Charles R . Brayton Charles R . Brayton ( August 16 , 1840 – September 23 , 1910 ) was a prominent Republican politician and lobbyist in Rhode Island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries . " The New York Times " called him the " Blind Boss of Rhode Island , " drawing parallels with New York City ' s disgraced political boss , William " Boss " Tweed . Biography . Charles Ray Brayton was born in Warwick , Rhode Island to William Daniel Brayton and Anna Maud ( Clarke ) Brayton . In 1857 , his father was elected as a Republican representing Rhode Island in the U . S . Congress . In 1859 , he began attending Brown University in Providence , but left in the middle of his sophomore year to join the 3rd Rhode Island Heavy Artillery in the Union Army of the American Civil War . He was commissioned as first lieutenant in 1861 , promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1863 , and to colonel in 1864 . In 1865 , along with many others , he received a brevet ( honorary promotion ) to the rank of brigadier general . That same year , just a month before the end of the war , he married Antoinette Percival Belden . Political rise . After a brief stint in the peacetime army , Brayton was appointed postmaster of Port Royal , South Carolina , a city that he had helped to capture during the war . He served in a number of political appointments before returning to Warwick to fill the office of Township Clerk , a position that had also been held by his father . In 1870 he declined an appointment by President Ulysses S . Grant as Consul to County Cork in Ireland . In 1874 , he became Postmaster of Providence , and in 1880 he was named Chief of the Rhode Island State Police . Brayton became chairman of the Republican State Committee , a position that he used to become the effective " boss " of the state ' s Republican - controlled political system for almost thirty years to follow . In 1896 , he was named to the Republican National Committee . He served as a delegate to the 1900 Republican National Convention , which nominated incumbent President William McKinley . Loss of sight . In 1900 , Brayton developed cataract s in both eyes , and in 1901 underwent an unsuccessful operation that resulted in one of his eyes being removed . As the cataracts progressed , he became functionally blind in his remaining eye . The " Brayton Act " . In 1901 , faced with a split in the state Republican party following the death in office of Republican Governor William Gregory , Brayton urged the passage of a law shifting power from the office of Governor to the securely Republican State Senate . This law , which became known as the " Brayton Act " , granted almost all appointment powers to the State Senate and limited the Governor to naming his own private secretary and a small handful of minor official positions . The legislation served its purpose when Democrat Lucius F . C . Garvin was elected Governor in 1903 . The law remained in effect until the " Bloodless Revolution " of 1935 , when Democrats took control of the State Senate . Lobbying controversy . Brayton became an issue in the 1906 gubernatorial election when Democratic candidate James H . Higgins made public discontent with Brayton ' s influence the centerpiece of his campaign . According to Higgins , " the evils of lobbying " had become " an exclusive and oppressive monopoly " in Brayton ' s hands . Higgins won the election , and his criticisms were echoed by " The New York Times " , which referred to Brayton as " Rhode Island ' s Despot " and said that " for forty years Brayton ' s control over the General Assembly , and consequently over all legislation , has been practically absolute " . Brayton operated out of the Rhode Island State House office of High Sheriff of Providence County , Hunter C . White . In 1907 , one of Governor Higgins ' first acts in office was to order White to expel Brayton , whom he described as a " moral and political pest " in the pay of the New York , New Haven and Hartford Railroad , the Providence Telephone Company , the Rhode Island Company , and other special interests . White refused , saying the matter was outside of the purview of the Governor ' s office , and accusing the Governor of " insolence " and political opportunism . Defending himself against charges of improper conduct on behalf oh his clients , Brayton said , " I have been the scapegoat of my party . People have said all sorts of things about me , most of them lies . I am not as bad as I have been painted , but I do not care much what people say . What I have done has been for the benefit of the Republican Party , and every time I have taken a retainer from any corporation I have always stipulated that I would drop the case if it turned out to be against the interest of my party . " Retirement and death . Brayton failed to install Samuel P . Colt in the United States Senate ; incumbent Republican George P . Wetmore ultimately held his seat against fellow Republican Colt and Democrat Robert Hale Ives Goddard , although the protracted struggle left an empty seat in Rhode Island ' s delegation to the 60th Congress . In July 1907 , Brayton resigned from the Executive Committee of the State Central Committee of the Republican Party . He vacated White ' s offices in the State House later in the year , stating that he had lingered in order to defy Governor Higgin ' s demands . General Brayton was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the Society of Colonial Wars . Brayton died September 23 , 1910 from diabetes and complications of a broken hip sustained in a fall . He is buried in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence .