In New Jersey, where political corruption is as ordinary as summer rain, the state arts board last week announced its annual dispensation of funds, and immediately, a question arose. Why exactly would such a large percentage of the overall funding be going to counties with a preference for Democratic legislators, while Republican counties were generally underfunded? Members of the arts board “lacked specifics as to why groups in one county got more than another, beyond that their applications may have been more noteworthy. They stressed politics plays no role and said evaluators are experts.” Some others in the state theorized that the Republican counties are less urban, and their arts groups less sophisticated at writing grant proposals.