Unincorporated DeKalb is a prime example of this -- a lot of money, and county politics is the easiest way to get ahold of it.

That said, Atlanta as a whole has also managed to mostly teeter its way through racism and economic inequality better than other large southern cities, largely through economic-political compromises [2].

So there's something to be said for a little political corruption.

[1] https://southernspaces.org/sites/default/files/images/2015/p...

[2] Initially the turn-of-the-century Atlanta compromise, in which African Americans submitted to white political rule, in exchange for economic and some educational opportunities. And then the 1970s+ compromise, whereby white businesses agreed to cede political power to African Americans as long as businesses weren't overly interfered with by government.