If you don't think bribery goes on in local government you've never been involved too closely. A city official in my town was just convicted of voter fraud. Imagine how many people go uncaught.
I've had many building inspections done and I've never even been tempted to bribe anyone. The allusion the parent comment is making is to societies in which bribes are practically required.
Dollars to donuts, if I tried to bribe an Oak Park building inspector, I'd end up in administrative court.
I have bribed someone: a municipal impound lot that had towed my car, many years ago. Impound lots are the kind of skeezy places where you can kind of tell that the opportunity exists to bribe your way out of a problem. To me, that's the kind of exception that proves the rule; I could tell the difference between the impound lot and, say, a building inspector because there is a difference. Most officials are dangerous to try to bribe.
Not that I'm advocating paying bribes (I'd much rather see corrupt officials jailed), but there's a right way to phrase a bribe offer. Something along the lines of "Is there a fee I can pay for expedited service?" gives you plausible deniability. As some government agencies do provide expedited services for an extra fee, it's an entirely reasonable question.
