"他能做什么？"市长问。

 

汤米-达莱桑德罗执政的时代，大城市的市长们都有一定的气魄，从纽约的菲奥雷洛-拉瓜迪亚到芝加哥的理查德-J-戴利。

那是一个老板和赞助人的时代，在选举日走马观花地赚钱，事后又不露面。

当地商人和政治盟友杰克-波拉克（Jack Pollack）曾要求达利桑德罗给一个朋友一份市政工作，引发了一场成为当地传奇的交流。

"他能做什么？"市长问。

Tommy D’Alesandro ruled in an era when big-city mayors had a certain swagger, from Fiorello La Guardia in New York to Richard J. Daley in Chicago. It was a time of bosses and patronage, of walking-around money on Election Day and no-show jobs afterward. Jack Pollack, a local businessman and political ally, once asked D’Alesandro to give a friend a city job, prompting an exchange that became the stuff of local legend. “What can he do?” the mayor asked.

 

嗯，他真的什么都做不了，波拉克在一位后来成为法官的同事见证的对话中承认。

“Well, he really can’t do anything,” Pollack acknowledged in a conversation witnessed by an associate, one who would later become a judge.

 

D'Alesandro不为所动。

"很好，"他回答。

"那么我们就不需要让他入伙了。

"

D’Alesandro was unfazed. “Good,” he replied. “Then we don’t need to break him in.”