The legal system, creaking and groaning all the way, did begin investigations and forced some crooks from office. Hunt was forced to cede some power and go through the toughest political scandal of his career. Yet the governor's approval numbers are through the roof. State corruption is far harder to combat than corruption in high-profile Washington or in local government, where decisions receive more local media coverage and where citizens can attend meetings and corral officeholders. Press contingents in state capitals have been shrinking for years.
Many voters lack basic information about who governs their state and what they do.
It will take basic changes in what state governments do and how they do it. I was a reluctant convert to this idea. I used to think that rigid rules for hiring state employees and awarding contracts were unnecessary impediments to running government more like a business. It doesn't face the discipline of the profit motive. It relies on attitudes and behaviors fundamentally different from those confronting entrepreneurs.