I watched the PBS Newshour tonight and learned that the State Attorney General had selected a lawyer (with the ironic name of Flood) to get to the bottom of the scandal in Flint. In the discussion, Judy Woodruff said that Mr. Flood had contributed to the State Attorney General’s campaign, and the person she was interviewing said that Mr. Flood had also contributed to Governor Snyder’s campaign. However, Flood dismissed any possibility of a conflict of interest.
Will the state and the governor be sued? This article says that they are protected from litigation by a concept called “sovereign immunity.”
One environmental lawyer said, “They poisoned children.”
Not only that, state officials were warned repeatedly of the danger of the polluted water and ignored the warnings. If no one is held accountable, justice will not be served.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Does he really think he can get by with this?
I think it unlikely that justice will prevail. The deck is stacked against this community as well as Detroit. The question whether “sovereign immunity “applies to every person appointed by the governor. There is a clear conflict of interest in the selection of this lawyer. It is a blatant insult, a thumb in the eye of everyone calling for justice.
Ahhhh in a word … YES!
Yet ANOTHER stellar example of GOP/Republican governance in 21st Century America!
Bush/Cheney come to mind … Iraq War and WMD, Katrina response, Near crash of US economy, US torture of prisoners,
“Judy Woodruff said that Mr. Flood had contributed to the State Attorney General’s campaign, and the person she was interviewing said that Mr. Flood had also contributed to Governor Snyder’s campaign. However, Flood dismissed any possibility of a conflict of interest.”
I’m just baffled why they would open themselves up to any hint of a conflict. There’s so little trust in that government that it seems like they would go to elaborate lengths to avoid any appearance of bias. There are so many competent lawyers and investigators. Why choose one who donated to Governor Snyder?
I truly believe they still don’t get it. They still believe that their word alone is sufficient and it just isn’t. The people in Flint probably don’t trust the state government and there’s a reason for that. They deserve to have full faith that the investigation isn’t compromised and they won’t even give them that.
They don’t get it!
These are the same folks that forcibly replaced the ELECTED officials of Flint and put in their place the Manager/Dictator who ordered the switch in water source to “save” money!
Yet ANOTHER stellar example of GOP/Republican governance in 21st Century America!
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/opinion/michigans-great-stink.html?_r=0
There is your answer!
Sovereign immunity will not cover criminal negligence. That’s a high bar to reach, but the e-mail trail seems to point in that direction.
How can anyone think that a crime has not been committed? How can anyone be above the law? I understand immunity from litigation where civil suits are concerned, but this is much more.
Call in the FBI! They need something “worthwhile” to do.
It was just discovered that Mr. Flood contributed an additional $10,000 to AG Schuette’s campaign.
An “independent” investigator who contributed $10K to the attorney general that selected him, who is named “Flood” investigating a water crisis?
You can’t make this stuff up.
NO …you can’t make this stuff up …yet THESE GOP/Republicans have been doing it for the entirety of the 21st Century America!
Bush gave away a surplus, invaded a country, blew the Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, tortured prisoners, nearly crashed the US economy ….
I’ll write this again: CALL IN THE FBI! This is treason. Oh and the CIA would be good for foreign-based Charter schools who take our tax dollars to promote their “invisible” friend.
The fox in charge of the henhouse.
Sounds like something the Walker administration would do in Wisconsin – once the most ethical state.
Sent from my iPad
The low level Joe(s)/Jane(s) who did the actual switching of the input piping will be held responsible-remember “just following orders” is not a viable defense.
Residents should make a fuss to try to get an independent investigator. They should talk to counsel to see what other grounds they can use to get a federal investigation. Otherwise, the result will be like most of the internal police investigations that say,”We did nothing wrong.”
I have heard that people in Flint are being asked to present ID’s before being given water. No one should have to present an ID for water. What do the “authorities” think will happen if they give water to someone without an ID?
http://fusion.net/story/258628/undocumented-immigrants-flint-water/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialshare&utm_content=desktop+top
In Detroit, Emergency Manager Earley has issued a fiat that teachers will snitch on one another:
There’s more to this tragedy than saving money. The e-mails show that Snyder & the EM lied about the reason they switched water supplies.
“When compared over the 30 year horizon the DWSD proposal saves $800 million dollars or said differently – saves 20% over the KWA proposal,” then-DWSD Director Sue McCormick said in the e-mail dated April 15, 2013.
The e-mail was first obtained by the Bill Johnson Group, a Detroit-based media consulting firm, and confirmed today by DWSD.
“If Snyder had accept this deal, the catastrophe would have been avoided,” Bill Johnson said.”
http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2016/01/23/gov-snyder-lied-flint-water-switch-was-not-about-money-records-show/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetworkhttp://markmaynard.com/2016/01/could-the-flint-water-crisis-have-its-origins-in-a-desire-to-increase-fracking-in-michigan/
Jon Awbrey, commenting on Mercedes blog, had this link with still more puzzle pieces: fracking and oil:
http://markmaynard.com/2016/01/could-the-flint-water-crisis-have-its-origins-in-a-desire-to-increase-fracking-in-michigan/
This is a reflection of Diane’s insistence that we are many and we will win, and goes to Anthony Cody’s point about who is a journalist. When Diane, Mercedes and the folks who comment on their blogs put what they know together, we win.
