A mayor can lack power he nominally holds when confronted by a powerful rival.

Evidence

When the curtain rose on the next act of Moses’ life, idealism was gone from the stage. In its place was an understanding that ideas—dreams—were useless without power to transform them into reality. Moses spent the rest of his life amassing power, bringing to the task imagination, iron will and determination. And he was successful. The oath that was administered to Robert Wagner in City Hall on January 1, 1954, should have given Wagner supreme power in New York. That was the theory. In democratic America, supposedly, ultimate power rests in the voters, and the man for whom a majority of them cast their votes is the repository of that power. But Wagner knew better. The spectators may have thought that he had a choice in dealing with Moses. He knew that he did not. Why, when Moses pushed the appointment blank across his desk, did the Mayor say not a word? Possibly because there was nothing to say. Power had spoken. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 39

Categorization

• APHORISMS: Ideas and dreams are useless without power to transform them into reality — a timeless observation about the relationship between vision and execution.
• XREF: Connects to Weber’s distinction between formal and actual authority, and to the theme of how formal office-holders can be subordinates to powerholders outside the formal structure. — connects to: Rival mafiosi seize protection contracts through intimidation when the incumbent is absent; Autocrats may deliberately set generals in rivalry to stay secure; Brazilian municipal mayors lack control over military police who answer to rival state governors — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 365 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Rival mafiosi seize protection contracts through intimidation when the incumbent is absent #exemplifies (0.72)
• Autocrats may deliberately set generals in rivalry to stay secure #exemplifies (0.72)