Excerpted from CBS News’s story on the Flint Water Scandal:
Two state regulators and a Flint employee were charged Wednesday with evidence tampering and other felonies and misdemeanors, for the first time raising the lead-tainted water crisis in the Michigan city to a criminal case.
Months after officials conceded that a series of bad decisions had caused a disaster, charges were filed against a pair of state Department of Environmental Quality employees and a local water treatment supervisor and stem from an investigation by the office of Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.
Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton, who is conducting a parallel investigation, said at the news conference that he expected to file charges stemming from his probe.
For nearly 18 months, the financially troubled city of Flint, where the majority of residents are black, used the Flint River for tap water as a way to save money – a decision made by a state-appointed emergency manager – while a new pipeline was under construction. But the water wasn’t treated to control corrosion. The result: Lead was released from aging pipes and fixtures as water flowed throughout the city of 100,000 residents.
Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, didn’t acknowledge the problem until last fall when tests revealed high levels of lead in children. A task force appointed by the governor recently said the crisis was a “case of environmental injustice.”
Flint played a key role in the Democrats’ presidential nomination race in March, when Michigan held its primary, with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debating in Flint and taking turns lambasting the Snyder administration.
A few notes for you:
Governor Rick Snyder is identified as a Republican. As for the state-appointed emergency manager, neither his name (Darnell Earley) nor his party affiliation (Democrat) is mentioned.
At the end of the article, it is noted that “Susan Hedman, the director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chicago-based Midwest office, also resigned.” Ms. Hedman is a Democrat. As with Mr. Earley, Ms. Hedman’s party affiliation – Democrat – is not mentioned.
The fact that the Flint city council – which approved the use of the Flint river for its water supply by a vote of 7-1 – is comprised exclusively of Democrats? Not mentioned at all.
The only mention of Democrats? That Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders lambasted Governor Snyder, and that “U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Michigan, praised Wednesday’s development.” No problem identifying him as a Democrat.
I very often discuss media bias in this blog.
Any doubt about why?
Coincidently, I was speaking yesterday with two officials of the company supplying water to my town. (They were presently the plan to flush the water mains.)
When I mentioned “Flint”, they both exploded – – “Those people should be in jail. They FALSIFIED the lab tests. They KNEW what they were doing.” …… Also, my town’s supplier “tests the water several times a day”.
This great column is an example of what draws me to this site first thing every day.
Thank you. Very nice of you to say.