Mich. governor responds to criticism
FLINT, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder responded Monday to criticism from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for his handling of Flint’s water emergency, saying Clinton is making it a political issue.
During Sunday’s debate, Clinton said “every single American should be outraged” by the water crisis, adding that “if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would have been action.”
Following a speaking engagement at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Flint, the Republican governor said Clinton’s tactic doesn’t help solve the problem. “We’re going to keep working on putting solutions in place,” Snyder told a Detroit newspaper. “And what I would say is: Politicizing the issue doesn’t help matters. Let’s focus in on the solution and how to deal with the damage that was done and help the citizens of Flint and make Flint a stronger community.”
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is also running for the Democratic nomination, has called for Snyder’s resignation.
The crisis began in 2014 when a state-appointed emergency manager switched Flint from Detroit water to Flint River water to save money. The corrosive water caused lead to leach from old pipes. Flint returned to the Detroit system in October after elevated lead levels were discovered in children.
But officials remain concerned that damaged pipes could continue to leach lead, which can cause behavior problems and learning disabilities in children as well as kidney ailments in adults.
Snyder declared a state of emergency in Flint earlier this month. President Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration Saturday but denied Snyder’s request for a disaster declaration based on the legal requirement that such relief is intended for natural events, fires, floods or explosions. Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said Monday that she would travel today to Washington in hopes of securing a disaster declaration anyway, a Flint newspaper reported.
Dozens of people protested Monday outside Snyder’s residence in Ann Arbor. They said he didn’t act swiftly enough to help Flint residents and held signs calling for his dismissal and arrest.
