Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan: April 25, 2014 - TBD; 5 Michigan Health Officials Charged
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Former Snyder Aide Blames Flint Crisis On Misguided Conservative Philosophy
BY BRYCE COVERT
FEB 23, 2016 11:14 AM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/AL GOLDIS
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder
Dennis Schornack, who served as a senior advisor on transportation in Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) administration for three years, blamed the widespread water contamination that has led to lead poisoning and possibly a Legionnaire’s outbreak on Snyder’s penchant for running government like a business. He’s the first Snyder official to directly criticize the governor’s handling of the situation.
“Government is not a business…and it cannot be run like one,” Schornack told the Detroit Free Press. “The people of Flint got stuck on the losing end of decisions driven by spreadsheets instead of water quality and public health. Having been a Snyder staffer, luckily in a spreadsheet-rich area like transportation, I lived the culture amidst its faults.”
been accused of working with his other colleagues at the law firm to push Detroit through bankruptcy before he even took the position, rather than hold serious negotiations over pension obligations. The bankruptcy plan he eventually orchestrated was also curbed by a judge for trying to give too much to banks at the expense of retirees.
Snyder has also overseen the privatization of a number of government functions, including public schools, services for veterans, and prison food. He was also criticized for including a proposal in his most recent budget to move state mental health funds into private entities, although the administration pushed back on characterizing it as privatization.
Snyder disputed Schornack’s characterization of the Flint crisis. “It’s not a business model,” he told the Free Press Editorial Board, but a group of career civil servants who didn’t use common sense. “This shows a culture of, ‘Here’s a regulation; let’s just apply the regulation,’ instead of ‘Let’s worry about someone’s health,'” he said.
It’s still not clear who made the final decisions to switch the water supply to the Flint River while it waited for a new facility to be built. Nor do we know how the city failed to add corrosion controls to make sure lead didn’t leach into the pipes. But evidence shows the series of decisions were intended to cut costs in a city struggling with its finances. The initial plan claimed that it would save $6 to $8 million. The costs of the fallout will far outstrip those potential savings, however: the price tag for replacing the city’s pipes alone has been estimated at $55 million, not to mention the health, educational, and incarceration costs as children who have been poisoned grow up. The civil lawsuits against the city have already begun piling up.
Schornack told the Press that he believes Snyder is a smart leader and “basically a good guy,” although added that if detractors successfully add a recall question to November’s ballot, “he’s dead.”
Former Snyder Aide Blames Flint Crisis On Misguided Conservative Philosophy
BY BRYCE COVERT
FEB 23, 2016 11:14 AM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/AL GOLDIS
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder
Dennis Schornack, who served as a senior advisor on transportation in Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) administration for three years, blamed the widespread water contamination that has led to lead poisoning and possibly a Legionnaire’s outbreak on Snyder’s penchant for running government like a business. He’s the first Snyder official to directly criticize the governor’s handling of the situation.
“Government is not a business…and it cannot be run like one,” Schornack told the Detroit Free Press. “The people of Flint got stuck on the losing end of decisions driven by spreadsheets instead of water quality and public health. Having been a Snyder staffer, luckily in a spreadsheet-rich area like transportation, I lived the culture amidst its faults.”
been accused of working with his other colleagues at the law firm to push Detroit through bankruptcy before he even took the position, rather than hold serious negotiations over pension obligations. The bankruptcy plan he eventually orchestrated was also curbed by a judge for trying to give too much to banks at the expense of retirees.
Snyder has also overseen the privatization of a number of government functions, including public schools, services for veterans, and prison food. He was also criticized for including a proposal in his most recent budget to move state mental health funds into private entities, although the administration pushed back on characterizing it as privatization.
Snyder disputed Schornack’s characterization of the Flint crisis. “It’s not a business model,” he told the Free Press Editorial Board, but a group of career civil servants who didn’t use common sense. “This shows a culture of, ‘Here’s a regulation; let’s just apply the regulation,’ instead of ‘Let’s worry about someone’s health,'” he said.
It’s still not clear who made the final decisions to switch the water supply to the Flint River while it waited for a new facility to be built. Nor do we know how the city failed to add corrosion controls to make sure lead didn’t leach into the pipes. But evidence shows the series of decisions were intended to cut costs in a city struggling with its finances. The initial plan claimed that it would save $6 to $8 million. The costs of the fallout will far outstrip those potential savings, however: the price tag for replacing the city’s pipes alone has been estimated at $55 million, not to mention the health, educational, and incarceration costs as children who have been poisoned grow up. The civil lawsuits against the city have already begun piling up.
