CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR WHAT
HAPPENED.
AND, YOU KNOW, THE THING ABOUT
THE FLINT DISASTER, THE THING
THAT DREW US TO REPORT THE STORY
IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE THING
ABOUT IT THAT HELPS US
UNDERSTAND THE DISASTER THAT
WE’RE NOW IN AS A COUNTRY, I
THINK IS THAT THE STORY OF FLINT
WAS REALLY THE STORY OF GIVING
UP ON DEMOCRACY.
AT THE START OF SNYDER’S FIRST
TERM AS MICHIGAN’S NEW
REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR A DECADE
AGO, RICK SNYDER SIGNED
LEGISLATION THAT ALLOWED HIM TO
JUST OVERTURN AN ELECTION
ANYWHERE IN MICHIGAN HE WANTED
TO.
YEAH, IN YOUR TOWN, YOU COULD
ELECT YOUR MAYOR AND YOUR TOWN
COUNCIL AND ALL THAT, BUT IF
RICK SNYDER DIDN’T LIKE THE
PEOPLE WHO YOU ELECTED, BY THAT
LEGISLATION, HE GAVE HIMSELF THE
POWER TO REJECT THE CHOICES YOU
AND YOUR TOWN MADE IN YOUR
ELECTION.
HE GAVE HIMSELF THE POWER TO
DECLARE AN EMERGENCY, IGNORE THE
RESULTS OF ANY DEMOCRATIC
ELECTION, AND INSTEAD JUST
INSTALL HIS OWN HANDPICKED
PERSON TO COME IN AND RUN YOUR
TOWN OR YOUR CITY OR YOUR SCHOOL
BOARD WITHOUT ANY NEED TO HAVE
ANY PESKY ANSWERING TO THE
VOTERS.
PEOPLE KEPT MAKING THE WRONG
CHOICES WITH THEIR DEMOCRACY AND
SO BY RULE, BY ORDER FROM THE
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE,
DEMOCRATIC CHOICES WOULD BE
OVERRULED.
THEY WOULD BE DONE AWAY WITH
BECAUSE HE KNEW BETTER.
AND THE PEOPLE HE GAVE HIMSELF
THE POWER TO INSTALL WERE CALLED
EMERGENCY MANAGERS.
THE IDEA BEING THAT THEY WOULD
STEP IN AT THE GOVERNOR’S SAY
SO, FIX SOME SORT OF EMERGENCY
THEN HAND BACK THE REINS OF
GOVERNMENT TO DEMOCRACY.
TO LOCAL DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED
OFFICIALS.
THAT WAS THE IDEA IN THEORY,
BUT, OF COURSE, MOST OF THE TIME
THESE EMERGENCY MANAGERS ONCE
THEY WERE INSTALLED THEY ENDED
UP JUST STAYING INDEFINITELY.
SO THERE WAS ALWAYS SOME REASON
TO CONSIDER IT AN ONGOING
EMERGENCY.
AND SO TOWN AFTER TOWN AFTER
TOWN IN MICHIGAN UNDER THE
REPUBLICAN SOUPED-UP VERSION OF
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, TOWN AFTER
TOWN STARTED GETTING A
NONELECTED OVERSEER BROUGHT IN
CHOSEN BY THE GOVERNOR, A PERSON
WHO COULD MAKE BASICALLY
AUTOCRATIC, SOLO, PERSONAL
DECISIONS BY FIAT.
NO NEED TO ANSWER THE -- NO NEED
TO ANSWER TO THE GOVERNED.
NO NEED TO ANSWER TO THE VOTERS.
LOCAL ELECTIONS THAT PURPORTEDLY
WERE DESIGNED TO CHOOSE LOCAL
DECISIONMAKERS, THE RESULTS OF
LOCAL ELECTIONS NO LONGER
COUNTED.
AND, YES, THE TOWNS THIS WAS
HAPPENING TO THAT KEPT HAVING
THEIR ELECTIONS NULLIFIED AND
OVERSEERS INSTALLED BY THE
GOVERNOR INSTEAD, YES, AS YOU
HAVE PROBABLY ALREADY SUM MIZEDM
YES, THEY WERE FOR THE MOST PART
MAJORITY BLACK TOWNS OR LARGELY
BLACK TOWNS.
