An aide’s encyclopedic grasp of state law made legislative battles unwinnable for opponents

Evidence

Having him at hand saved everybody time. If the Governor and his advisers wanted to know how many jobs a proposed GOP bill would eliminate and whose jobs they were, or whether the wording of a bill conflicted with seemingly contradictory wording in the Constitution, or whether there was any precedent to back up a proposal of their own, or how many secretaries there were in the Public Works Department, or how much was spent annually on printing by the Insurance Department, or under what act the Conservation Commission was empowered to bottle and sell water from Saratoga Springs, it was easier to ask Moses than to try to find out the answer themselves. Because Moses always knew. “He thought fast and he answered quickly,” says one who observed him at this time. “He seemed to know the makeup of every department in the state and what its powers were and exactly which sections of law it got those powers from. And he almost seemed to know it all by heart.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 480

Categorization

• XREF: Moses’ total mastery of administrative detail prefigures his later reputation described throughout The Power Broker, and parallels how bureaucratic competence can substitute for political authority. — connects to: A legislator spurned money to master legislative detail — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 536; Detailed statutes force legislatures into future amendment burdens that interpretation could carry — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3894; Legislative bill language can be ridiculously dense even for simple provisions — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 514 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• A legislator spurned money to master legislative detail #corroborates (0.85) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 536
• The best bill drafter in a state government can displace the governor’s own laurel #corroborates (0.80) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 622
• Detailed statutes force legislatures into future amendment burdens that interpretation could carry #complicates (0.72) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 3894
• Legislative bill language can be ridiculously dense even for simple provisions #exemplifies (0.72) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 514