A couple of months ago, Rio de Janeiro Mayor Marcelo Crivella seemed like an afterthought. On April 2, the City Council decided to open impeachment proceedings against him in a landslide vote. The suggestion was that the three factors necessary to oust politicians in Brazil—a lack of popular support, a disgruntled group of lawmakers, and an economic crisis—were all piling up against Mr. Crivella. In 2018, he had escaped another impeachment request—but 13 councilors later flipped against him.
Mr. Crivella was accused of illegally extending advertising contracts without public bidding processes last year. Such contract extensions are common (although illegal) in municipal administrations. The council’s investigation committee did consider the contracts irregular—but exempted the mayor from any responsibility. Instead, the commission established that civil servants were responsible for the crime—the political equivalent of blaming the intern for the boss’s mistakes.
Although the report on the case exonerates Mr. Crivella, he is not off the hook just yet. The City Council will hold the deciding impeachment vote next week. The mayor’s opposition, led by...
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