We can certainly try…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KDSyLT9qKc
This is a
version of Doug Lemov
and Mao
and…every form of raw intimidation shy of of off with their heads. No speech rights for teachers, and likely the courts would back the guy who poisoned the population in Flint MI.
This sounds like when Govenor Christie hired his lawyer to investigate the George Washington Bridge scandals. I can’t grade my own exams because I might lie about my student’s true achievement, but theses guys get to have their cronies investigate them! Sounds about right.
I know there have been some protests in Flint, but I haven’t heard about any on-going protests. Is the media just not covering such protests, or are they not happening? If the latter, I’m baffled. These people have been poisoned, they’re still required to pay highway robbery rates for their poisoned water, they’ve been threatened with having their children taken away if they don’t pay, no one has been held accountable for this fiasco, so why aren’t people in the streets with pitchforks, torches and tumbrels?
Oh, and incidentally, they can’t leave either. Even if they could find a buyer for a house with poisoned water (good luck with that), they can’t legally sell because of the poisoned water.
This is a good piece from someone who lives there. You probably know this, but they have been hitting Flint for 40 years. They may be all outraged-out.
http://www.labornotes.org/blogs/2016/01/viewpoint-flint-water-crisis-ground
Jamie Dimon is launching an education initiative.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/01/19/educational-alternatives-four-year-college-degree-technical-career-column/78938898/
They are really planning on sending Jamie Dimon out to lecture people on how they aren’t career ready. He plans to lobby your state on putting in his preferred training programs.
They think America’s celebrity banker is a good spokesperson for vocational training.
I guess the guy who runs Goldman Sachs was busy?
I hope he talks about “welders”. Welders seem to be wildly popular right now 🙂
Dimon is eminently qualified for setting up a vocational training program — for fraudsters.
Snyder and his enablers don’t need to be sued; they need to be arrested.
They don’t need to be sued, they need to be used– making license plates.
“SomeDAM Poet
January 26, 2016 at 8:39 am
Dimon is eminently qualified for setting up a vocational training program — for fraudsters.”
They don’t actually have any respect for the people who do those jobs. If they did they wouldn’t be lobbying as hard as they can to drive down their wages and quality of life.
Here’s a link to school inspection reports from Detroit:
http://www.detroitmi.gov/How-Do-I/Find/School-Inspection-Reports
“Not only that, state officials were warned repeatedly of the danger of the polluted water and ignored the warnings. If no one is held accountable, justice will not be served.”
To expand on; or simply restate with more words your thoughts on serving Justice:
Not only will Justice not be served, but accountability is completely thrown out the window. There’s no meaningful incentives or disincentives for the choices and decisions people in these high stakes positions make. While no one is going to get it right all the time, accountability helps to keep priorities in the right place.
Without accountability, priorities drift.
Which brings to mind school reform, and the whole accountability thing bandied about by billionaires who are accountable to no one….
If you can bear one more comment
If any of you watched the History channel a day or two ago they had a TREMENDOUS program on our infrastructure. Dams, sewage, etc etc.
INCOMPREHENSIBLE.
The worst – only a fraction of the total – was California which relies on dirt levies built by farmers decades ago which the farmers themselves watch every day for leakage but when the next earthquake hits and destroys these VERY vulnerable levies, half of California’s drinking water supply will be undrinkable, polluted by ocean salt water.
Too, this area provides a major portion of our fresh produce.
Additionally there are a huge number of dams ready to fail and
ONLY ONE, MAYBE TWO, SOME STATES NONE, state inspectors.
The other day someone, I think Tom, had commented on the EPA and I commented that they have defunded it. Indeed they have but ALSO, the politicians put their own people in positions of authority to “watch over” our environment. This has been going on for some time.
Schools are being hit by these political maneuvers and we all know about them but
we spend as much on our military as the next top 8 countries combined and then there is no money for infrastructure,. schools etc.
MONEY in politics, it is killing us literally.
Flint is one example
Schools another
etc etc etc.
Gordon, the best book on infrastructure, military spending, schools, privatization, etc. is Bob Herbert’s Losing Our Way. I recommend it.
Our AG will have just enough of an investigation to say that he investigated the whole Flint water fiasco. They’ll throw some flunkies under the bus or convince them to “take one for the team” and that will be it. The AG can’t afford to burn bridges, he wants to run for governor.
Interesting how many people are blaming “the Republicans”; “fracking”; “military spending”…
grow up, people. Break your “Dem=good, Repub=bad” programming.
Water is a civic responsibility. If most people aren’t paying their water bills, the system will
fall into disrepair. It’s not a State or Federal responsibility, but, don’t be surprised if the EPA
(i.e. the Feds) prove to be useless and crooked. They’ve been doing that for decades. See
BLM, FBI, and other Federal intruders in Nevada and Oregon for examples.
Most of the officials involved are Dems, anyway. Get smart!
The decision to switch the water supply was made by Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, who was appointed by Reoublican Governor Rick Snyder. Earley was promoted by Snyder, after his service in Flint, to be Emergency Manager of Detroit Public Schools. He got a big raise too. His decision not only poisoned the people of Flint but is likely to cost the state hundreds of millions –or more