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George Washington Plunkitt (1842-1924) was a long-time State Senator from the U. S. state of New York, representing the Fifteenth Assembly District, who was especially powerful in New York City. He was part of what is known as New York's Tammany Hall machine. He was a cynically honest practitioner of what today is generally known as "machine politics, " patronage-based and frank in its exercise of... More

George Washington Plunkitt (1842-1924) was a long-time State Senator from the U. S. state of New York, representing the Fifteenth Assembly District, who was especially powerful in New York City. He was part of what is known as New York's Tammany Hall machine. He was a cynically honest practitioner of what today is generally known as "machine politics, " patronage-based and frank in its exercise of power for personal gain. In one of his speeches, quoted in Plunkitt of Tammany Hall (1905), he describes the difference between dishonest and honest graft as working solely for one's own interests and working for the interests of one's party, state, and personal interest whenever they can. Plunkitt was also a big party man, believing in appointments, patronage, spoils, and all of the corrupt practices that were curtailed by the civil service law. He saw such practices as both the rewards and cause of patriotism. He hated the civil service system that he believed would be the downfall of the entire United States governmental system.

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