Imagine running against him and losing. Where do you go from there?

So, a known kiddie fiddler was elected mayor.

Meanwhile low level government workers literally have to turn in holiday candy given to them by vendors.

A solid silver dagger would in fact be pretty useless as a weapon. Pure silver is quite soft; it won’t hold an edge, and it would deform as soon as you hit anything with it. It also doesn’t harden well, so any attempt to strengthen it via tempering like you would with steel would just make it brittle.