Tammany district bosses ran their wards as personal patronage fiefdoms

Evidence

In the Fourth Ward, contracts were given out by Foley, one of the most remarkable of the Tammany district leaders who ran their districts—and looked after the welfare of the straight-ticket-voting Democrats in them—as English squires looked after the welfare of their country villages. … Although his saloons thrived, he was to die a poor man, their profits trickling, along with the payoffs and the campaign contributions, through his fingers into those of his constituents. The only payment he ever asked for the favors he dispensed was a straight Democratic vote—and so heartily were his constituents willing to make this form of repayment that his district regularly rolled up Democratic majorities that made him the most powerful district leader in the city. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 507

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the ch8 note that ‘City job patronage was the mechanism that powered the Tammany machine’ and Milgrom’s finding that reputation systems need third-party enforcement. — connects to: City job patronage was the mechanism that powered the Tammany machine — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 298; Tammany government was driven by greed, not will to help — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 1448; Patronage appointments to top civil service posts risked politicizing the service permanently — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 806 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Tammany government was driven by greed, not will to help #corroborates (0.90) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 1448
• Patronage appointments to top civil service posts risked politicizing the service permanently #expands (0.85) — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 806