Ken Berwitz
Days ago, I wrote a piece explaining in detail that blame for the Flint, Michigan water disaster fell almost entirely on Democrats, not Republicans – and certainly not on Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.\’Despite this, Snyder – whose advisers must be among the worst in contemporary politics – convinced him to go out and apologize for it….an apology that will now and forever more be used to “prove” that it was all his fault. His and those dastardly Republicans.
I wrote those words yesterday.
Ever since the full extent of the Flint watercrisis emerged, one question has persisted: Would this have happenedin a wealthier, whiter community?
Residents in the former auto-making hub – a poor, largelyminority city – feel their complaints about lead-tainted water flowing throughtheir taps have been slighted by the government or ignored altogether. Formany, it echoes the lackluster federal response to New Orleans during HurricaneKatrina in 2005.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has said it\’s not unfair of hiscritics to say the Flint water crisis is his HurricaneKatrina, but he\’s rejecting calls to step down. The EPA\’s regional administrator whocovers Michigan resigned on Thursday evening.
“Our voices were not heard, and that\’s part of theproblem,” Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said this week at the U.S. Conferenceof Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C., where she also met with President BarackObama to make her case for federal help for her city.
-Flint, Michigan – the Mayor and City Council – is run by Democrats. Not Republicans, Democrats.-By 2013, Flint was in such horrific condition that Governor Snyder appointed an emergency manager to run it. He was Darnell Early – a Democrat.-The Flint City Council – Democrats all – voted 7-1 to draw the city\’s water from the polluted Flint River.-As recently as February, 2015, the Democrat-controlled city of Flint hired an organization to test the water: Veolia North America. It\’s finding? “Your water is safe”.-And the EPA\’s top Midwestern official, Susan Hedman – a member of the Obama administration – knew about the real quality of Flint\’s water in April, 2015….but did not release the information until November, just two months ago.
