It seemed like a good idea at the time. In July, when Brian Herron tearfully stepped down from his post as representative of Minneapolis's Eighth Ward after being caught taking bribes, constituents and city leaders called for an independent investigation into possible corruption at Minneapolis City Hall. Then-Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton heeded the call by appointing...a contributor to her political campaigns. When a legitimately independent snoop, Chicago attorney Joe Duffy, was finally brought in, city officials got just what they wanted in exchange for the $150,000 of public money that paid for the probe: a cursory glance at the Herron case and a clean bill of health.