What kind of a character is the mayor

A typical Russian public servant, the mayor is concerned mostly with appearances rather than actually serving the people. When he hears that a government inspector is coming to town, he orders his civil servants to make their institutions look efficient. He is deeply nervous about being found out for his own bad behavior, which includes bribery and squeezing his shopkeepers too hard. He thinks these are mere indiscretions, though, and is inclined to give himself a pass. When the shopkeepers complain about his various bad deeds, he protests that they are lying. Of course, the Mayor himself is also a liar, trying desperately to wine and dine Khlestakov and fill his head with inflated and inaccurate accounts of the way his town runs.