December 18, 2019
By Ron Fonger
Flint - Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (click here) says she’s expecting “some announcements at the beginning of the year” about a criminal investigation into the Flint water crisis.
Speaking after helping to serve a Christmas lunch at the Hasselbring Community Center in Flint on Tuesday, Dec. 17, Whitmer said she trusts Attorney General Dana Nessel “to do the right thing.”
“I think she has shown she’s taken it very seriously. These timelines we are bumping up against means that she’ll probably be making some announcements at the beginning of the year,” the governor said....
I hope Governor Whitmer speaks to the state soon. This has gone on far too long. Everyone wants those most responsible charged. There are many people that suffered and died in this episode of so-called "Fiscal Responsibility." That isn't supposed to happen. The people with the least amount of power suffered horribly due to some wacko idea that government debt of a city can be acted on at any cost, including human life.
Americans need to realize they are not held to the highest esteem by their government. This is governance gone wrong. I realize there are other cities now testing water and finding fault with its management, but, Flint is slightly different. That is not to so those who allowed city water to become dangerous should be given a slap on the wrist, but, Flint was undermined of its already excellent water source. Flint did not have a water contamination problem before Snyder sent in his hatchet men to bring about Fiscal Responsibility.
The Flint Episode is about water. Sure. But, it is about more than mismanagement, this is maniacal stuff. There was nothing wrong with the water Flint, Michigan was using except the expense. The health of the people of Flint was fine. They had no real issues except the cost of the water. That cost was also a city budget issue for the water the city used, but, at no point in time was the health and well being of the people, INCLUDING UNBORN BABIES, were to be compromised to make up for a budget shortfall.
Governor Whitmer was expected to oversee an administration that would tell it like it is and was and carry out prosecutions for the decision makers, not just the people carrying out orders handed down from the Governor's office. All the people along the way should have put a stop to it. Absolutely. But, there is only one person that demanded FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AT ANY COST and that was Rick Snyder. He demanded the managers to make changes to bring about fiscal compliance and he didn't care how. As a matter of fact in some instances of such management Snyders cronies directly benefited from actions rendered to bring about changes in a cities budgets, including the sale of assets.
There needs to be accountability all the way to the top. It needs to happen soon.
