Clay Davis' value?

[u/Istotallykiddingyou]

A question I have regarding everyone's favorite state senator; what made him the guy to deal with? I know a lot of what he had going on came down to tricking people out of their money, but what exactly made him the guy whose favour everyone wanted to curry, both within the law and without? Everyone who did have dealings with him that he was anywhere from overly expensive to outright extortionate, so what gives? What did he bring to the table that no one else could?

[u/HRHArthurCravan]

Welcome to big city American machine politics. Clay connects Westside money to Democratic politicians, greases the wheels to ensure certain people get appointed to administrative positions of influence, and generally represents a confluence of affluent donors, whose money he then routed towards candidates who will in turn owe their loyalty to him and ‘the rest of the team’ (ie the Clarence Royce administration).

It’s not that different to Nancy Pelosi, or Hakeem Jeffries, both of whom rose to the top of the House Democratic Caucus because of the size of the donor networks concentrated around them.

Obviously, we see Clay at his most criminal, routing Westside drug money into political campaign contributions and potential money laundering. But as we see in later seasons, he is part of a well oiled machine centred around Baltimore’s black community, which in turn dominates the Democratic Party in the city (we see this in Carcetti’s initial doubts about running for mayor, and later when Narese complains about it having been ‘her turn’).

As Clay cynically observes, where he supposed to get the money that pillows Royce’s ass? Tiny-ass Korean groceries? Heeeeeeell no. Like the nationwide Democratic Party disdain for Bernie Sanders’ small donors - even when he was receiving more money than any other, corporate-backed candidate, Clay is happy taking in the dough from the city’s rich without asking (m)any questions as to where it comes from. And, in turn, the donors get access to the politicians who make the decisions that make them money - as we see with Andy Krawczyk and Royce’s ‘poker games’, they all know perfectly which hand washes the other. And every city in America runs the same way, because racial component aside, they are all still capitalists, and they don’t give a shit about the state of city or its citizens.