You know what would have been a way more interesting set up?
Make the Dutchess the true source of the corruption
Keep Padme around for this episode, have the Dutchess talk about doing whatever it takes to "keep her planet alive as long as possible"
Have Ashoka and her cronies find out the truth, leading to a confrontation between Ashoka and Padme and between corruption that "helps the people" vs giving the people the truth that would cause them to run out of food/water sooner
This could have been an interesting concept
Too bad this show doesn't have clever writing