Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has charged five water officials -- including a member of Gov. Rick Snyder's cabinet and a former emergency manager -- with manslaughter related to their alleged failure to act in during the Flint Water Crisis.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, former City of Flint Water Department Manager Howard Croft, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's Drinking Water Chief Liane Shekter-Smith and former district supervisor Stephen Busch will all face involuntary manslaughter charges related to their alleged failure to act in the Flint Water Crisis, Schuette announced in a release on Wednesday, June 14.
Involuntary manslaughter is a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and/or a $7,500 fine.
The manslaughter charges are connected to the death of Robert Skidmore, who died Dec. 13, 2015, due to the area's Legionnaires' disease outbreak.
This almost got lost among all of the Donald Trump coverage, but it nice to see that even though justice moves slowly that it does at least move forward.
And the Michigan Attorney General hinted that Governor Rick Snyder may not be out of the woods either.
I remember when Rachel Maddow first started talking about this in early 2016. That it took this long for these charges to be filed seems indefensible.
Schuette wants to run for governor of Michigan so he's distancing himself from his fellow GOP members of Snyder's administration. I think there's a lot of personal political ambition in this move, probably more than outrage about what his fellow Republicans have done to the residents of Flint, and of the state. So, while GOP state officials have to be held legally responsible for what they did, I'm skeptical about Schutette's timing and motives.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
What happened to the legal fund for King Rick, wasn’t he going to try and make the taxpayers foot the bill for his legal bills?
DeleteIt is disgusting that they are making the people of Flint PAY for contaminated water, most of them are still using bottled water because no one believes what the officials are telling them.
Taking out the competition and making a name for himself? Sounds so Republican to me.
DeleteOT Hardly...Turn um brain dead and broke...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2017/06/16/elizabeth-warren-obliterates-trump-rolling-obama-era-student-debt-relief-rules.html
OT Teachers!"House Republican leader in Arizona:
ReplyDelete"Teachers get second jobs to buy boats, enjoy finer things in life"
http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2017/04/27/house-republican-leader-teachers-get-second-jobs-to-buy-boats-enjoy-finer-things-in-life/
"stop expecting a better salary and start working a second job."‘Most of us in this room have a second job. Good for them,’ he said, adding he likes it when people use their
‘GOD-GIVIN talents’ and try to make themselves better.‘That’s America. The idea that we are somehow torturing somebody if they have a second job is just ridiculous. And (teachers) have a long summer. What a great opportunity for people like us and teachers to go out and get a second job. Let’s all get a second job this summer,’ <WTF?
http://change.thepoliticalvoice.com/breaking/this-is-horrific-republican-lawmaker-to-teachers-if-you-want-a-better-life-get-a-second-job/
Teachers get second jobs to pay the mortgage and feed their kids.
DeleteThis guy is an asshole.
Teachers already work 50-60 hours a week on their first job, which should be their only job.
What do they do during the summer? They take classes to be better teachers or to fulfill mandatory requirements for recertification.
I taught for 36 years. The first five I worked a second job just to pay the rent. After I got my first masters degree (more summers and evenings) I was able to use that summer time for classes for advanced certification, for which I was never compensated and for which I never received salary advancement. That's right. Not only do you pay out of pocket for those classes, but you aren't compensated for the time and you get no credit as far as salary advancement. There are no promotions in education. You're a teacher. That's it.
Teachers do this to be better teachers. Working at Walmart doesn't make you a better teacher.
I might also add that there are very few jobs that pay anything when you can only work for two months in the summer. 9 weeks. From the third week in June to the third week in August. Remember, teachers have to go back to school early before the students arrive. Guess who is top priority for those few jobs? College kids. They're available earlier than teachers and get all those jobs before school is out for public school teachers.
I was lucky. I'm a touch typist so when summer came around I worked for a temp agency filling in for secretaries on vacation or maternity leave. That gave me an edge on the college kids. But there aren't that many of those jobs around either.
Mostly this guy is a dick. But hey, Arizona. What were you expecting?
Keep in mind that teachers are not paid for their "summer vacation"
Delete"Attorney General Janet Reno appointed a special prosecutor to examine whether Bill Clinton was a big ol’ crook who had pressured a bank to make a loan to McDougal. That special prosecutor, Robert Fiske, was replaced a few months later by Ken Starr, because having a special prosecutor appointed by Clinton’s AG was “a conflict of interest.” In 1998, Bill Clinton got his knob polished by a young lady named Monica Lewinsky. Ken Starr never filed charges against Clinton regarding Whitewater, he said, because he wasn’t sure the government’s witnesses weren’t a bunch of paid-off perjurers. But he DID file charges about the knob-polishing."
ReplyDelete"Seventeen years later, in 1994"
the 'newt' is gingRICH!
Read more at https://wonkette.com/618747/hey-rocky-watch-newt-gingrich-pull-bill-clintons-dick-out-of-trumps-hat#bql81xkWTM3c5E7I.99"
A $7,500 fine? Chump change to these guys.
ReplyDeleteNone of them will get prison time.
June 14th:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nick-lyon-flint-involuntary-manslaughter_us_5941314fe4b09ad4fbe4838b?section=us_politics
"The defendants, all high-ranking members of the city and state government, are Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, former Flint water manager Howard Croft, and Liane Shekter-Smith and Stephen Busch of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
Additionally, Dr. Eden Wells, the state’s chief medical officer, has been charged with obstruction of justice and lying to a police officer."
The lowest ranking guy with the least political pull will be thrown under the bus. The rest will get a wrist slap.