There's 10 times as much corruption in local governments as the national government because there's so few watchdogs. It may be on a smaller scale, but the more individual taxing bodies there are, the more potential for temptation and corruption.
The City of St. Louis is a perfect example. With city limits established during the Civil War, nearly 80 small municipalities sprung up around the city, each with it's own services, courts and problems with corruption. Misbehaving police get fired only to get a job in the next chickenshit city down the block. Smaller, poorer cities with less tax base are already turning to he county for police, sewer, water and other services
The tree-pissers on both sides are fighting city-county unification tooth and nail because they don't want their gravy trains derailed. One large city government with consolidated services and courts would be much easier to watchdog than the mess they have now. Abolish the works and start over, getting rid of the fat and inefficiencies, kangaroo speed trap courts and all.
