Schuette, Snyder Flint probe contracts fly through state panel Paul Egan,
Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau LANSING 'Without debate or a vote cast in
opposition,
the State Administrative Board on Tuesday approved a $1.5-million contract to
pay for Attorney General Bill Schuette's investigation of the Flint drinking
water crisis and accepted as information two legal contracts totaling up to
$1.2 million to provide Gov. Rick Snyder with criminal and civil legal defense
advice. Two Flint residents who arrived a few minutes late for the 11 a.m.
meeting were shocked to find the board was adjourning just as they arrived,
having already completed its agenda. "It's totally insane and offensive,"
Nayyirah Shariff, a member of the Flint Democracy League, told a state official
after the meeting. "I feel like you're protecting the governor by approving
that contract and we don't have a say in that. Under state rules, Snyder had
the authority to unilaterally approve his two contracts with law firms ' one
for up to $800,000 for criminal defense advice and a second for up to $400,000
for civil defense advice, said Caleb Buhs, a spokesman for the Michigan
Department of Technology, Management and Budget. Snyder submitted the contracts
to the board as information items, not as items requiring board approval, Buhs
said Tuesday. Four members of the board voted yes on the Schuette contract
with the Royal Oak firm of attorney Todd Flood. Three other board members,
representing the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the state treasurer,
abstained on the Schuette contract because his investigation of the lead
contamination of Flint's drinking water could include inquiries related to their
offices. The $1.5-million contract with Flood's law firm is intended to cover
"the costs of the entire team of prosecutors and investigators," including
former Detroit FBI director Andrew Arena and about 24 other attorneys,
investigators and assistants, said Schuette spokeswoman Andrea Bitely. The
contract
also "anticipates reasonable expenses for the team going forward," she said.
"The attorney general is running an independent, broad-based investigation
team that will leave no stone unturned," Bitely said. "That is what the
citizens of Flint, and Michigan as a whole, want and deserve. Lonnie Scott,
standing,
presents the State Administrative Board Tuesday with petitions opposing Gov.
Rick Snyder's $1.2 million in outside legal contracts related to the Flint
drinking water crisis. (Photo: Paul Egan/Detroit Free Press) Contract costs
also include establishing a computer system for the investigation that is
isolated
from the systems of both the State of Michigan and the Flood law firm, she
said. But it was the Snyder contracts that received most of the attention
Tuesday.
Snyder increased the cap from $249,000 to $800,000 for a contract with the
Grand Rapids law firm of Warner, Norcross & Juddd for advice 'and representation
arising from'"any criminal investigations and prosecutions and related claims"
from the Flint water crisis. Snyder also increased the value of a civil
defense contract with'Barris, Sott, Denn & Driker from $249,000 to $400,000.
Lansing resident Lauren Ross told the board "Gov. Snyder's actions in office
have been careless to say the least," and "now is the time to cut costs," by
rejecting the legal contracts. Lonnie Scott, executive director of the liberal
group Progress Michigan, presented what he said were signatures from 6,000
people calling on the board to reject the Snyder contracts. And state Rep.
Vanessa
Guerra, D-Saginaw, told the board that to approve the contracts is "morally
bankrupt, ethically reprehensible, and just plain wrong. "The governor is asking
the people to pay for the lawyers that will fight against the very lawsuits
they file" in connection with the Flint crisis, Guerra said. Snyder, a
millionaire
former computer executive and venture capitalist, should "dip into his personal
wealth and pay for them himself. House Democrats say they will try to strip
the money from the governor's $5.6-million executive office budget. Snyder
spokesman Ari Adler has said the Republican governor has not committed any
crimes
but needs the legal expertise of Warner Norcross & Judd because of ongoing
investigations by the U.S. Attorney's office and the state Attorney General's
office and because the firm's lawyers and paralegals have the ability to review
and process massive amounts of records in the way the investigators want
to receive them. Adler also defended the civil law contract, saying the large
volume of civil lawsuits filed in connection with the Flint water crisis
is too much for the Attorney General's office to handle. Flint resident Melissa
Mays, who also attended the meeting at the Michigan Library and Historical
Center in Lansing, said spending state money on the legal contracts is
"horrifying. "Why should we have to pay for his defense for covering up that
poisoned
water? Mays asked. Snyder, who has resisted calls for his resignation and says
he is determined to put things right in Flint, has apologized for the state's
role in the catastrophe and said he regrets not having asked more questions and
connected the dots sooner about Flint water. He said he wasn't aware of
a significant problem until around Oct. 1 of last year, when state health
officials confirmed a Flint pediatrician's earlier reports of a spike in lead
levels in the blood of Flint children. Flint's drinking water became
contaminated with lead while the city was under the control of a
state-appointed emergency
manager in April 2014. The city, through its emergency manager, opted to
temporarily switch its drinking water source from Lake Huron water treated by
the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department to Flint River water treated at the
Flint water treatment plant, while it awaited completion of a new pipeline
to Lake Huron, the Karegnondi Water Authority. The state Department
of'Environmental Quality'has acknowledged it failed to require the addition of
needed
corrosion-control chemicals to the Flint River water. As a result, lead leached
from pipes, joints and fixtures into an unknown number of Flint households.
Lead causes permanent brain damage, as well as other health problems. The state
acknowledged the problem only after months of denials and attempts to discredit
outside experts who were raising alarms. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or
pegan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.
