Ex-governor Snyder to be charged in Flint water crisis

[313WX]

An ethical person would plead out, pay a small fine and be done with it instead of racking up trial expenses.

"Ethical" and "Rick Snyder" don't belong in the same sentence.

[Richard]

An ethical person would plead out, pay a small fine and be done with it instead of racking up trial expenses.

Actually I think an ethical person would not declare themselves guilty without a trial.

They just threw those stupid charges out there to make it appear like they are holding somebody accountable.

It appears to be working.

Do you really think that they would drag the bad publicly through the state while spending millions on a trial,all so they could catch a little misdemeanor charge?

If they were serious they would have found a felony and removed him from politics permanently.

But they could not prove that one so they went with that,which is sketchy at best,it makes it look like they are grasping at straws and not the accused.

[Gistok]

^^ I think he is removed from politics permanently already... he was a businessman who tried his hand at politics as governor of Michigan. Well we all know what kind of inexperienced politicians business people make...

[Cincinnati_Kid]

^^ I think he is removed from politics permanently already... he was a businessman who tried his hand at politics as governor of Michigan. Well we all know what kind of inexperienced politicians business people make...

I see what you did there. And for good reason.

[Richard]

^^ I think he is removed from politics permanently already... he was a businessman who tried his hand at politics as governor of Michigan. Well we all know what kind of inexperienced politicians business people make...

Cannot be any worse then career politicians that run on promises of healthcare and infrastructure,how’s that working out? Ooops

Executive Order NO 2020-50

Both instances of people needlessly dying,but the difference is when an official already has all the information in hand and still sends others to their death.

This example tough to prove,hence the misdemeanor charge.
The other example,not so tough to prove.

[p69rrh51]

After all the chest thumping and the "big" investigation he was only charged with a misdemeanor. What a waste of time and money!

[Richard]

Yea but it is not their money they are playing with,so they do not even take that part into consideration.

[Hamtragedy]

Don't forget this part.

Flint citizenry: this water is brown. It causes a rash.
State of Michigan: nothing to see here, folks. Keep drinking it.

General Motors: this water is causing our new engine blocks to corrode.
State of Michigan: Oh? Tell us more......


And lest we not forget this one....

After a ballot initiative that voters approved at the polls that abolished the then-emergency manager act, Snyder quickly enacted a new one in the early days of the next legislative session.

[Wesley Mouch]

An ethical person would plead out, pay a small fine and be done with it instead of racking up trial expenses.

I think you meant pragmatic. Its clearly ethical to defend your own innocence regardless of personal expense. Kinda the definition.

The ethics of suing an ex-governor are more suspect, and look like political game. Vindictiveness is a trend at the moment, as you may have noticed in Congress for example. Its a mistake unless you have no ethics, but lots of politics and greed.

[Richard]

Don't forget this part.

Flint citizenry: this water is brown. It causes a rash.
State of Michigan: nothing to see here, folks. Keep drinking it.

General Motors: this water is causing our new engine blocks to corrode.
State of Michigan: Oh? Tell us more......


And lest we not forget this one....

After a ballot initiative that voters approved at the polls that abolished the then-emergency manager act, Snyder quickly enacted a new one in the early days of the next legislative session.

I do not know,from what I remember from those days and even more so with COD, there were plenty that supported that EM aspect and had zero problems dismantling and removing city assets,based on that moment in time,refer to the belle isle thread.

I still think the undiscovered elephant in the room is the amount of city assets,that were transferred to hidden offshore corporations,that seems to bother nobody else.

But that could be because it was bi-partisan beneficial and stirring that pot up would have not made for good theatrics.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

^^ Richard, I see you're here to poison another thread.

[Richard]

^^ Richard, I see you're here to poison another thread.

Personal attacks are what poison threads,that is why they are frowned on.

The rest is based on speculation,personal views and opinions,until more facts are released in the case.

That is called a discussion.

[gnome]

Don't forget this part.

Flint citizenry: this water is brown. It causes a rash.
State of Michigan: nothing to see here, folks. Keep drinking it.

General Motors: this water is causing our new engine blocks to corrode.
State of Michigan: Oh? Tell us more......


And lest we not forget this one....

After a ballot initiative that voters approved at the polls that abolished the then-emergency manager act, Snyder quickly enacted a new one in the early days of the next legislative session.

Not to quibble, but I thought that bill was passed in the lame duck session and since it had a minor spending amendment attached it could not be superseded by Proposal [[ x? ).

Have i misremembered?

[GPCharles]

Big deal - two misdemeanors filed against a 1st time offender.

If found guilty, most likely sentence would be community service and possibly a fine.

[Meddle]

An ethical person would plead out, pay a small fine and be done with it instead of racking up trial expenses.

I think you meant pragmatic. Its clearly ethical to defend your own innocence regardless of personal expense.

No, I meant ethical, as in not wasting any more of the court's time or taxpayer expense.

"Ethical" and "Rick Snyder" don't belong in the same sentence.

Clearly not. He's piddling around about which county the case was filed in.

[bartocktoo]

No, I meant ethical, as in not wasting any more of the court's time or taxpayer expense.



Clearly not. He's piddling around about which county the case was filed in.

