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Posted on 04/03/2023 1:55:25 PM PDT by Borges
https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/william-boss-tweed-and-political-machines
” In 1870, the state legislature granted New York City a new charter that gave local officials, rather than those in the state capital in Albany, power over local political offices and appointments. It was called the “Tweed Charter” because Tweed so desperately wanted that control that he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes for it.
The corrupt “Tweed Ring” was raking in millions of dollars from graft and skimming off the top. Tweed doled out thousands of jobs and lucrative contracts as patronage, and he expected favors, bribes, and kickbacks in return. Some of that money was distributed to judges for favorable rulings. Massive building projects such as new hospitals, elaborate museums, marble courthouses, paved roads, and the Brooklyn Bridge had millions of dollars of padded costs added that went straight to Boss Tweed and his cronies. Indeed, the county courthouse was originally budgeted for $250,000 but eventually cost more than $13 million and was not even completed. The Tweed ring pocketed most of the money. The ring also gobbled up massive amounts of real estate, owned the printing company that contracted for official city business such as ballots, and received large payoffs from railroads. Soon, Tweed owned an extravagant Fifth Avenue mansion and an estate in Connecticut, was giving lavish parties and weddings, and owned diamond jewelry worth tens of thousands of dollars. In total, the Tweed Ring brought in an estimated $50 to $200 million in corrupt money. Boss Tweed’s avarice knew few boundaries.
The corruption in New York City’s government went far beyond greed, however; it cheapened the rule of law and degraded a healthy civil society. Most people in local government received their jobs because of patronage rather than merit and talent. The Tweed Ring also manipulated elections in a variety of ways. It hired people to vote multiple times and had sheriffs and temporary deputies protect them while doing so. It stuffed ballot boxes with fake votes and bribed or arrested election inspectors who questioned its methods. As Tweed later said, The ballots made no result; the counters made the result. Sometimes the ring simply ignored the ballots and falsified election results. Tammany candidates often received more votes than there were eligible voters in a district. In addition, the ring used intimidation and street violence by hiring thugs or crooked cops to sway voters’ minds and received payoffs from criminal activities it allowed to flourish...”
Boss Tweed:
“I don’t care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating”
“The way to have power is to take it.”
not Tweeted 200 years ago
It's so nice that none of this happens any more. /s
Sounds current, doesn’t it?
Except eventually Tweed was prosecuted and died in prison. Never happen today.
Tweed lives on— even past the last days of Tammany Hall, said to be with Fiorello LaGuardia’s election or later into the 1960’s.
Course the Clinton’s revived the entire system as a model for their own Grift and Graft incorporated.
The Gangs of New York, the book is an incredible read of the times back when during Tweed and others. Corruption everywhere. JoeBama Biden and his ostensibly Irish mob family are just the type.
Read that FDR defeated the Tween Tammany from his governorship before his run for the Presidency— to substitute his own New Deal, and his Marxist Second Bill of Rights template for dems ever since.
In fact, Thomas Nast, who made the picture at the top right had done today what he did then, would be in prison, rather than Boss Tweed
“Tammany Hall was the name given to the Democratic political machine that dominated New York City politics for almost a century, directing the flow of money, patronage and votes in state and local elections. Roosevelt first came to public attention starting in 1911 as a reformer persistently fighting Tammany, a reform stance that cost him the 1914 Democratic U.S. senatorial nomination. After that, he held Tammany Hall at arm’s length, but avoided direct confrontations. He soon came to feel that the touch of Tammany was not always poisonous, and become a dedicated supporter of Al Smith, a progressive and effective governor but a Tammany man.
Once FDR was himself governor, however, he again sought to diminish Tammany’s power, helping force its Mayor James J. Walker from office. Roosevelt’s election as president was a dual setback for the machine.
The New Deal helped alter the demographic landscape of New York by making people less dependent on Tammany for jobs and assistance, and the election of anti-Tammany reformer and Roosevelt protege Fiorello LaGuardia removed City Hall from Tammany’s immediate control. Still, it retained some of its power and Roosevelt maintained a nuanced position towards it – being essentially in opposition to the machine but not holding the fact of membership in Tammany against otherwise-qualified people. James B.M. McNally was a New York Democrat and Tammany member. Roosevelt liked his qualifications and named him U.S. District Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 1943. There was initially opposition to the nomination on the grounds of McNally’s Tammany affiliation, but FDR stuck with him and the opposition dissipated. McNally went on to a distinguished career as Justice of the New York Supreme Court. This letter defending his choice perfectly illustrates FDR’s stance on Tammany Hall.
Typed Letter Signed as President on White House letterhead, Washington, June 29, 1943, to his long-time personal friend, Charles C. Burlingham, a New York lawyer and perhaps the leading municipal reformer of the time. “I am glad to have your second note about McNally and to know that the Bar Association has withdrawn its objection to him. I fully understand your point of view – even though I have never voted in New York City. The fact remains that tens of thousands of people in New York City voted the Democratic ticket and tens of thousands of people are members of Tammany Hall. I do not think they are all objectionable for that reason!”
Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall ran New York better than what we endure today.
When he was accused of making payoffs to his friends, he replied, “Well, who am I supposed to pay off? My enemies?”
An American hero.
“In fact, Thomas Nast, who made the picture at the top right had done today what he did then, would be in prison, rather than Boss Tweed”
True. All you have to do is look what has happened to Douglass Mackey, who has been convicted for posting an obvious joke on Twitter
He was a piker by today’s post-John-Lindsay standards...
Early democrats... like acorns - don't fall far from the tree...
He saw his opportunities and took them.
“Plunkitt of Tammany Hall” is a very enjoyable book.
There’s a Nast cartoon (Ring of Steal?) with a circle of crooks pointing a finger at the next guy.
Joe Biden long enjoyed a reputation as an honest politician.
He has several money grubbing family members.
Joe has been in politics a long time and I estimate he probably collected over $6 million in 2023 dollars in federal salaries.
He’s dead. Dirt. And nobody cares.
Pelosi and biden will be dead as ted kennedy and nobody will care.
Dust to dust.
But is he in heaven or hell....that goes on and on.
Now there was a guy who knew how to cheat!
Thanks Borges.
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