The Republicans, who controlled both houses of Congress, impeached him and the Senate tried and acquitted him in 1998. This had surprisingly little impact on government and the public considered the impeachment a vicious attack by the conservative Republicans. An additional factor was that the economy continued to perform exceptionally well. In cities, the party machines decayed during the 1950s to 1970s due to more education, more prosperity, and anti-corruption procedures required by the national government. Today municipalities are at the mercy of a series of regulations and grant conditions from Washington.
County government is under even more stress.
They have never been very professional and have lower pay scales and less civil service protection. During 1990-93 nearly every state and city in the midwest and northeast suffered a budget crisis due to the economic recession. Then the cycle reversed and these regions became quite prosperous. Municipal police have had to deal with an epidemic of illegal drugs, using policies very different than the democratic countries in Europe. Many cities have shifted to community policing.