Governor Snyder faces racketeering lawsuit over Flint water crisis
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Hundreds of residents of Flint, Michigan, filed a racketeering lawsuit Wednesday targeting Gov. Rick Snyder and other state and local officials over lead contamination of the city’s drinking water.
Filed in U.S. District Court in Flint, the suit is one of many arising from the decision to switch the Flint supply from the Detroit water system to the Flint River in April 2014 to cut costs. The move was supposed to be temporary, until Flint could join a new water authority that would pipe water from Lake Huron.
The lawsuit accuses Snyder and others of hatching a “wrongful scheme” to reduce Flint’s indebtedness by stopping the impoverished city from buying treated Lake Huron water from Detroit, instead of “invoking time tested, well-honed federal bankruptcy protections for restructuring the debts of municipalities.”
Snyder spokesman Ari Adler declined comment on the suit.
State officials have acknowledged erroneously advising Flint officials not to treat the river water with anti-corrosive chemicals, and that this enabled lead to leach from aging pipes and reach some homes, businesses and schools. Testing last fall showed that levels of lead in the blood of some children in the city rose after the water systems were switched.
Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can damage child brain development and cause behavioral problems, and also can sicken adults.
Flint switched back to the Detroit system last October.
Along with Snyder, the suit names as defendants the state of Michigan; the departments of Environmental Quality and Health and Human Services; and a number of state officials, along with emergency managers whom Snyder appointed to oversee the city. Also named are the city of Flint, two of its utility officials and three consulting companies that advised them.
Through their actions, “unthinkable harm has been inflicted on the residents of Flint,” the suit said.
It was filed by law firms in Southfield and New York, which said in a news release that they represented more than 400 people.
Lansing mayor defends $160K payout for former city attorney
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Lansing’s mayor is defending his handling of a separation agreement with a former city attorney who left her job last month with a payout of more than $160,000.
The Lansing State Journal reports that Mayor Virg Bernero offered a challenge Tuesday to taxpayers who are frustrated with a lack of transparency over the agreement. He said his critics can vote against him when he’s up for re-election next year.
Bernero on Feb. 25 signed a separation agreement with former City Attorney Janene McIntyre in which she received payments of about $127,500 and $33,000.
Despite pressure from city officials and the public, Bernero and McIntyre have repeatedly declined to comment on why McIntyre left her job.
Bernero on Tuesday described the separation agreement as “poor politics, but good business.”
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