They sure can be. A huge part of any developer's job is navigating the politics and regulatory process. I think there's a lot of pay to play going on.
Noooo! No graft in local governments at all just ask the guy that was blocked for years from digging the gravel out of his land because the town didn't allow mining and sold on the cheap to the local paving contractor who was able to get a gravel permit right after the first selectman had his driveway paved.
Nope no corruption here
/sarcasm