Montreal is not alone

New York City Councilman Dan Halloran, State Senator Malcolm Smith and four other political personalities have been arrested over an alleged conspiracy to pay tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to state Republican bosses to allow Smith to run for mayor of New York City. Given the amount of money to be made in construction contracts and service provision in both centralized and decentralized institutional settings, private individuals and businesses have strong incentives to seek mutually beneficial arrangements with political machines and city officials.