Robert Moses’s playbook:

  • “Sink the first stake” strategy – Moses boasted, “Once you sink that first stake, they’ll never make you pull it.” By breaking ground fast he locked officials and taxpayers into a project, making cancellation politically unthinkable thanks to the sunk-cost fallacy.
  • Hide the real price tag up-front – He systematically low-balled budgets and played down risks to win approval; overruns were addressed only after construction was under way, when legislators felt compelled to keep funding rather than admit an earlier mistake.
  • From idealistic reformer to power broker – Moses started as a Progressive-Era civil-service crusader, but early defeats taught him that raw power—not policy memos—got things built. He evolved from reformist technocrat to hard-nosed political operator.
  • Creative payroll padding – Civil-service pay limits couldn’t stop patronage: when loyal aides needed extra income, Moses simply put their wives on the Parks Department payroll to top up household earnings.
  • “I don’t need the money” image – He cultivated a reputation for self-denial, serving many of his dozen posts without official salaries, while quietly directing vast authority budgets that rewarded allies.
  • Building a cross-sector machine – Banks profited from private bond sales, unions gained years of steady construction work, contractors landed lucrative jobs, and even church leaders such as Cardinal Spellman were courted for public endorsements—ensuring a wide coalition defended Moses’s decisions.