A BLOG ABOUT MICHIGAN POLITICS,
IT’S ESSENTIAL READING, GN BEGUN
POLITICS, ECLECTIBLOG FIRST DUG
INTO THE CENSUS DATA AND PROVED
THAT MICHIGAN REPUBLICANS’
SOUPED-UP EMERGENCY MANAGER LAW
WAS BEING DISPROPORTIONATELY
USED TO TAKE AWAY SMALL "D"
DEMOCRACY FROM BLACK VOTERS IN
MICHIGAN.
THEY WERE RIGHT ABOUT THAT.
IN 2013, 2 YEARS INTO UNILATERAL
REPUBLICAN CONTROL IN MICHIGAN,
HALF THE BLACK VOTERS IN THE
WHOLE STATE HAD NO LOCAL
DEMOCRACY
DEMOCRACY.
HAD NO LOCAL SMALL "D"
DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATION.
YEAH, THEY COULD, IF THEY WANTED
TO, GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS OF
VOTING FOR LOCAL OFFICIALS.
VOTING FOR A LOCAL MAYOR.
VOTING FOR A LOCAL CITY
COUNCILOR OR A LOCAL SCHOOL
BOARD.
THE LOCAL OFFICIALS THEY ELECTED
WOULD HAVE NO POWER, NO VOICE,
NO ABILITY TO ACTUALLY DO
ANYTHING ABOUT LOCAL PROBLEMS.
THAT WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM THEM.
AND VOTERS IN MICHIGAN ACTUALLY
HATED THIS.
THEY HATED THIS EMERGENCY
MANAGER LAW SO MUCH, THEY
ACTUALLY PULLED TOGETHER TO GET
A REFERENDUM ON THE BALLOT TO
REPEAL THE LAW STATEWIDE AND THE
REFERENDUM PASSED.
THE LAW WAS REPEALED.
BUT, AGAIN, THERE WAS A LITTLE
TOO MUCH SMALL "D" DEMOCRACY FOR
REPUBLICANS IN MICHIGAN SO RICK
SNYDER AND THE REPUBLICAN
LEGISLATURE THERE JUST PASSED A
NEW VERSION OF THE EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT THING EXCEPT THE NEW
VERSION OF IT MADE IT VIRTUALLY
IMPOSSIBLE TO REPEAL.
AND THE RESULTS OF TAKING AWAY
LOCAL DEMOCRACY, OVERRULING
LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND INSTEAD
INSTALLING THESE EMERGENCY
MANAGERS, THE RESULTS WERE
DRAMATIC.
IN DETROIT THE EMERGENCY MANAGER
THERE CUT OFF WATER TO TENS OF
THOUSANDS OF HOUSEHOLDS THAT
WEREN’T ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH
THEIR BILLS.
IT WAS A SITUATION SO HORRIFYING
THE UNITED NATIONS INTERVENED TO
DECLARE IT A VIOLATION OF THOSE
RESIDENTS’ MOST BASIC HUMAN
RIGHTS.
IN FLINT IN WHAT APPEARED TO
HAVE BEEN AN EFFORT TO SAVE
MONEY, THE CITY UNDER ITS
EMERGENCY MANAGER MADE A
DECISION THAT FLINT WOULD NO
LONGER GET ITS WATER FROM THE
GREAT LAKES WHERE THEY ALWAYS
HAD.
THEY, INSTEAD, WOULD START
GETTING THEIR WATER FROM THE
LOCAL FLINT RIVER.
AND THEY MADE THE SWITCH -- I’M
GOING TO UNDERSTATE IT WILDLY
HERE, THOUGH -- THEY MADE THE
SWITCH IMPROPERLY.
AMONG OTHER THINGS, RIVER WATER
IS MUCH MORE CORROSIVE TO PIPES
THAN LAKE WATER IS.
BUT THEY IGNORED THAT.
THEY DIDN’T TREAT THE WATER
BEFORE THEY PUMPED IT INTO THE
CITY AND THE CITY’S WATER PIPES.
AND THAT CORROSIVE, UNTREATED
WATER IN A TOTALLY PREDICTABLE
WAY BASICALLY DESTROYED THE
PIPES IN THE CITY’S WATER
SYSTEM.
AND THAT’S WHAT CREATED THE
DISASTER.