Have you ever been accused of a criminal act? Been fined heavily for something you are told was your fault? Or spent any time in jail? Had your character attacked? Heck, been through a divorce and what normally happens with the accusations in that? I think the right to defend oneself is a human right. There are multiple sides to every story and so many layers to matters like this [[particularly burdens of proof, etc.; in spite of immunity defenses, there are civil lawsuits all around this as well). It isn't so easy to just say that it would be ethical for him to do this, or right for him to do that. I am not defending Snyder at all, AT ALL, but it's just not that easy to draw the conclusions above.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

2 misdemeanors are nothing more than a slap on the wrist for him, and a slap in the face of the people of Flint. Very repulsive....

[softailrider]

If that's all they have then that's all they have. Obviously, they were out to nail him to the cross but couldn't come up with anything better then this.

[Danny]

Snyder used to be a geek lawyer. He knows better not to downplay any crisis. Now he is in the other side of the law.

[Burnsie]

Snyder probably deserves a harsher penalty, but yeah, you charge someone with what you can actually prove. Yes, he was able to wash his hands of a lot of stuff with all the delegating.

Also it should be pointed out that the Flint River intake is far upstream of any of the former GM plant sites. Aside from a different pH level and typical contaminants associated with any surface water, there was nothing inherently bad about the Flint River water that competent treatment couldn't have fixed.

[oladub]

Many liberal whites wouldn't be caught dead in big-3 car made in Detroit or Flint. National trade policies passed by both parties encouraged imported cars Factories shut down in Flint and Detroit for those and other reasons. US manufacturing cities atrophied. The City of Detroit's Democratic Party leaders allowed Detroit to significantly raise the water prices that it charged Flint. The Democratic Mayor and City Council of Flint decided it would be cheaper to use local river water. That didn't work out so well. Conclusion: All those decisions were Governor Snyder's fault.

[Burnsie]

Ultimately, yeah it was Snyder's fault about the water. The Flint mayor and council answered to Snyder's handpicked emergency manager. Don't Republicans like to style themselves as the party of "personal responsibility?"

[Richard]

Ultimately, yeah it was Snyder's fault about the water. The Flint mayor and council answered to Snyder's handpicked emergency manager. Don't Republicans like to style themselves as the party of "personal responsibility?"

It was a democrat mayor,a democrat city council and a democrat EM,it was cheaper to continue using DWSD.

At the crux was the state and federal infrastructure funds that the city of Flint would have benefited from by construction of the new water pipeline.

It was thought jobs and revenue for the city,short term,yea okay,but it still would have ended up costing the city of Flint residents more in the long run, then it would have then to just stay hooked up to DWSD,because that little shot in the arm of infrastructure was only a temporary solution.

Granted Republican control of Flint for the last 50 years brought it to the place it was.Right?

The reason a democrat EM was picked or appointed was so it would remove the ability to say,see it is the republicans fault.

Unless of course a democrat mayor,democrat city council and a democrat EM could not figure it out then who else is left to blame but a Republican.

I would think it would be more productive to look at who benefited from the new pipeline,clearly the city of Flint residents did not,nor did the state of Michigan and United States taxpayers.

Then when they got $390 million + another $100 million flat out fed grant.

They spent it on social programs instead of what the intended use was for.

About $129 million was spent on economic development and “social development,” nearly as much as the $144 million spent on safe drinking water, according to the state budget tally.

• The funds have paid for free daycare for kids too young to have been impacted by the main crisis, according to state records, and for basketball, according to a book; residents are even being paid $50 to sign up for other government benefits.
• Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a Flint activist, said the money has enabled “the stuff progressives dream about,” and a state budget spokesman said local officials are lobbying to keep services even as the water problem fades.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/01/15/f...oney-spending/

So the democrats in Flint have brought it back full circle into what brought a republican into their house in the first place.

It always seems to be a problem when you start seeing free money in the hundreds of millions,to many times we find out that somebody some where was there with their grubby fingers, playing games while the people end up suffering the consequences.

In the end,the funds will run out,the residents will not be able to afford the extra added taxes to support the social programs,so they will be broke and with a screwed infrastructure again in a few short years.

Damn republicans,where do they get their reasoning from?

The first case that was settled for the $600 million had little to do with guilt or not,it had to come to a conclusion in order for the states ability to sell bonds for other infrastructure programs.

When you have uncertainty,like there is again with this,it lowers the states ratings and ability to sell bonds at a decent rate.

https://www.fitchratings.com/research/us-public-finance/flint-water-settlement-eliminates-downside-credit-risk-for-michigan-01-12-2020

It will not be about guilt or not,just providing a facade of holding somebody accountable,but not really.

The entire state will not risk everything over flint or any other individual city even more so,if you run a campaign on fixing the roads,you cannot fix them without selling bonds,you cannot get bonds at a reasonable rate when you have this kind of uncertainty going on.

So they will make it go away as fast as possible with as little impact as possible,so it does not drag the whole state down with it.

R or D it does not matter,it will be a D behind clearing that R.

Now go back to March of 2016

Michigan currently has the wherewithal to support projected additional costs and maintain the current rating," Spain said. "But if costs related to the Flint water crisis or distressed local credits escalate, there could be credit pressure."

https://www.governing.com/archive/tns-michigan-flint-detroit-financial-rating.html

That is why they came up with the $600 million settlement number ,because that was what the state could comfortably absorb because at that time Snyder had a positive balance in the budget,or rainy day fund,without imploding financially across the rest of the cities.

If that same Flint situation would have happened this year, with no state reserves in place or rainy day fund,because of Covid,it would have taken years for the state to recover after that crash.

[Burnsie]

You can spin it however you like. But you can't run from the fact that a Republican administration, via Snyder's chosen emergency manager, was ultimately in charge and responsible for the lack of competent water treatment.