Agency wealth let Moses substitute economic for democratic decision-making power

Evidence

Beyond graft and patronage, moreover, Moses also displayed a genius for using the wealth of his public authorities to unite behind his aims banks, labor unions, contractors, bond underwriters, insurance firms, the great retail stores, real estate manipulators—all the forces which enjoy immense behind-the-scenes political influence in New York. He succeeded in mobilizing behind his banner economic forces with sufficient weight to bend to his aims the apparatus so carefully established in City Charter and State Constitution to insure that, in deciding on such projects, the decisive voice would be that of the people. He used economic power for political ends—so successfully that in the fields he carved out for his own, fields in which decisions would shape the city’s future for generations if not for centuries, he made economic, not democratic, forces the forces that counted in New York. And because he spoke for such forces, it was his voice that counted most of all. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 93

Categorization

• SEED: The story of how nominally democratic infrastructure decisions get captured by self-funding authorities is a strong essay angle on public-benefit corporations generally.
• XREF: connects to: Moses began weighing political costs against idealistic gains in state jobs — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 429; Public-authority wealth let Moses operate as a uniquely powerful political boss. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 91

Broader Connections

• Public-authority wealth let Moses operate as a uniquely powerful political boss. #exemplifies (0.95) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 91