Schornack told the Press that he believes Snyder is a smart leader and “basically a good guy,” although added that if detractors successfully add a recall question to November’s ballot, “he’s dead.”
Former Snyder Aide Blames Flint Crisis On Misguided Conservative Philosophy
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Legionnaires’ Outbreak in Flint Was Met With Silence
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/us/legionnaires-outbreak-in-flint-was-met-with-silence.html
@tru_m.a.c
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/us/legionnaires-outbreak-in-flint-was-met-with-silence.html
@tru_m.a.c
Has Synder testified in front of Congress yet or is he still laying out his budget to the state legislature ?
Red Shield
Global Domination
Legionnaires’ Outbreak in Flint Was Met With Silence
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/us/legionnaires-outbreak-in-flint-was-met-with-silence.html
@tru_m.a.c
Like I said.. ain't shyt gonna happen because Flint is black.
TransJenner
Banned
The only good thing about Flint is MC Breed and Jon Connor
Without a court case, everything will continue to be he said she said.Legionnaires’ Outbreak in Flint Was Met With Silence
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/us/legionnaires-outbreak-in-flint-was-met-with-silence.html
@tru_m.a.c
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Ted Cruz Is Holding Up The Senate’s Bipartisan Bill To Address Flint’s Water Crisis
BY EMILY ATKIN
FEB 25, 2016 5:05 PM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/JOHN LOCHER
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
In an almost miraculous display of bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate have agreed on a $250 million aid package to address the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
There’s at least one problem, however: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
According to a report in Politico, Cruz is halting movement of the bill “to give him more time to study the details of the proposal.” The Republican presidential candidate placed a so-called “soft hold” on the aid package on Thursday, Politico reported, effectively preventing it from moving to the floor for a vote.
Cruz spokesperson Rachael Slobodien reportedly said the Texas senator’s hold on the aid package would not be permanent. In addition, the House has not yet taken action on an identical bill, and is not expected to until next month, if it does at all.
The bipartisan proposal — put forth by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) — would provide $100 million to address Flint’s lead-contaminated pipes, and $70 million in loans to fix the city’s water infrastructure, among other things. While Politico noted that other Republican senators may also have placed holds on the aid bill, Cruz’s hold is the only one that’s been reported so far.
For now, as the Senate and House continue to deliberate, each day that passes is another one without federal aid for Flint, a city of almost 100,000 people that has been in a state of emergencysince January due to lead contamination in its drinking water system. The prolonged lead exposure is widely expected to have long-lasting health effects on Flint’s residents, who are disproportionately poor and African-American compared to other parts of Michigan.
In comments to Politico, Sen. Stabenow speculated that Cruz’s hold on the bill might hurt his campaign for president — at least when it comes to her state. Michigan’s presidential primary is scheduled for March 8.
More about the fight over the Senate aid package can be found here.
Ted Cruz Is Holding Up The Senate’s Bipartisan Bill To Address Flint’s Water Crisis
BY EMILY ATKIN
FEB 25, 2016 5:05 PM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/JOHN LOCHER
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
In an almost miraculous display of bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate have agreed on a $250 million aid package to address the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
There’s at least one problem, however: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
According to a report in Politico, Cruz is halting movement of the bill “to give him more time to study the details of the proposal.” The Republican presidential candidate placed a so-called “soft hold” on the aid package on Thursday, Politico reported, effectively preventing it from moving to the floor for a vote.
Cruz spokesperson Rachael Slobodien reportedly said the Texas senator’s hold on the aid package would not be permanent. In addition, the House has not yet taken action on an identical bill, and is not expected to until next month, if it does at all.
The bipartisan proposal — put forth by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) — would provide $100 million to address Flint’s lead-contaminated pipes, and $70 million in loans to fix the city’s water infrastructure, among other things. While Politico noted that other Republican senators may also have placed holds on the aid bill, Cruz’s hold is the only one that’s been reported so far.
For now, as the Senate and House continue to deliberate, each day that passes is another one without federal aid for Flint, a city of almost 100,000 people that has been in a state of emergencysince January due to lead contamination in its drinking water system. The prolonged lead exposure is widely expected to have long-lasting health effects on Flint’s residents, who are disproportionately poor and African-American compared to other parts of Michigan.
