Honest Graft: The World of George Washington Plunkitt, by William Riordon (With Original Conflicting Interpretations by James Olson and James Mooney) (TPB, 1993, $2)
Tammany Hall bosses provided services for the poor, but mostly money into their own pockets. For a quarter of a century Plunkitt was one of the great powers in Tammany Hall. At one time he held the positions of Assemblyman, Alderman, Police Magistrate and County Supervisor, and drew three salaries at once. (And that was just his legal earnings. No wonder he was a very rich man!)
"He is in the contracting, transportation, real estate, and every other business out of which he can make money. He has no office. His headquarters is the County Courthouse bootblack stand. There he receives his constituents, transacts his general business and pours forth his philosophy", says Riordon, who collected and published Plunkitt's words in a newspaper column.
Plunkitt believed there are two kinds of graft- honest and dishonest. He also believed what he did was the honest kind of graft. Read this book and make up your own mind. My own opinion? I would have loved to talked with him, but not to have him as my government official. This book will be on the new non-fiction table on 9/14.
