George Washington Plunkitt (1842-1924) was a long-time State Senator from New York's Fifteenth Assembly District in New York politics, and was especially powerful in New York City. He was part of what is known as New York's Tammany Hall machine.

Plunkitt was known for becoming wealthy based on what he frankly called "honest graft" in politics. He was considered a cynically honest practitioner of what today is generally known as "machine politics," patronage-based and frank in its exercise of power for personal gain. He was especially well known for making money by speculating in land he knew would later be bought with public monies.

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Plunkitt of Tammany Hall by William L. Riordon 1963