In comments to Politico, Sen. Stabenow speculated that Cruz’s hold on the bill might hurt his campaign for president — at least when it comes to her state. Michigan’s presidential primary is scheduled for March 8.
More about the fight over the Senate aid package can be found here.
Ted Cruz Is Holding Up The Senate’s Bipartisan Bill To Address Flint’s Water Crisis
Straight scumbag manTed Cruz Is Holding Up The Senate’s Bipartisan Bill To Address Flint’s Water Crisis
BY EMILY ATKIN
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/JOHN LOCHER
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
In an almost miraculous display of bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate have agreed on a $250 million aid package to address the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
There’s at least one problem, however: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
According to a report in Politico, Cruz is halting movement of the bill “to give him more time to study the details of the proposal.” The Republican presidential candidate placed a so-called “soft hold” on the aid package on Thursday, Politico reported, effectively preventing it from moving to the floor for a vote.
Cruz spokesperson Rachael Slobodien reportedly said the Texas senator’s hold on the aid package would not be permanent. In addition, the House has not yet taken action on an identical bill, and is not expected to until next month, if it does at all.
The bipartisan proposal — put forth by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) — would provide $100 million to address Flint’s lead-contaminated pipes, and $70 million in loans to fix the city’s water infrastructure, among other things. While Politico noted that other Republican senators may also have placed holds on the aid bill, Cruz’s hold is the only one that’s been reported so far.
For now, as the Senate and House continue to deliberate, each day that passes is another one without federal aid for Flint, a city of almost 100,000 people that has been in a state of emergencysince January due to lead contamination in its drinking water system. The prolonged lead exposure is widely expected to have long-lasting health effects on Flint’s residents, who are disproportionately poor and African-American compared to other parts of Michigan.
In comments to Politico, Sen. Stabenow speculated that Cruz’s hold on the bill might hurt his campaign for president — at least when it comes to her state. Michigan’s presidential primary is scheduled for March 8.
More about the fight over the Senate aid package can be found here.
Ted Cruz Is Holding Up The Senate’s Bipartisan Bill To Address Flint’s Water Crisis
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Snyder Aide Says Governor Knew About Flint Water Issues A Year Before Action Was Taken
BY BRYCE COVERT
FEB 26, 2016 9:31 AM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/PAUL SANCYA
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (D)
Aides close to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and his top lawyers discussed concerns about water quality in Flint and its impact on health as early as October 2014, a full year before the water source was switched back to Detroit and away from the Flint River, according to a review of 550 newly released emails by the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News. At least one aide says the concerns were brought directly to the governor himself.
Valerie Brader, deputy legal counsel and senior policy advisor to Snyder, argued after the city left the Detroit water system and began drawing its drinking water from the Flint River that it should return to Detroit in an October 14, 2014 email to the governor’s chief of staff, Dennis Muchmore, and two other top aides. It was at that time that General Motors announced it would stop using Flint River water because it was corroding its machinery, and Brader cited bacterial contamination in the water, all of which made the situation an “urgent matter to fix.”
She wrote, “As you know there have been problems with the Flint water quality since they left the DWSD [Detroit Water and Sewerage Department], which was a decision by the emergency manager there,” adding, “Specifically, there has been a boil water order due to bacterial contamination… What is not yet broadly known is that attempts to fix that have led to some levels of chlorine-related chemicals that can cause long-term damage if not remedied (though we believe they will remedy them before any damage would occur in the population).” Those chemicals are trihalomethanes (TTHMs), a carcinogen that can cause kidney and liver damage, among other issues, and two months later the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a notice in Flint that it had violated the allowable levels of TTHMs in the water. It violated that level two more times after that.
While the city acknowledged GM’s decision to stop using Flint River water on October 16, it said the move “ensures that Flint residents will continue to have safe quality drinking water but minimizes the impact on GM’s machining work.”
In an email response to Brader also sent to the governor’s top aides the same day, Michael Gadola, Snyder’s legal counsel and a former Flint resident, said, “To anyone who grew up in Flint as I did, the notion that I would be getting my drinking water from the Flint River is downright scary,” and said the city “should try to get back on the Detroit system as a stopgap ASAP before this thing gets too far out of control.” He also added, “Too bad the [emergency manager Darnell Earley] didn’t ask me what I thought, though I’m sure he heard it from plenty of others.”
