Snyder visits House Oversight leaders before hearing Melissa Nann Burke and
Chad Livengood, The Detroit News Washington ' Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder visited
separately Wednesday with two key congressional leaders before his Thursday
congressional testimony on the Flint water crisis, as Democrats complained
that some of his staffers aren't cooperating with Congress. Aides on the U.S.
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform confirmed that the Republican
governor met with committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and ranking member
Elijah Cummings, the Maryland Democrat who lobbied for Snyder to appear
before Congress. Snyder's office wouldn't talk about his Wednesday schedule in
Washington, D.C. The meetings came as congressional Democrats said 15 staffers
and advisers to Snyder have refused their requests to be interviewed or turn
over records related to the lead contamination of drinking water in Flint.
Among those refusing to cooperate are Snyder's former Chief of Staff Dennis
Muchmore; John Walsh, Snyder's strategy director; Dick Posthumus, legislative
director; Richard Baird, transformation manager; Harvey Hollins, director of
urban and metropolitan initiatives; State Deputy Treasurer Wayne Workman;
Matthew Davis, former chief medical executive at the Michigan Department of
Health and Human Services; and Dr. Eden Wells, the state's current chief medical
executive. Also on the list are state health department director Nick Lyon;
former state Treasurer Andy Dillon; former Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel;
Jim Sygo, deputy director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality;
Brad Wurfel, former spokesman for the Michigan DEQ; Liane Shekter Smith,
former head of the Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance at
Michigan DEQ; as well as DEQ District Engineer Michael Prysby. Cummings and
Democratic
U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence of Southfield, ranking member of the Subcommittee on
the Interior, sent a letter Wednesday to Snyder requesting that he direct
the 15 current and former state officials to participate in transcribed
interviews and produce documents in their possession relating to the Flint water
crisis. 'Their refusals directly contradict your multiple promises of
transparency and accountability to the people of Flint, and they obstruct the
ability
of Congress to adequately investigate this crisis,' Cummings and Lawrence wrote
to Snyder. 'We have bent over backwards to address every argument these
officials put forward over the past month to avoid cooperating with our
requests, and we have made multiple offers to accommodate them. Yet, despite our
good faith efforts, not one of these state officials has agreed to be
interviewed on the record or to provide any documents in response to our
requests.
They said Snyder 'clearly' has the authority to direct current state officials
to cooperate and the ability to encourage former employees to participate,
as well. 'We have seen no evidence that you have taken either step,' Cummings
and Lawrence wrote. Snyder spokesman Ari Adler for Snyder, said Wednesday
that the governor's office has been 'cooperating fully with the congressional
committee's investigation and encourages others to do the same. Adler noted
that the office released tens of thousands of pages of documents and emails
related to the Flint crisis, and that state departments will be releasing more
once they are collected. Muchmore, who left Snyder's office in January, said
Wednesday the congressional Democrats wanted a telephone interview that could
be recorded and transcribed. Muchmore said he refused the request because he no
longer has access to his governor's office emails and calendar to refresh
his memory about the events that transpired over a period of two years.
'Nobody's going to do that, not with the situation as it stands now,' he told
The
Detroit News. 'I'm not going to sit in like I'm in some inquisition deal and
give transcribed answers that somebody's going to use against me. Muchmore
said the congressional hearings have become 'a political football' and that he
wouldn't go to Washington unless subpoenaed to testify. Only the Republican
chairman of the committee can issue a subpoena. 'Who's going to subpoena me?
asked Muchmore, a Republican. Muchmore said he is getting legal representation
from the Attorney General's Office for his time as Snyder's chief of staff.
Cummings and Lawrence said the state Attorney General's office, which represents
12 of the named individuals, objected to their request for the individuals to
appear for transcribed interviews in Washington or to conduct the interviews
by phone. Cummings responded by offering to start with just two officials,
Muchmore and Baird, by sending staff to Michigan to conduct in-person
interviews.
The AG's Office declined that offer, later offering to have the pair meet with
committee staff on the condition that there be no transcript of the meeting,
according to the committee. Private attorneys representing three other state
officials ' Brad Wurfel, Prysby and Shekter Smith ' have also not cooperated,
according to committee Democrats. mburke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (202) 662-8736
