A Mayor Story

It's an odd story.  Election occurs in some small (700 residents) town in Missouri (Parma).  For thirty-seven years.....the same guy has held the job.  He was defeated by a black gal.  Within days....the town attorney, the chief of the water department, the city clerk and the bulk of the cops in town (five out of six) resign.  They also wipe the computers as they exit.

Normally, you'd look at this and ask some questions.  Folks appear to have registered some dislike for the old 'regime' and the 'old-boys-network'.

Then you start to look at potential corruption.  It's odd.....the eight people in town to handle money and funds?  They up and leave.....erasing all computer records. The paper records?  No one says much but I suspect there's no more than a year's worth of records in the cabinets there.

Generally, if you are running a corrupt funds department in town.....it'll show up with what the city attorney does, the paperwork that the clerk generates, the acts of the city cops, and the cherry on the cake is usually the city water department which can always hide expenditures easily.

If I were the new mayor.....I'd ask the state to come in with some investigation.  The five cops who left?  I imagine they will be hired within weeks by some small town nearby and they will continue their money-making talents for that organization.  Why would you need six total cops for a town of 700 residents?  That's another odd thing.  Normally, a town of this size would not be able to generate enough income to pay the cops.....unless there's tons of tickets issued monthly.

Across the nation, there are thousand of Parma-like towns with the same issue.  They've built up a network of 'good-buddies', and made the cops into revenue-generators.  There ought to be a rule in every state that determines that a town of 1,000 residents can have as many cops as they want, and generate as much revenue via the cops as they want......until they get to a certain point in relation to the town's size.....then all cop-generated revenue would go to some state educational fund.