Brader said in an interview this week with the Detroit News that she never raised the concerns in her emails with Snyder directly, nor did Gadola. But Muchmore told the Free Press that they did reach the governor at the time of the October 2014 email exchanges. “We shared them,” he said. The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the emails.
But it took a year before anything changed for Flint residents. Muchmore said Thursday that cost was the biggest hurdle in discussions about whether the city should go back to using Detroit’s water. He told the Detroit News, “A lot of us felt like ‘I don’t care what it costs’ and ‘we have to go back’ because people didn’t have any faith in the water system at the time.” The Treasury Department said the cost of reconnection would be an extra $1 million a month, more than what the city could afford.
In January of 2015, Flint’s emergency manager Earley rejected the idea of switching back to the Detroit water system. Brader said Earley told her the problems with the Flint River water were expected to improve and weren’t likely to come back. In a February 5 email, Muchmore brought up the idea of putting a $2 million state grant for Flint toward reconnecting to Detroit. “Since we’re in charge, we can hardly ignore the people of Flint,” he wrote to communications officials in the governor’s office, the DEQ, and Treasury Department. “After all, if GM refuses to use the water in their plant and our own agencies are warning people not to drink it…we look pretty stupid hiding behind some financial statement.”
But the water source wasn’t switched back until October of 2015, after Snyder approved using an estimated $12 million in city, state, and private funding. At that point, the harm had been done and lead and other contaminants are still leaching into the water from damaged pipes. It has now been acknowledged as a widespread public health crisis.
There have been some indications before that the governor may have known about the problems in Flint long before action was taken. State officials brought bottled water to a state building in the city in January 2015 out of concern over the water quality, a year before bottled water was made widely available to residents. Other emails previously indicated that the administration was made aware of a Legionnaires outbreak in March 2015, with a potential connection to the water contamination, even though Snyder said he didn’t know about it until early this year. But these latest emails are the clearest evidence yet that Snyder’s administration, and quite likely Snyder himself, knew about the problems almost immediately after they began occurring.
The revelation has prompted at least one group to call for his resignation. “There’s no reasonable person who can believe at this point that every top advisor to Rick Snyder knew that there was an issue, but Snyder knew nothing. At worst he’s been lying all along and at best he’s the worst manager on the planet. Under either scenario he’s clearly unfit to lead our state and he should resign immediately,” Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, said in a statement. “Without question, Snyder and his entire administration have failed Flint and the residents of Michigan…to him Flint families weren’t as important as the bottom line on his spreadsheet. There are no more excuses and no more scapegoats. The Governor must resign.” A recall petition to remove him from office was recently approved by a state panel.
Snyder Aide Says Governor Knew About Flint Water Issues A Year Before Action Was Taken
BY BRYCE COVERT
FEB 26, 2016 9:31 AM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/PAUL SANCYA
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (D)
Aides close to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and his top lawyers discussed concerns about water quality in Flint and its impact on health as early as October 2014, a full year before the water source was switched back to Detroit and away from the Flint River, according to a review of 550 newly released emails by the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News. At least one aide says the concerns were brought directly to the governor himself.
Valerie Brader, deputy legal counsel and senior policy advisor to Snyder, argued after the city left the Detroit water system and began drawing its drinking water from the Flint River that it should return to Detroit in an October 14, 2014 email to the governor’s chief of staff, Dennis Muchmore, and two other top aides. It was at that time that General Motors announced it would stop using Flint River water because it was corroding its machinery, and Brader cited bacterial contamination in the water, all of which made the situation an “urgent matter to fix.”
She wrote, “As you know there have been problems with the Flint water quality since they left the DWSD [Detroit Water and Sewerage Department], which was a decision by the emergency manager there,” adding, “Specifically, there has been a boil water order due to bacterial contamination… What is not yet broadly known is that attempts to fix that have led to some levels of chlorine-related chemicals that can cause long-term damage if not remedied (though we believe they will remedy them before any damage would occur in the population).” Those chemicals are trihalomethanes (TTHMs), a carcinogen that can cause kidney and liver damage, among other issues, and two months later the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a notice in Flint that it had violated the allowable levels of TTHMs in the water. It violated that level two more times after that.
While the city acknowledged GM’s decision to stop using Flint River water on October 16, it said the move “ensures that Flint residents will continue to have safe quality drinking water but minimizes the impact on GM’s machining work.”
