Don't ask what Snyder knew; ask why he didn't Rochelle Riley , Detroit Free
Press Columnist The questions aren't: What did the governor know, and when did
he know it? The question, rather, is: How could Gov. Rick Snyder not know about
the escalating crisis with the Flint water system when hundreds of e-mails
were circulating among his top staffers, advisers, counselor and chief of
staff? And do the 550 e-mails released Friday by the Snyder administration
reflect
anything criminal? Among the missives about the crisis, which began when the
city began using Flint River water without anticorrosives, were at least two
that were damning and heartbreaking: One was sent to then-chief of staff Dennis
Muchmore and three other top Snyder aides from senior policy adviser Valerie
Brader, who apparently was advising everyone but the governor. She argued that
the City of Flint should return to using Detroit's water system because
there was an "urgent matter to fix. "As you know there have been problems with
the Flint water quality since they left the DWSD (Detroit Water and Sewerage
Department), which was a decision by the emergency manager there," the Oct. 14,
2014, e-mail said. Michael Gadola, who was then the governor's legal counsel,
sent this back 12 minutes later: Flint "should try to get back on the Detroit
system as a stopgap ASAP before this thing gets too far out of control. Gadola,
who grew up in Flint, also wrote "Too bad (former Flint emergency manager
Darnell Earley) didn't ask me what I thought Was it indifference, callousness,
stupidity, heartlessness or ineptitude that led so many people to take so
lightly the suffering of so many? A frustrated and angry State Rep. Sheldon
Neeley,
D-Flint, questions whether some of it constitutes criminal negligence. He
requested an official legal opinion Friday from Attorney General Bill Schuette
on the following question: "If an official (elected, appointed or assigned)
knowingly withholds information and fails to act in regards to law, protocol
and/or policy in the course of his or her official duties and harm of a
citizen(s) results in their death, can the official be charged with the criminal
offense of involuntary manslaughter? Neeley also asked for an opinion on what
offenses would apply in cases where an official withholds information that
results in serious injury. The first question has to do with an uptick in cases
of Legionnaires' disease, which officials have yet to link to the water.
Neeley said he expected a different response from Schuette than he got the last
time he requested help. That was in a letter from January 2015 when he
requested an investigation. "Last time, it took him three months to deny" the
request, Neeley said. "I fully expect him to honor this request. Schuette,
reached Friday, said "I'm going to certainly review" Neeley's request. "We're
going at it full and complete and let the chips fall where they may," he
said. "As the lawyer for the citizens of Michigan, we will determine what laws
if any were broken. It will be very much straight ahead and Joe Friday just
the facts. Maybe he can begin with this: Where was the governor? And why wasn't
anyone talking to him? After perusing some of the voluminous collection
of e-mails, hundreds of e-mails, some heinous, some petty, some written by
employees who obviously didn't care about people, it is clear that this was
a big topic of conversation with everyone but Snyder. Northridge Academy
first-grader Allen Moore watches a television show with other students during
lunch on Thursday February 4, 2016 at the charter school. (Photo: Ryan Garza,
Detroit Free Press) Thousands of e-mails circulated all over the state capitol
but none made it to the governor? Among the most damning was this one from
Angela Minicuci, who was then a spokeswoman for the Department of Community
Health. "They shouldn't have sent this notice out. That e-mail came on Feb. 3,
2015, after she learned that a state agency had alerted Flint child care
centers that they might want to consider using bottled water or consult with
physicians. Child care centers. Somebody ought to go to jail. And at some
point, the governor will have to explain where he was from April 2014 through
October 2015. Because he couldn't have been at work. Contact Rochelle Riley:
313-378-5135 or at rriley99@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Follow her on Twitter @rochelleriley
for updates on the #FlintWaterCrisis and Detroit Public Schools.
