Governor William Sulzer in 1913. Sulzer had been four times
elected to the legislature. He served as Speaker in 1893. He was
sent to Congress by an East Side district in New York City in
1895 and served continuously until his nomination for Governor of
New York in 1912. All these years he was known as a Tammany man.
During his campaign for Governor he made many promises for
reform, and after his election he issued a bombastic declaration
of independence. His words were discounted in the light of his
previous record. Immediately after his inauguration, however, he
began a house-cleaning. He set to work an economy and efficiency
commission; he removed a Tammany superintendent of prisons; made
unusually good appointments without paying any attention to the
machine; and urged upon the legislature vigorous and vital laws.

But the Tammany party had a large working majority in both
houses, and the changed Sulzer was given no support. The crucial
moment came when an emasculated primary law was handed to him for
his signature. An effective primary law had been a leading
campaign issue, all the parties being pledged to such an
enactment. The one which the Governor was now requested to sign
had been framed by the machine to suit its pleasure. The Governor
vetoed it. The legislature adjourned on the 3rd of May. The
Governor promptly reconvened it in extra session (June 7th) for
the purpose of passing an adequate primary law. Threats that had
been made against him by the machine now took form. An
investigating committee, appointed by the Senate to examine the
Governor's record, largely by chance happened upon "pay dirt,"
and early on the morning of the 13th of August, after an
all-night session, the Assembly passed a motion made by its
Tammany floor leader to impeach the Governor.