In an email response to Brader also sent to the governor’s top aides the same day, Michael Gadola, Snyder’s legal counsel and a former Flint resident, said, “To anyone who grew up in Flint as I did, the notion that I would be getting my drinking water from the Flint River is downright scary,” and said the city “should try to get back on the Detroit system as a stopgap ASAP before this thing gets too far out of control.” He also added, “Too bad the [emergency manager Darnell Earley] didn’t ask me what I thought, though I’m sure he heard it from plenty of others.”
Brader said in an interview this week with the Detroit News that she never raised the concerns in her emails with Snyder directly, nor did Gadola. But Muchmore told the Free Press that they did reach the governor at the time of the October 2014 email exchanges. “We shared them,” he said. The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the emails.
But it took a year before anything changed for Flint residents. Muchmore said Thursday that cost was the biggest hurdle in discussions about whether the city should go back to using Detroit’s water. He told the Detroit News, “A lot of us felt like ‘I don’t care what it costs’ and ‘we have to go back’ because people didn’t have any faith in the water system at the time.” The Treasury Department said the cost of reconnection would be an extra $1 million a month, more than what the city could afford.
In January of 2015, Flint’s emergency manager Earley rejected the idea of switching back to the Detroit water system. Brader said Earley told her the problems with the Flint River water were expected to improve and weren’t likely to come back. In a February 5 email, Muchmore brought up the idea of putting a $2 million state grant for Flint toward reconnecting to Detroit. “Since we’re in charge, we can hardly ignore the people of Flint,” he wrote to communications officials in the governor’s office, the DEQ, and Treasury Department. “After all, if GM refuses to use the water in their plant and our own agencies are warning people not to drink it…we look pretty stupid hiding behind some financial statement.”
But the water source wasn’t switched back until October of 2015, after Snyder approved using an estimated $12 million in city, state, and private funding. At that point, the harm had been done and lead and other contaminants are still leaching into the water from damaged pipes. It has now been acknowledged as a widespread public health crisis.
There have been some indications before that the governor may have known about the problems in Flint long before action was taken. State officials brought bottled water to a state building in the city in January 2015 out of concern over the water quality, a year before bottled water was made widely available to residents. Other emails previously indicated that the administration was made aware of a Legionnaires outbreak in March 2015, with a potential connection to the water contamination, even though Snyder said he didn’t know about it until early this year. But these latest emails are the clearest evidence yet that Snyder’s administration, and quite likely Snyder himself, knew about the problems almost immediately after they began occurring.
The revelation has prompted at least one group to call for his resignation. “There’s no reasonable person who can believe at this point that every top advisor to Rick Snyder knew that there was an issue, but Snyder knew nothing. At worst he’s been lying all along and at best he’s the worst manager on the planet. Under either scenario he’s clearly unfit to lead our state and he should resign immediately,” Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, said in a statement. “Without question, Snyder and his entire administration have failed Flint and the residents of Michigan…to him Flint families weren’t as important as the bottom line on his spreadsheet. There are no more excuses and no more scapegoats. The Governor must resign.” A recall petition to remove him from office was recently approved by a state panel.
Snyder Aide Says Governor Knew About Flint Water Issues A Year Before Action Was Taken
of course he knew, they all knew....
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Group Claims Snyder Is Illegally Using Millions In Taxpayer Money To Defend Himself Against Flint Lawsuits
BY BRYCE COVERT
MAR 11, 2016 11:39 AM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/AL GOLDIS
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R)
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) has inked agreements with two law firms to sort through documents and conduct other legal work in relation to the lawsuits brought against him by Flint residents and the ongoing investigations into the water crisis in that city. Now Progress Michigan, a state advocacy group, has filed a legal complaint alleging that Snyder’s request to use state money to pay those legal fees violates a state law.
On a call with press on Friday, Lonnie Scott, Progress Michigan Executive Director, said that the group believes state law requires him to set up a legal defense fund to raise private money to cover the costs of dealing with any criminal charges, of which there are at least two lodged against him, and disclose those sources. “This is clearly for Snyder’s personal legal defense,” Scott said. “Governor Snyder has a net worth of roughly $200 million. He can certainly afford and should be required to pay for his own legal bills.”
While the act doesn’t stipulate that public officials cannot use public funds for legal defense against criminal charges, Mark Brewer, legal counsel for Progress Michigan, argues it’s the entire premise of the law. “It’s unprecedented what the governor is trying to do here,” he said. “The state has never paid to protect an official against criminal charges.”
