Looks Like Pretty Much Everyone Tried To Warn Rick Snyder About Flint's Water
see no evil
In the last couple days, it came to light that Jackson, Mississippi, residents were also going to be blessed with the spectacular once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drink water that is basically completely unsafe thanks to inadequate corrosion control. Not to be undone, the ongoing criminal disaster that is Flint's water supply story vomited itself back into the news cycle today with word that oh hey maybe all the top officials in Michigan knew all along and kept trying to warn gutless nerd Gov. Rick Snyder about it, to no fucking avail.
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 [...] At least one aide says the concerns were brought directly to the governor himself.
Jesus Christ on a lead-tainted cracker. This is like Bridgegate all over again, except instead of inconvenience and traffic jams, you have children who will have to deal with totally trivial things like learning disabilities and impaired growth. Congratulations, Rick Snyder, on being so dreadful that you make well-roundedly-awful person Chris Christie look great by comparison.
OK, wait. Maybe we should cut Snyder some slack. Maybe the emails were kind of oblique in their approach and didn't really come right out and say that lead in water was bad or that drinking Flint River water was right up there with licking freshly laid tar in terms of grittiness.
Mike Gadola, then the governor’s chief legal counsel, agreed Flint should be switched back to Detroit water nearly a year before state officials relented to public pressure and independent research showing elevated levels of lead in the water and bloodstreams of Flint residents.Gadola said his mother remains a resident of Flint, adding a personal alarm to his message that was received by Snyder’s Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore, Deputy Chief of Staff Beth Clement and then-Communications Director Jarrod Agen and Brader.
“Nice to know she’s drinking water with elevated chlorine levels and fecal coliform,” Gadola said. “I agree with Valerie (Brader). They should try to get back on the Detroit system as a stopgap ASAP before this thing gets too far out of control.”
Hmm. That sounds like a pretty clear warning to us, but we are not One Tough Nerd like Rick Snyder, so maybe we're just too susceptible to concerns about how Mom doesn't enjoy a big glass of fecal coliform right when she gets out of bed. Remind us again why we can't just arrest or indict or impeach (or all of the above) Rick Snyder right now?
