The arrest of a fourth Palm Beach County commissioner last month should raise the stakes on corruption investigations in Florida.

But, according to attorney general candidate Dan Gelber, the state's prosecutors are hamstrung by a lack of staff and resources -- leaving the door open to more bad behavior by public officials.

"Florida has a corruption problem. There's lots of (real-estate) development and many, many governing bodies. That leads to lots of issues relating to money, and more opportunity (for corruption)," said Gelber, a Democratic state senator from Miami Beach.

Indeed, public corruption cases have popped up from the Broward County School Board to the highest levels of the Republican Party of Florida.

The case of Jeff Koons highlighted, yet again, how real-estate deals and political influence coincide in the Sunshine State.

The two-term Palm Beach County commissioner allegedly used the power of his office to threaten a family that opposed one of his pet environmental projects. Resigning from office, Koons entered into a plea bargain last week on extortion, perjury and violating public open-meeting laws.

Koons follows in the footsteps of fellow commissioners Tony Masilotti, Warren Newell and Mary McCarty, who were convicted in the past three years on various civil and criminal charges related to their conduct in office.

Two West Palm Beach commissioners also served time for felonies for abusing their positions.

But while the media dub Palm Beach "Corruption County," the problems hardly stop there.

Orange County Commissioner Mildred Fernandez recently was suspended after her arrest on bribery and campaign contribution charges.

In Broward County, meantime, at least one sealed indictment has been issued over the School Board's allegedly illicit dealings with lobbyists.

Previously, FBI investigations brought down Broward County Commissioner Joe Eggelletion and exposed Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein's massive Ponzi scheme, which parlayed ill-gotten gains into campaign contributions to dozens of Florida politicians and both political parties.

Other investigations are said to be targeting more officials in nine South Florida counties.

Gov. Charlie Crist says that since he became governor in 2007, he has had to remove more than 30 people from office on corruption charges.

Even while bemoaning the problem, Crist saw corruption up close and personal when Rothstein, his friend and one of his larger campaign contributors, was shipped off to federal prison. Rothstein had donated $52,000 to Crist at the governor's 52nd birthday party and contributed some $600,000 to the state Republican Party.

The Jim Greer affair hit even closer to home. Greer, Crist's longtime protege and handpicked GOP chairman was indicted on felony charges ranging from money laundering to fraud.

Ongoing state and federal investigations into party finances prompted Republican attorney general candidate Pam Bondi to call Greer's dealings "the ultimate example of corruption."

During the 2010 legislative session, Gelber proposed a reform package to toughen state corruption and ethics laws. When his measure failed, he called on Crist to convene a special session to take up the issue again.

"We tend to see corruption of the process in development issues and an unconstrained campaign finance system," Gelber told Sunshine State News. "It's a horribly broken system that almost invites the influence of money."

Gelber called the Palm Beach cases "startling events" that demonstrate "an obvious need" for tougher laws and stricter enforcement.