“We think this should be a message to anyone who wants to run the state like a business,” Scott added. Snyder came to office running on his experience in the private sector, particularly as an accountant, calling himself a tough nerd. “The state of Michigan is not your personal piggybank, and we will not let you run it into the ground.”
Instead, the group wants the money Snyder requested to be put toward Flint, going to pipe replacement, full reimbursement for residents who were paying the highest water bills in the country while their water was contaminated, and wraparound services for families and children who have been poisoned by lead.
The agreements that Snyder is seeking approval of from the State Administrative Board Finance and Claims Committee stipulate that the law firms will be paid as much as $1.2 million combined, according to an agenda for the board. And the attorneys are making a pretty penny in hourly rates. The highest is charging $540 an hour, according to records obtained by MLive, while three other attorneys will get $400 or more per hour. Yet a 2014 study found the median billing rate for an attorney in Michigan was just $245 an hour. “The fact that a counsel has such experience is a positive thing for getting the work done, even though no one in the Governor’s Office did anything criminal,” Snyder spokesperson Ari Adler told MLive. “We simply do not have the internal resources and expertise available to address such large legal demands and needed to turn to outside counsel for assistance.”
Adler previously told The Detroit News the firms were already going to be paid about a half million dollars through the end of this year, but the contracts were expanded in anticipation of work related to various lawsuits, investigations, and public records requests. “This work is being done to ensure that state government is being transparent, so the use of tax dollars is appropriate,” he said.
The state board will decide whether to approve Snyder’s requests next Friday, and Progress Michigan is urging it not to. “We intend to fight this gross misuse of taxpayer funds to the end,” Scott said.
A number of lawsuits have been filed over the water contamination that led to widespread lead poisoning, including many aimed at Snyder himself.
The use of state funds for the legal fees has already drawn ire from Snyder’s critics. “It’s beyond outrageous that Snyder wants to take $1.2 million from Michigan taxpayers to pay for defense attorneys over his involvement in the poisoning of Flint’s water,” the state’s Democratic Party Chair Brandon Dillon said in a statement. “That money should go toward replacing lead pipes and getting safe drinking water to Flint families, not for Snyder’s defense attorneys.”
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, a Democrat from Flint, said in a statement, “Paying more for high-priced lawyers than we are for school nurses or fully refunding victims is another kick in the teeth to taxpayers and my community. Our priority should be sending every resource we can to removing pipes and protecting kids, not covering legal fees.”
The agenda also shows that the state attorney general, Bill Schuette, has requested $1.5 million in legal fees paid through state general funding to Flood Law for his investigation into the Flint water crisis. That effort already came under fire when Schuette appointed Todd Flood, a former prosecutor and a donor to both Schuette and Snyder, as special counsel heading up the investigation to avoid a potential conflict of interest. Under the new funding request, Flood and nine other special assistant attorneys general will be paid $400 an hour, while the two chief investigators will get $165 an hour. Progress Michigan’s legal action does not relate to the fees being sought by Schuette.
So far the state has sent Flint $2 million to remove the lead pipes that were corroded when the city switched its drinking water source from Detroit to the Flint River in early 2014. Yet current Mayor Karen Weaver (D) has estimated the project will cost $55 million. The state has also offered residents $30 million in bill relief, but it will only be for a partial credit moving forward and the elimination of debt only related to water that went to drinking, bathing, or cooking.
Group Claims Snyder Is Illegally Using Millions In Taxpayer Money To Defend Himself Against Flint Lawsuits
BY BRYCE COVERT
MAR 11, 2016 11:39 AM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/AL GOLDIS
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R)
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) has inked agreements with two law firms to sort through documents and conduct other legal work in relation to the lawsuits brought against him by Flint residents and the ongoing investigations into the water crisis in that city. Now Progress Michigan, a state advocacy group, has filed a legal complaint alleging that Snyder’s request to use state money to pay those legal fees violates a state law.
On a call with press on Friday, Lonnie Scott, Progress Michigan Executive Director, said that the group believes state law requires him to set up a legal defense fund to raise private money to cover the costs of dealing with any criminal charges, of which there are at least two lodged against him, and disclose those sources. “This is clearly for Snyder’s personal legal defense,” Scott said. “Governor Snyder has a net worth of roughly $200 million. He can certainly afford and should be required to pay for his own legal bills.”
While the act doesn’t stipulate that public officials cannot use public funds for legal defense against criminal charges, Mark Brewer, legal counsel for Progress Michigan, argues it’s the entire premise of the law. “It’s unprecedented what the governor is trying to do here,” he said. “The state has never paid to protect an official against criminal charges.”
