Dear Michigan,
Don’t listen to the Great & Powerful Oz. He’s at it again: “There are a number of folk out there that are spending their time mainly on the political side and the blame side.”
That’s Gov. Rick Snyder in a Reuters report a few days ago talking about the Flint water scandal (I no longer call it a crisis – a crisis is something that happens to you; a scandal is something done to you.)
A Detroit News story had this: “Snyder, who has apologized, said he wished the national discourse about Flint ‘was more focused on solutions,’ and he complained of people ‘spending time on blame issues’ instead of waiting for multiple investigations to be finished.”
Snyder even has the usual cast of GOP defenders repeating the “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” Wizard of Oz mantra: “A crisis isn’t solved by finger pointing, grandstanding, gotcha games, exaggerations and hysteria,” Detroit News op-ed page editor Nolan Finley wrote. “That’s what’s been going on in Flint, and it isn’t helping.”
Sure it is. What’s the best way to make sure something bad isn’t repeated?Study it, figure out who did what and why, then take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again, right?
Only the people responsible for a spill don’t want blame assigned. Most people I know (meaning adults) know that if someone tells you to not bother identifying the mess-maker, that’s exactly what you should do.
If it was Snyder’s two – count ’em two – PR companies that came up with that little strategem, he got chumped. It’s the oldest and feeblest in the book.
Hitler: “Sure, I caused the greatest war in history, but let’s not focus on the past, let’s focus on the future!”
John Wilkes Booth: “OK, yes, I killed him but if all we’re going to do is play the blame game we’ll never unite the country. You people are such Negative Nellies!”
Exxon: “We get it: We spilled 38 million gallons in Alaskan waters causing the greatest environmental disaster in world history. But a crisis isn’t solved by finger-pointing, grandstanding, gotcha games, exaggerations and hysteria.”
The Wizard of Oz: “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”
Obi wan Kenobi: “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”
It’s insulting to the people of Flint to suggest they shouldn’t want to know exactly who to point the finger at.
Weirdly and ironically enough, the Detroit News own editorial page agreed in it’s editorial Saturday (Feb. 6). It took the governor to task over “this week’s alarming revelation that Gov. Rick Snyder’s staff knew about the spike in Legionnaires’ disease in Flint well before he announced it publicly calls into question the administration’s commitment to full transparency regarding this crisis.”
The editorial called on the governor to release all emails about the crisis, not just his staff’s handpicked few: “The lead poisoning alone was terrible. The Legionnaires’ spike is worse — at least nine people died. And if Snyder or his staff is caught in a cover-up, it will turn this crisis into an unmitigated disaster for Michigan. The people of Flint can’t begin to recover from this tragedy with so many questions still unanswered. Snyder owes them, and all of Michigan, a complete and unfiltered accounting. Today.”
Oooo, when the Wizard reads that he’s going to be sooo peeved.
Hey Andy,
Glad to see that you’re still writing and pointing out the foibles government, among others. Too bad nobody does that in print.
Anyway, who is paying for all of the extra police and security when folks like Hillary, the Democratice Debate, or any other high profile politician comes to Flint? It seems like a drain on a budget that is already too small, just to get politicians some airtime.
Hi, Bruce, I’m loving the blog. I can write when/what I want.
I’m not sure who pays but I’m guessing locals.
Who pays you, Andy? Can you make a living on this gig? We all hope so.
At least the democrats are caring about Flint. Can’t say that about any of the repubs as none have even come close to setting foot in Flint.
Yes, I think you’ve pointed up the distinction perfectly. They cannot sweep this under the rug and say “Ok, let’s just move forward. Fuggetaboudit.” Lives were lost. Lives are shattered. Justice must be served, and someone has got to take responsibility. This is not about political posing. This is about human lives that were wantonly and purposefully ignored and destroyed. It didn’t have to happen, and it should never happen again.
Andy, It is outrageous we MLive readers are now denied your (and other writers) comments on issues of importance in Michigan!!!! What is the MLive Management Team trying to hide? Thankfully you are on line.
By the way did you like the cake baked for Mrs. Snyder’s birthday? Unbelievably poor taste.
Bill, I don’t get it either. But they whacked all the columnists — sparing only (weirdly enough) Mark Torregrossa, who I like but … weather?
I’m sure “wacking” them all comes down to MONEY. I don’t now how much you got paid for your columns, or how much others did, but I do know that I now look for these columnists’ personal pages, blogs, names, etc. in order to keep up with their opinions. We all should do the same.
Republicans are now saying we are trying to make them look bad in this election year….forget the fact that our kids and adult citizens could be harmed for life…just worry about your political status…..! Just goes to show what is important…! I say we need to have a great big March…in Washington…!
Thanks, Andy, for taking the superficiality of Snyder’s p.r. firms to task. No amount of eyewash will put the metaphorical lipstick on this pig. So glad you’re no longer shackled by MLive. You were too good for that sad medium.
This scandal grows larger by the day.
He ought to be recalled before he causes anymore damage to Michigan. So far we have Flint, his slipping in restraints on The Freedom Of Information act, restricting libraries and public venues from informing us on issues or candidates 60 days before before an elections. I have heard a few blips on how hard it is to get any petitions going for recall due to some Republican manipulations? Has anyone heard if any recall petitions are out there and where I would find them? Actually, I would love to throw the whole bunch of those Republican crooks out!!
That editorial by Nolan Findley was about the worst “reaction” to the Flint crisis I’ve read. Gave me a slow burn! Thanks for quoting him.
Sorry, Finley
blame, yeah, but that gets legal (aka, long time to resolve). Immediate need is fix the pipes, then figure out who to blame. AND, tell people to give water test samples from the source they DRINK from, not pre-filtered. If your drinking water passes, then you can quit reaching out for bottles, and focus more on whose heads to gather.
OK time for a contrarian to chime in. Comments ranging form “let’s kill Snyder” to “fire him” appear on many liberal leaning blogs. To be clear that isn’t me. I am a conservative. Snyder has stepped on himself in many ways throughout this mess but no one has once asked how is it that chemists, engineers and managers at the water treatment plant have utterly escaped any responsibility for the tasks they were expected to perform. Those tasks to produce safe, drinkable water plain and simple. Keep in mind those same bozos will be managing the KWA water once it hit the pipes in the near future. Showing Snyder the door (no matter how much he deserves it) will not remove the hands-on guys who STILL have their jobs at the treatment plant. Nothing has been fixes or will be. But the Democrats can keep buying cases of water for the folks in Flint and nothing has been solved.
I commend you Andy for bringing this up. The residents of Flint deserve all the answers and who is responsible for this mess. Thanks.
If you are so intent on laying blame, I put forth that you should blame the citizens of Flint who elected decades of fiscally unresponsive democratic city council members and four decades of democratic Mayor’s. Without them Flint would never have been put into a position of being under a Democrat emergency manager.
I truly hope the other failing municipalities in Michigan and across the entire nation learn that fiscally unresponsible elected officials who in this case were a vast majority liberal Democrats caused Flint to be in the position it’s in.
Democrats care about the residents of Flint?
Democrats do not care for people in general. The only time they care about people is when they are up for election.
J. needs to understand that it was years of democrat rule that led to the city of Flint to be put under the control of a emergency manager.
Who ever is now on the city council should be banned for life for running for office.
Starting with Scott Kincaid.
The city was put on the Em status and Mr.Kurtz was the first Em and then He got the finances squared away and returned running the city to the city council and in a few years Flint needed another EM.
I am not a fan of Gov. Snyder, but he is not a fault for the water disaster.