ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 explores how form of government may affect a municipality’s corruption risk. As discussed earlier, while there are several forms of local government in the United States, there are two forms that are used extensively—the council-manager form and the mayor-council form. Although the data indicate that the council-manager form provides some insulation of corruption risk versus the mayor-council form, this book includes cases of corruption that occurred in mayor-council, council-manager, and commission form municipalities. What happens in communities with the council-manager form and mayor-council form that are victims of corruption? Why does form of government make a difference? In this chapter the cases of Bell, California; Cincinnati, Ohio; Dixon, Illinois; Jacksonville, Florida; and New Orleans, Louisiana, will be highlighted to show how different forms of government may offer protections, but that no form of government is immune from corruption.