IT CREATED A NUMBER OF
DISGUSTING CONSEQUENCES FOR THE
PEOPLE OF THAT CITY THAT WERE
IMMEDIATELY APPARENT TO THEM.
THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF FLINT
COULD INSTANTLY TELL THERE WAS
SOMETHING WRONG WITH THEIR WATER
AS SOON AS IT WAS SWITCHED.
THEY BESIEGED THEIR LOCAL
OFFICIALS, AT LEAST THEIR LOCAL
OFFICIALS IN NAME TO THE EXTENT
THAT THEY HAD ANY, THEY
CONFRONTED THE PEOPLE WHO THEY
THOUGHT OUGHT TO BE IN CHARGE OF
THESE THINGS IMMEDIATELY AS SOON
AS THEY SAW THE SWITCH WAS MADE.
BUT THAT’S THE BEAUTY OF HAVING
AN EMERGENCY MANAGER IN PLACE.
RIGHT?
DEMOCRACY IS NO LONGER
OPERATIVE.
YOU DON’T ACTUALLY HAVE TO
ANSWER TO ANYBODY IN THAT TOWN.
YOU WEREN’T ELECTED.
YOU’RE NOT SUSCEPTIBLE TO THEM
AND THEIR WIMS.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO ANSWER TO
THEIR NEEDS.
YOU WERE PUT IN CHARGE BY A
HIGHER POWER.
WHEN THE CITY COUNCIL, THE LOCAL
ELECTED OFFICIALS, VOTED
OVERWHELMINGLY, 7-1, TO SWITCH
THE WATER SOURCE BACK TO THE OLD
CLEAN WATER SUPPLY THAT THEY HAD
AND THAT THEY HAD NEVER HAD
TROUBLE WITH BEFORE, THE
EMERGENCY MANAGER APPOINTED BY
GOVERNOR RICK SNYDER NOT ONLY
REJECTED WHAT THEY SAID TO DO,
HE CALLED THEIR VOTE, QUOTE,
INCOMPREHENSIBLE.
HE BASICALLY SAID, NO, I DON’T
CARE ABOUT THIS OVERWHELMING
VOTE FROM THIS CITY’S ELECTED
OFFICIALS SINCE THEY HAVE NO
POWER, I’M NOT EVEN GOING TO
TAKE THAT UNDER ADVISEMENT, I
THINK IT’S STUPID, I OVERRULE
THEM.
AND THAT DISASTROUS WATER SWITCH
AND THE REFUSAL TO LISTEN TO THE
PEOPLE OF FLINT ABOUT ITS
CONSEQUENCES LED TO THE MASS
POISONING OF EVERY KID IN THE
CITY OF FLINT.
THE MASS POISONING OF THE PEOPLE
OF THAT CITY.
THOUSANDS OF KIDS WHO WILL LIVE
FOR THE THE REST OF THEIR LIVES
WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF HAVING
BEEN POISONED BY LEAD EARLY IN
THEIR LIFE.
HAVING LEAD EXPOSURE IN THEIR
DRINKING WATER WHEN THEY’RE
KIDS.
IT’S SOMETHING YOU DON’T GROW
OUT OF, IT’S SOMETHING FOR WHICH
THERE’S NO MAGIC ANTIDOTE.
THE RICK SNYDER ADMINISTRATION
IGNORED WARNINGS ABOUT THE LEAD.
THEY ATTACKED SCIENTISTS AND A
LOCAL DOCTOR WHO TRIED TO WARN
RESIDENTS ABOUT THE LEAD.
IT WAS THE SAME THING WITH THE
LEGION
LEGIONNAIRE’S OUTBREAK
APPARENTLY CAUSED BY THE SAME
BOTCHED WATER SWITCH.
THAT KILLED AT LEAST 12 PEOPLE.
SOME ESTIMATES PUT IT AS HIGH AS
70 PEOPLE DEAD FROM THAT.
NOBODY IN FLINT WAS WARNED ABOUT
THAT OUTBREAK FOR A FULL YEAR
EVEN AS EMAILS ABOUT IT PINGED
AROUND THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF THE
SNYDER ADMINISTRATION.
THEY JUST DIDN’T TELL ANYONE.
AND NOW, NOW, FINALLY, GOVERNOR
RICK SNYDER AND MANY OF THE MOST
SENIOR OFFICIALS INVOLVED IN THE