ABSTRACT
State attorneys general and district attorneys “are generally not equipped with the resources needed for a political undercover investigation”; most are elected, which can lead to their reluctance to investigate corrupt ofcials in their own parties; and “they often are hampered by state laws that are less expansive than federal ones.”45 As a consequence, the federal government is central to the curtailment of corruption at every governmental level, initiating “perhaps as many as 80 percent” of all prosecutions for public corruption in the United States.46
