Definition
Mayoral power is the combination of formal authority (charter powers, appointments, the budget), party-organizational reach (the local committees that pick candidates and turn out voters), federal-money access, and personal credibility that a mayor brings to office. Each component varies independently; the same charter can produce a powerful mayor in one decade and a weak one in the next.
New York's mayors over the half-century of The Power Broker span the full range — from LaGuardia's combination of high credibility and federal favor to Impellitteri's nearly empty office to Lindsay's late-1960s reformist clash with Moses himself.
Why it matters
How it works
Think of mayoral power as a four-cylinder engine. Cylinder one is the city charter — what the mayor can do without asking anyone. Cylinder two is the party machine — what the mayor can do because the political infrastructure backs him. Cylinder three is the federal pipeline — what the mayor can do because Washington funds it. Cylinder four is personal credibility — what the mayor can do because the public, on balance, trusts him.
If any cylinder fails, the others have to compensate. A mayor with a strong charter but a weak party (the LaGuardia case) must compensate with personal credibility and federal access — and so must lean heavily on administrators like Moses. A mayor weak on all four (Impellitteri) is essentially a figurehead. Understanding this engine model explains why charter-reform alone rarely changes who actually runs a city.