Mrs. D'Amico also gave up another patronage plum, the position of chief clerk of the Queens Board of Elections, a job she had held for 18 years.

David Henshaw resigned from the politically important post as the collector of the Port of Boston in 1837, starting a struggle within the party for this valuable patronage plum.

School jobs, including those in bilingual education, were patronage plums.

Indeed, despite new limits that Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye imposed on court appointments last year, he said that some judges still think of guardianships as patronage plums.

Another petit jury will soon try a couple of bankers who are charged with slipping cash to the Clinton campaign and who wound up with a patronage plum.

But traditionally, appointments to the boards by the governor and local governments were patronage plums, like the contracts the boards doled out to friends and relatives.

Asked whether he was getting a patronage plum for backing the Mayor, Mr. Pagan said, "The only thing that's being rewarded here is independence and qualifications."

He's got every single employment and patronage plum available for his Slavs.

Merrion, who continues as adviser and campaign manager, is rewarded with the rather small patronage plum he specifically requests, assistant clerk of the district court in the small town of Canterbury.

The state's motor-vehicle agencies, which have traditionally been patronage plums, are another focus of the changes announced by the Kean administration.