Scandals have always been a part of the political landscape in America. Plunkitt of
             Tamany Hall, by William Riordan explains the scandals of political parties of New York
             which occurred a century ago. George Washington Plunkitt was the leader of Tamany Hall
             during that time, and in his book he talks about plain politics, honest and dishonest graft,
             how civil service laws weakened Tamany hall, political patronage, and even gives practical
             advice about how to succeed in politics.
             There is a clear distinction between honest and dishonest graft, says Plunkitt.
             Honest graft is making money from politics by using political business to your advantage,
             for example Plunkitt sometimes got tipped off about the city planning to buy property for
             creating parks, for example, and suddenly Plunkitt purchases the property that the city
             wants for a cheaper price. Now that Plunkitt owns land that the city wants, the price of
             that land has suddenly shot through the roof, and to Plunkitt's advantage the city buys the
             land at a much higher price from him, and he has gotten richer as a result. Now dishonest
             graft would have made Plunkitt very disgusted. Dishonest graft is using political power to
             get rich, such as stealing money from the state treasury, blackmailing gamblers, or gaining
             money from extreme political patronage, even though Plunkitt believed in some kind of
             Present day politics still resembles the politics of Tamany Hall. One example is
             politicians getting rich off of political patronage, some taking it to the extremes. Another
             example is an abuse of presidential pardons, such as Tamany hall favoring people who
             have supported it financially, President Bill Clinton pardoned someone who committed a
             crime, because Mr. Clinton received financial support from him. Also Tamany hall raised a
             lot of elections and money during election time for whiche
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