The best bill drafter in a state government can displace the governor’s own laurel

Evidence

An expert bill drafter had to know thousands of precedents so that he could cull out the one, embodying it in the bill he was working on, that would make the bill legal, or so that he could, by careful wording, avoid bringing the new act within the purview of an old one that might make it illegal. He had to know a myriad ways of conferring, or denying, power by written words. He had to know how to lull the opposition by concealing a bill’s real content. For years, everyone had known the identity of the best bill drafter in Albany: Alfred E. Smith. And Smith had never been shy about accepting that accolade. But now, when someone brought up the subject, Smith said, “The best bill drafter I know is Bob Moses.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 622

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘the black art’ of bill drafting — the technical craft of encoding and concealing power in written words.
• XREF: connects to: Governors defer to officials who can actually get big things done — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 1405; A gubernatorial appointee openly worked to defeat his own chief at the convention — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 1430; A head of state governs only as a simulacrum of himself — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 95 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Governors defer to officials who can actually get big things done #corroborates (0.85) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 1405
• A gubernatorial appointee openly worked to defeat his own chief at the convention #exemplifies (0.80) — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 1430
• A head of state governs only as a simulacrum of himself #expands (0.75) — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 95