puller : Idioms & Phrases

• a machine for pulling flax plants in the field.

Webster 1913

• noun one who uses secret influence (i.e. pulls wires or strings) for his own ends
  

WordNet

Wire"-pull`er noun

Definitions

1. One who pulls the wires, as of a puppet; hence, one who operates by secret means; an intriguer.

   Political wire-pullers and convention packers. Lowell.

Webster 1913