Not sure why there's two anti-Snyder topics but I'll post what I put there:The Snyder administration has been criticized for not acting quickly enough to the drinking water ban and for allowing Flint two years ago to switch to drawing water from the Flint River in an effort to save money without requiring corrosion controls which could have reduced lead levels from old pipes. On Jan. 5, he declared a state of emergency in the city and surrounding Genesee County on Jan. 5, but critics said that came months after initial alarm bells about the crisis went unheeded.
On Tuesday, he activated the Michigan National Guard, and seven soldiers were initially sent to Flint. A National Guard spokesman said the plan called for getting 30 soldiers into the city by Friday.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/01/14/snyder-talks-obama-officials-over-flint-water/78817078/====
Flint crisis is Michigan’s Katrina
Hurricane Katrina’s disastrous assault in 2005 on New Orleans — where about two thousand inhabitants died in the storm and its resulting wave of flooding when the city’s protective levees broke as they waited in vain for action from federal government officials mired in bureaucracy — is one of the most devastating events in history.
The majority of those inhabitants were black and poor and could not afford transportation to escape the storm in the Gulf Coast. Many died, and those who survived are still haunted by the trauma.
Katrina’s onslaught revealed underlying attitudes and lack of concern for those with little or no political influence and also exposed a large, long-suffering underclass of citizens craving for the attention of government.
Ten years later, the state of Michigan under Gov. Rick Snyder has created its own Katrina with the Flint water crisis. Despite pleas from residents and health officials including researchers from Virginia Tech about high levels of lead in the city’s water, those warnings were ignored by the state. For 18 months, residents, including pregnant women and children, were forced to drink the lead-contaminated water.
The crisis in Flint has unveiled a large number of people who are far removed from the wealth, power and privilege that get the attention of the lawmakers in Lansing as well as Snyder and officials at the state Department of Environmental Quality.
Flint, like New Orleans, is a majority African-American city and mostly impoverished. And while few, if any, big political donors who can directly summon the governor and other state officials to act with all deliberate speed in cases like the water crisis reside in Flint, government should still exist not just to provide security for the people, but also to improve their living conditions and deal with them truthfully at all times. Flint did not get such attention from the state.
More here:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2016/01/13/thompson-flint-water-crisis-snyder-katrina/78770564/===
Snyder facing nation’s most serious scandal
Over the weekend, for example, the editorial board of the Detroit Free Press turned its attention directly to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R), who’s facing calls for his arrest from protestors, comparing his handling of the Flint crisis to George W. Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina.
Right now, the State of Michigan should be able to say that it has ensured the delivery of bottled water and water filters to every Flint resident whose drinking water has been contaminated by lead…. Instead, the governor is offering placid responses and slow-walking important remedies, while the investigation into how one of Michigan’s greatest man-made public health crises unfolded comes up with explanations in dribs and drabs.
It’s not just derelict – it invokes inglorious comparison to other callous and insensitive official responses to tragedy. Think of the shameful federal response to Hurricane Katrina, where the same lack of urgency delayed life-saving aid. The poverty rate in Flint is 40%; 52% of Flint residents are African-American. And so we are prompted to ask: How would the state have responded to a crisis of such proportions in a community with more wealth and power?
Of course, there’s a key, heartbreaking difference between recent developments in Flint and the crisis in New Orleans in 2005: Katrina was a natural disaster; Flint’s disaster was the result of public officials showing breathtakingly bad judgment.
Let’s recap how we reached this point.
In 2014, the city of Flint, under the control of an “emergency manager” appointed by the governor, was looking for ways to save money. To that end, the Snyder administration approved a plan in which the city would switch its water source: instead of getting water from Detroit, Flint would cut costs by drawing water directly from the Flint River.
In theory, there’s nothing particularly wrong with getting drinking and bathing water from a nearby river; plenty of communities across the country already do that. But in order to make Flint River water safe for people, it has to receive a special anti-corrosion treatment. Failing to treat the water sends corrosive river water through local pipes, it starts to eat through plumbing, and the result is lead poisoning.
The Snyder administration did not take the necessary precautions. What’s more, as the community grew concerned about its water, administration officials initially told local residents not to worry and to keep drinking the water.
The result, of course, is a public health crisis in which countless city residents, including many children, have been poisoned, which leads to severe and long lasting consequences. Snyder last week declared an official emergency – he also issued an apology of sorts on New Year’s Eve – but the people of Flint still don’t have safe, clean water.
There’s also the political crisis as a result of this man-made disaster. The EPA warned Snyder administration officials about rising lead levels, but the governor did not alert the public and state officials delayed action to address the problem.
The Republican governor is now facing calls for his resignation and #ArrestGovSnyder protests. Local residents are also moving forward with a class-action lawsuit over the crisis, and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Michigan has confirmed it is investigating the matter to determine if any laws were broken.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/michigans-snyder-facing-nations-most-serious-scandal===
AG Schuette opens investigation into Flint water crisis
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/01/15/ag-schuette-flint-water-crisis/78836248/===
Finley: Flint water crisis could help Kildee in ’18
Tragedy often spawns political opportunity, and the Flint water crisis is no different.
With the jockeying well underway for Michigan’s 2018 gubernatorial race, the question of whether the disaster in Flint will have legs in the campaign is already being kicked around.
“The election is still a long way off, and that helps,” says Paul Welday, a Republican political strategist. “If managed effectively from here on out, the impact will be minimized. But these are the kinds of things that can ooze through your fingers and be very damaging.”
Republicans obviously are the ones at risk of being damaged. Decisions that precipitated lead entering Flint’s public water system — and the bloodstreams of its children — were made while Flint was under an emergency manager appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder.
Bungling by Snyder’s departments of Environmental Quality and Health delayed the state’s response, and has put the administration in a very harsh national spotlight.
If the fallout lingers into the official start of the campaign, it could hurt candidates associated with the administration, notably Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, and with Lansing’s Republican leadership, notably Attorney General Bill Schuette.
Who it helps also is obvious: Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee, who represents the Flint area.
More here:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/columnists/nolan-finley/2016/01/13/finley-kildee/78775166/===
I'll leave the gag order info in the Snyder thread:http://monroetalks.com/forum/index.php?topic=27794.msg726764;topicseen#msg726764
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Topic: How Flint's Leaders Poisoned Their Own Constituents (Read 24889 times)
