“Money is to New York City as power is to Washington, D.C.”

“As money is to New York City, the old analogy goes, so power is to Washington, DC.” wrote Timothy Carney in the March 14, 2009 New York (NY) Post. It is not clear who originated this “old analogy” or when, but it appears to have been cited in print from at least 1991.
   
 
Google Books
Today’s best nonfiction
By Reader’s Digest Association
Published by Reader’s Digest Association
1991
Pg. 457:
What power is to Washington, DC, money is to New York.
 
New York (NY) Times Magazine, (December 3, 2000)
Sieve City
In our nation’s capital, leaking is a way of life.
By JANE MAYER
(...)
There’s a simple reason for this: secrets are to Washington what money is to New York. They are the lifeblood, the preoccupation of the city.
   
Google Books
The literary spy:
the ultimate source for quotations on espionage & intelligence
By Charles E. Lathrop
Published by Yale University Press
2004
Pg. 15:
“Washington is a political town. What money is to New York and celebrity is to Los Angeles, politics and political analysis is to Washington.”
(...)
Senior CIA officer Martin Peterson to a class of analysts at CIA’s Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis, March 2002.
     
Google Books
Intelligence and the National Security Strategist:
Enduring Issues and Challenges
By Roger Z. George and Robert D. Kline
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
2005
Pg. 304:
What money is to New York and celebrity is to Los Angeles, politics and the knowledge of politics is to Washington.
   
Google Books
Intelligence in an Insecure World:
Surveillance, Spies and Snouts
By Peter Gill, Mark Phythian
Published by Polity
2006
Pg. 116:
“What money is to New York and celebrity is to Los Angeles, politics and the knowledge of politics is to Washington.”
 
ZUG
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Wyoming Timing
(...)
To have ‘ascended’ into that cess-pool of egos and power-grubbing (Power is to Washington, as Fame is to Los Angeles, as Money is to New York) and having retained one’s humility to work behind the scenes,...
 
New York (NY) Post
CAPITOL GAINS
LIVING LARGE IN THE TAXPAYER-FUNDED
RECESSION OASIS OF WASHINGTON, DC
By TIMOTHY P. CARNEY
Posted: 1:20 pm
March 14, 2009
As money is to New York City, the old analogy goes, so power is to Washington, DC. But these days, the District seems to be faring better on both fronts.