We are pleased to present this article by
the distinguished former judge and prosecutor John Wilson, Esq.
George Washington Plunkitt, who served in the New York State Assembly and Senate in the late 1800’s, was the very model of a machine politician.
Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, written by a reporter who interviewed Plunkett over a series of meetings, details the method by which Plunkitt rose to power. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the political process, and is as current today as when it was published in 1963.
In particular, GW Plunkitt was a practitioner of “honest graft” – that is, as Plunkitt described it, acting not just in your own self-interest, but at the same time, acting in the interest of one’s political party, one’s state, and for the benefit of one’s constituents.
If you watch the news at all, you will have noticed a plethora of New York politicians being indicted by the US Attorney’s office on a regular basis. State Senators, Assemblymen, City Council Members; all have faced prosecution on corruption allegations, and many have been convicted and incarcerated for these charges in recent years. These are practitioners of “dishonest graft” – that is, benefiting them alone.
In fact, according to the New York Times, in the past decade, more than 30 New York City and State legislative members have been convicted of various forms of misconduct, including public corruption.
But what are these modern-day politicians doing that constitutes public corruption? Aside from the seminal crimes of soliciting and accepting bribes, many have been convicted of the misuse of undesignated, discretionary, public funds.
What exactly are these undesignated funds? Where do they come from? And how are they used?
To understand what is illegal, “dishonest graft,” it is best to start with and fully describe, what is legal, “honest graft.” Since I, like Plunkitt, am most familiar with New York, I will discuss the system employed in New York City and State. I believe most readers will recognize, however, that there are similar systems in place in almost every jurisdiction in America. This is particularly true if you live in a big city like Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, Detroit or New Orleans.
Much of what I describe here is obviously oversimplified. This is an effort to present an overview, not an exhaustively detailed explanation of an extremely convoluted system. To fully present the workings of municipal government takes much more time and space than is available here.
Besides the taxes you pay to the federal government, most state governments and large city governments, collect their own taxes. Theoretically, these taxes are collected to finance local activities – police, sanitation, fire, education, and other governmental functions. The state or city taxing authority collects these funds, and places them at the disposal of the state or city legislature. Most legislative bodies have a budget, and in that budget, amounts are dedicated for the use of each of these governmental departments.
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Naturally, the original budget requested by any agency is not always the budget granted by the legislative body, but overall, this procedure for budgeting the use of tax revenue is in use all across the country.
In New York, City and State agencies are not the only entities that make budget requests. Each New York State and City legislator also requests a budget for the maintenance of their own office. This covers staff salaries, office supplies and typically, includes an undesignated fund – a pot of unallocated money, not designated for any specific purpose. In fact, the New York State Assembly, the New York State Senate, and the New York City Council, each have their own budgets, and each of their budgets also include an undesignated fund. This fund is controlled by the leader of each of these legislative bodies, and each can distribute these funds at their discretion. This makes the Majority leader in the Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the City Council President extremely powerful.
When each member of these legislative bodies submits their budget request, that request is ultimately reviewed by the majority leader of the chamber. For instance, a City Council member’s budget request is ultimately scrutinized by the City Council Speaker. It should be understood that “majority leader” refers to the official elected to preside over the chamber by the party which has a majority of the legislators elected to serve in that body from a political party.
In New York, all referenced legislative bodies are currently controlled by the Democratic Party.
You can easily see where this all leads. Assembly Member A, a Democrat, submits a budget to the Assembly, in which she asks for undesignated funds. The Democratic majority leader, who serves as Speaker of the Assembly, views this proposal. If Assembly Member A has been loyal to the majority party, and voted in line with the wishes of the party and the Speaker, then Assembly Member A will be generously rewarded with additional undesignated funds. However, if Assembly Member A is a dissident, and votes in a way the Majority leader does not approve, that Assembly Member will find much of their budget request denied.
This is how a legislative leader enforces discipline. Vote for the bill the leader wants, get funding. Defy the leader, get nothing. Thus, a loyal member of the majority delegation stands to get a good portion of undesignated discretionary funds for their use.
For instance, suppose former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn wanted to stop an increase in the minimum wage (at the request of then-Mayor Bloomberg). She would ask the Chairperson of the Committee considering that bill to “table it” – that is, halt consideration of the bill – in that Council Member’s Committee. In return, that Council Member wants funds to support a day care center in their district.
The bill is tabled with no action in Committee. A week later, the member gets a response to their funding request from the Council Speaker’s Discretionary Fund.
This quid pro quo is perfectly legal, even ethical. But what exactly does this legislative body member do with these funds?
They fund Little League. Senior Centers. Community organizations. Pretty much, they fund anything they want to. For instance, A State Senator funded a Summer Concert Series in the local parks. A City Council Member funded the activities of local homeowners associations. These funds pay for gas for a community patrol vehicle, or coffee and donuts for community meetings.
“Honest Graft” concludes tomorrow