“We think this should be a message to anyone who wants to run the state like a business,” Scott added. Snyder came to office running on his experience in the private sector, particularly as an accountant, calling himself a tough nerd. “The state of Michigan is not your personal piggybank, and we will not let you run it into the ground.”
Instead, the group wants the money Snyder requested to be put toward Flint, going to pipe replacement, full reimbursement for residents who were paying the highest water bills in the country while their water was contaminated, and wraparound services for families and children who have been poisoned by lead.
The agreements that Snyder is seeking approval of from the State Administrative Board Finance and Claims Committee stipulate that the law firms will be paid as much as $1.2 million combined, according to an agenda for the board. And the attorneys are making a pretty penny in hourly rates. The highest is charging $540 an hour, according to records obtained by MLive, while three other attorneys will get $400 or more per hour. Yet a 2014 study found the median billing rate for an attorney in Michigan was just $245 an hour. “The fact that a counsel has such experience is a positive thing for getting the work done, even though no one in the Governor’s Office did anything criminal,” Snyder spokesperson Ari Adler told MLive. “We simply do not have the internal resources and expertise available to address such large legal demands and needed to turn to outside counsel for assistance.”
Adler previously told The Detroit News the firms were already going to be paid about a half million dollars through the end of this year, but the contracts were expanded in anticipation of work related to various lawsuits, investigations, and public records requests. “This work is being done to ensure that state government is being transparent, so the use of tax dollars is appropriate,” he said.
The state board will decide whether to approve Snyder’s requests next Friday, and Progress Michigan is urging it not to. “We intend to fight this gross misuse of taxpayer funds to the end,” Scott said.
A number of lawsuits have been filed over the water contamination that led to widespread lead poisoning, including many aimed at Snyder himself.
The use of state funds for the legal fees has already drawn ire from Snyder’s critics. “It’s beyond outrageous that Snyder wants to take $1.2 million from Michigan taxpayers to pay for defense attorneys over his involvement in the poisoning of Flint’s water,” the state’s Democratic Party Chair Brandon Dillon said in a statement. “That money should go toward replacing lead pipes and getting safe drinking water to Flint families, not for Snyder’s defense attorneys.”
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, a Democrat from Flint, said in a statement, “Paying more for high-priced lawyers than we are for school nurses or fully refunding victims is another kick in the teeth to taxpayers and my community. Our priority should be sending every resource we can to removing pipes and protecting kids, not covering legal fees.”
The agenda also shows that the state attorney general, Bill Schuette, has requested $1.5 million in legal fees paid through state general funding to Flood Law for his investigation into the Flint water crisis. That effort already came under fire when Schuette appointed Todd Flood, a former prosecutor and a donor to both Schuette and Snyder, as special counsel heading up the investigation to avoid a potential conflict of interest. Under the new funding request, Flood and nine other special assistant attorneys general will be paid $400 an hour, while the two chief investigators will get $165 an hour. Progress Michigan’s legal action does not relate to the fees being sought by Schuette.
So far the state has sent Flint $2 million to remove the lead pipes that were corroded when the city switched its drinking water source from Detroit to the Flint River in early 2014. Yet current Mayor Karen Weaver (D) has estimated the project will cost $55 million. The state has also offered residents $30 million in bill relief, but it will only be for a partial credit moving forward and the elimination of debt only related to water that went to drinking, bathing, or cooking.
Group Claims Snyder Is Illegally Using Millions In Taxpayer Money To Defend Himself Against Flint Lawsuits
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Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Congressional Hearing On Flint Crisis Results In ‘Finger Pointing,’ Not Much Else
BY BRYCE COVERT
MAR 15, 2016 3:19 PM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/ANDREW HARNIK
Former state EPA administrator Susan Hedman, former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling, and Virginia Tech environmental engineering professor Marc Edwards sworn in for Congressional testimony
On Tuesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on the decisions and steps that led to widespread lead contamination in the water in Flint, Michigan. But Flint residents who were in the room expressed extreme disappointment at what they heard.
Congress is still stalled on an aid package to help Flint recover from the water crisis. The legislation is currently being held up in the Senate. Meanwhile, members invited witnesses to testify on the crisis this week.
