Corruption

The mayor and commissioners of a small township were caught boozing it up and chowing down on the taxypayers' dime before a council meeting. Their response to criticism was arrogant at best:

[Mayor Debby] Eisinger said the dinners have been a standard practice for years. Kleiman said the meetings are good for the city.

"But... we've always done it. That makes it okay!" "Being robbed is good for you. Try to enjoy it."

As if that's not bad enough:

Afterward, they drove to City Hall, where, before a room filled with residents, they passed laws and made decisions about expenditures involving taxpayer dollars.

After one such gathering, the television investigation showed, the commissioners voted themselves pay raises that will more than double their salaries next year.

This is the sort of behavior that, generations past, would get a public official clapped into the stocks. There he'd stay for several days, while the citizenry applied bastinado at a whim and pelted him with rotten food. I'm not sure why the practice fell out of favor, but it seems to me it's long overdue for a return.