Gadsden isn’t that small.
35 thousand people is a big town in Alabama. Not a city but town. I don’t think you can hide bad stuff in a town that size. My town of 10K knows who is dirty or not. If a dirty politician from my town was running for senate you could line up hundreds to tell people the truth. The good ones Get respect and keep their jobs bad ones get kicked out. Good old boy or not they lose positions when they go sideways.