You should looks at Democratic strongholds if you think they are somehow better. As a Californian I’ll say the level of corruption/cronyism in our state is insane relative to that seen in others. We literally got conned into giving Nancy Pelosi’s family a huge ($50B+) contract with our high speed rail bill, that isn’t going to be what we voted on at all[1]. Democrats and Republicans are 2 sides of the same coin. This is very apparent with the rise of Anti-Trumpism.
Neither of your cites supports the claim that corruption or cronyism in California is worse than it is in other states.
Your Wiki citation doesn't mention any link of a connection between Pelosi and the HSR, nor does a Google or DDG search turn up any mention, outside of anonymous blog posts all citing each other.
The genesis of Anti-Trumpism was the Nopublicans. It was the official party line of the GOP during the Obama era to simply vote "no" on everything he tried to pass, even when he was trying to implement GOP policies, because they wanted to (a) make him a 1-term president, and (b) when that failed to limit his successes. In contrast, the Democrats actually worked with Bush and Bush Sr before him on domestic and foreign policy, and have worked with their GOP counterparts on such during Trump's presidency.
Yeah, I got it wrong, it’s Dianne Feinstein not Pelosi, and furthermore it seems that on-the-books financial ties had been broken, but that sure stinks. Furthermore, I’ve had first hand experience with corruption in this state, and I know many other who have. I find it difficult to believe that most states are worse. Oregon seems far more together from what I understand about their politics, for an example of another Democratic state.
My friend, 2 wrongs don’t make a right. I admire(d) Democrats for their pragmatism and I loathe Republicans for their lack of it. I’m not defending Republicans or Conservatives, only pointing out that what we need is fresh blood.
See https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/19/apollo-15-astronaut-anti-tru...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_High-Speed_Rail#Leg...