Corruption is Driving Up Your Electricity Bill - More Perfect Union

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3. Shades of the Irvine Water District scandal of 2000

The board was made up of about a dozen incompetent do-nothings - each with a large staff, full of everything from ne'er-do-well relatives to mistresses.

So a group of customers organized, and in 2000 won the almost unthinkable: a binding vote forcing the IWD to shed half its board, along with much of their "staff" and other perks.

Well, faster than you can say nepotism, a large pump station overlooking Aliso Beach (a highly-scenic and über-expensive area later featured in the Bush-era reality show Laguna Beach) leaked thousands gallons of raw sewage.

The stench would be felt for miles, and for days (and this was in summer). Numerous swimmers and surfers were hospitalized - including a man who permanently lost his senses of taste and smell.

The causes were never "determined." And the board reforms were quietly dropped.

This - if generalized enough, for long enough - is how nations descend into third-world status.