted, the Stephentown native went to work for a lobbying firm and later to OASIS.
He could not be reached for comment, Tuesday night. Charles "CB" Smith, a long time government watchdog and long time thorn in Zwack's side drove the no-show job scandal. In 2000, the last time it was rumored that Zwack would get a judgeship, Smith penned a letter to Pataki asking him to reconsider. The nomination never transpired. "The governor should know by now he should keep the name Zwack as far away from the word judge as humanly possible," Smith said. "Who knows? He may have a no show law clerk."