Charges in Flint water crisis climb closer to Gov. Rick Snyder
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Updated on June 15, 2017 at 9:26 AM Posted on June 15, 2017 at 7:00 AM
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Gallery: Manslaughter charge reaches Gov. Snyder's cabinet over Flint water
crisis
By
Julie Mack
Did Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette clear Gov. Rick Snyder of criminal
liability in the Flint water crisis?
In announcing i
nvoluntary manslaughter charges Wednesday
against five current and former state officials -- including a member of
Snyder's cabinet -- Schuette raised the issue of Snyder's role.
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"
Some ask, 'Why aren't you charging Gov. Snyder?' " Schuette said at Wednesday's
press conference. "But we only file charges when probable cause that a crime
has been committed is established."
In a more direct statement about Snyder, Schuette said, "We're not filing
charges at this time."
Schuette also made clear that his investigation is now largely shifting to the
trial stage, with his office prosecuting 51 charges against 15 defendants,
including Nick Lyon, head of the Michigan Department of Health and Human
Services; Eden Wells, Michigan's chief medical officer, and Darnell Earley, a
former Flint emergency manager.
Yet Schuette also left the door open to further charges down the road, saying
the investigation is ongoing.
Snyder's office did not respond to MLive's request for comment. However, the
governor issued a written statement of support for Lyon and Wells, saying,
"They have my full faith and confidence, and will remain on duty at DHHS."
Some outside observers say they think those in the governor's office remain
vulnerable in the investigation.
"I don't think it's over," said T.J. Bucholz, a former spokesman in the Govs.
John Engler and Jennifer Granholm administrations, who now runs a public affairs
consulting firm.
Susan Demas, editor of newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, agreed.
"It would be a seismic shock if the governor was charged with anything," Demas
said. "But that chances of that has increased when the attorney general feels
like he has a case against Lyon -- not just obstruction of justice, but
involuntary manslaughter, which is an extraordinarily serious allegation."
"People are certainly talking about the implications" of Wednesday's
announcement, Demas added.
Moreover, documents released in connection with Wednesday's press conference
fueled perceptions the Snyder administration has been more worried about
appearances
than actually resolving Flint's water issues.
Among the new details in those documents: The head of the state's environmental
health division was warned of problematic political implications for Snyder
in linking Flint's drinking water supply to an outbreak of Legionnaires'
Disease -- which ultimately killed 12 people and sickened dozens of others.
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Another new detail: In December 2016, a unnamed Snyder "senior adviser"
threatened to pull funding for Wayne State University researchers studying Flint
water after one said publicly the researchers still had concerns about the
water quality.
Both allegations came from a document detailing the charges against Lyon, who
is one of five people facing a charge of involuntary manslaughter fo
r allegedly failing to address the Legionnaire's outbreak.
The outbreak started in fall 2014, months after Flint switched its water supply
under the direction of emergency managers appointed by Snyder. That switch
also is linked to widespread lead poisoning.
Starting in fall 2014, various Snyder aides began raising concerns about
Flint's water quality, a point made in a timeline handed out at Wednesday's
press
conference. That timeline says aides in the governor's office knew about the
Legionnaire's outbreak in October 2014 although the governor says he was not
told until January 2016.
In early 2015, Linda Dykema, director of the state's environmental health
division, said she was told by Corrine Miller, former state director of
epidemiology,
that it would be "bad or embarrassing for Gov. Snyder" if a change in Flint's
drinking water supply was linked to Legionnaire's, according to the documents.
The document also detailed allegations by Wayne State researchers Shawn
McElmurry and Paul Kilgore, who were asked by the governor's office in January
2016
to investigate whether Flint water caused the Legionnaire's outbreak.
Months later, the two said they met with Lyon and an unnamed Snyder senior
adviser and urged increased surveillance of the disease outbreak, but Lyon said
his department couldn't afford it. When told that people might die because of
that decision, Lyon responded that he "couldn't save everyone."
A month later, Lyon told McElmurry that he had to "balance the value of finding
information and upsetting the public," McElmurry told investigators.
Then on Dec. 16, 2016, the document said, McElmurry got a call from Snyder's
adviser after a research team member said they still had concerns about Flint's
water quality.
McElmurry said he was told he "needed to get on message" and the researcher's
public comment made the governor "very unhappy," the document said. The adviser
also "threatened" to call the Wayne State president and pull funding for his
research, the document said.
At Wednesday's press conference, Schuette and his team were asked about the
identity of the Snyder senior advisor. They said they deliberately left the
name out.
Still, by filing criminal charges against two senior officials in the Snyder
administration, Schuette is laying waste to the governor's longtime contention
that the crisis resulted from low-level civil servants who failed to do their
job.
"We're not talking about low-level employees in the Flint water department.
This is at a very high level," Demas said about the charges against Lyon and
Wells.
Initially, "the argument coming out of the governor's office was that he was
not aware at a micro level of what was going on -- there was plausible
deniability.
It's still an open question of how much the governor knew."
Bucholz said he's convinced the issues go higher than Lyon.
The crisis occurred because "somebody valued money over people. I don't know if
it was the governor. I don't know if it was Earley," he said. "I'm not sure
who it was, but I think it was higher up than the (health) department."
Bucholz added that a former spokesman for the Michigan health department, he
knows Lyon and Wells very well and said he's "heartbroken" by Wednesday's
announcement.
"These are good people, the first people to pound the table and say that
something needs to be done," he said.
At the same time, he said, something clearly went amiss in Flint.
Bucholz said he also knows Schuette well and "the attorney general doesn't go
to the wall unless he's got evidence that will make the charge stick."
"It's nearly unprecedented to charge a senior member of the state administrator
with involuntary manslaughter," Bucholz added. "I can't remember it ever
happening in the state's history. I've never seen this before."
It underscores the seriousness of what happened in Flint, Bucholz said.
And even if Snyder avoids criminal charges, Bucholz said, part of the
governor's legacy will be the Flint water crisis.
"This is a situation that's going to have impact for decades to come," he said.
"This isn't going to be just an issue for the next governor. It's going
to be an issue for the next five governors."
Source:
http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/06/flint_water_crisis_getting_clo.html