Illinois has the most local governments in the nation, multiplying the chances for corruption – Chicago Tribune/MSN

Public corruption in Illinois knows no partisan or geographic bounds. That’s in part because there are just so many governments in Illinois in the first place — thousands of them, more than any other state in the nation. Efforts to eliminate or consolidate units of government have largely failed for a century, thanks in part to politicians’ instinct for self preservation, but also a fear, particularly among many in rural downstate areas, of losing their civic identity.