Tuesday’s hearing included Darnell Earley, who was the state-appointed emergency manager for Flint when the city’s water was switched from Detroit to the Flint River without the use of corrosion controls; Dayne Walling, the city’s mayor during the same time period; Susan Hedman, who was the administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency region covering the city at the time; and Marc Edwards, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University professor whose testing and research first exposed the extent of the crisis.
None of the three witnesses who were in positions of authority when lead began leaching into drinking water admitted any responsibility. In his remarks, Earley said he has been “unjustly persecuted, vilified, and smeared – both personally and professionally” by allegations that he was involved in the decision to use Flint River water without protective chemicals. “It was not my decision to use the Flint River when the switch was made in April 2014,” he claimed.
Walling, for his part, testified in nearly direct contradiction of Earley’s testimony, saying, “I was not involved in any of these discussions about switching to the river.” He also denied that the city council made the decision either. “The truth of the matter was: the emergency managers and the state decided to switch Flint to the river,” he said.
even filtered water could do to their health and she has her son shower at the house of a relative who lives outside of the city. “My whole way of life, from brushing my teeth to cooking to the way I get water, has completely changed,” she said.
She feels that no one can escape scrutiny unscathed. “There should be blame across the board,” she said. “This is just a complete failure of government all the way around.”
a letter sent directly to the governor in January of 2015. “I wasn’t seeing enough being done by the emergency managers in Flint to address this problem,” he said. “I believed this needed to go directly to the governor.”
Earley’s testimony at the hearing was notable given that he originally declined an invitation to testify, leading to Congress subpoenaing him. The hearings will resume on Thursday, when Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will testify. Republicans had at first declined to bring Snyder in front of the committee for testimony.
Duell is hoping she’ll get more from those testimonies. “I hope that people become super transparent,” she said. “I hope that Governor Snyder on Thursday really comes clean about what he knows, and I think that he should ultimately resign.”
TAGS
Congressional Hearing On Flint Crisis Results In ‘Finger Pointing,’ Not Much Else
BY BRYCE COVERT
MAR 15, 2016 3:19 PM
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/ANDREW HARNIK
Former state EPA administrator Susan Hedman, former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling, and Virginia Tech environmental engineering professor Marc Edwards sworn in for Congressional testimony
On Tuesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on the decisions and steps that led to widespread lead contamination in the water in Flint, Michigan. But Flint residents who were in the room expressed extreme disappointment at what they heard.
Congress is still stalled on an aid package to help Flint recover from the water crisis. The legislation is currently being held up in the Senate. Meanwhile, members invited witnesses to testify on the crisis this week.
Tuesday’s hearing included Darnell Earley, who was the state-appointed emergency manager for Flint when the city’s water was switched from Detroit to the Flint River without the use of corrosion controls; Dayne Walling, the city’s mayor during the same time period; Susan Hedman, who was the administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency region covering the city at the time; and Marc Edwards, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University professor whose testing and research first exposed the extent of the crisis.
None of the three witnesses who were in positions of authority when lead began leaching into drinking water admitted any responsibility. In his remarks, Earley said he has been “unjustly persecuted, vilified, and smeared – both personally and professionally” by allegations that he was involved in the decision to use Flint River water without protective chemicals. “It was not my decision to use the Flint River when the switch was made in April 2014,” he claimed.
Walling, for his part, testified in nearly direct contradiction of Earley’s testimony, saying, “I was not involved in any of these discussions about switching to the river.” He also denied that the city council made the decision either. “The truth of the matter was: the emergency managers and the state decided to switch Flint to the river,” he said.
even filtered water could do to their health and she has her son shower at the house of a relative who lives outside of the city. “My whole way of life, from brushing my teeth to cooking to the way I get water, has completely changed,” she said.
She feels that no one can escape scrutiny unscathed. “There should be blame across the board,” she said. “This is just a complete failure of government all the way around.”
a letter sent directly to the governor in January of 2015. “I wasn’t seeing enough being done by the emergency managers in Flint to address this problem,” he said. “I believed this needed to go directly to the governor.”
Earley’s testimony at the hearing was notable given that he originally declined an invitation to testify, leading to Congress subpoenaing him. The hearings will resume on Thursday, when Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will testify. Republicans had at first declined to bring Snyder in front of the committee for testimony.
Duell is hoping she’ll get more from those testimonies. “I hope that people become super transparent,” she said. “I hope that Governor Snyder on Thursday really comes clean about what he knows, and I think that he should ultimately resign.”
TAGS
Congressional Hearing On Flint Crisis Results In ‘Finger Pointing,’ Not Much Else