Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has had major achievements during his five years in office. He may have been the only politician who could have found a way to build a badly needed new bridge from Detroit to Canada. He deserves high marks for shepherding Detroit through its bankruptcy, and has offered a sensible plan to save that city’s public schools.
But none of that makes up for the disaster in Flint — a city poisoned by state officials’ decisions to switch it to a bad water source, and then to ignore repeated warnings about the consequences. For many months, the governor did nothing while his appointees dismissively, and sometimes sneeringly, denied claims the water was contaminated.
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Even when high levels of toxic lead were detected in Flint’s water supply, Mr. Snyder failed to take any action beyond reluctantly switching Flint back to clean water supplied by Detroit’s system last October. Not until his own task force laid the blame squarely with his administration did he move to fire anyone.
Now, the release of a devastating series of emails among the governor’s staff makes clear that virtually every staff member — including Dennis Muchmore, Mr. Snyder’s now-departed chief of staff — knew Flint’s water was severely contaminated as long as a year ago. Yet the emails also show the staffers did nothing to help; they were concerned only with public relations and making sure their communications were not subject to freedom-of-information laws.
Before the full extent of the lead contamination was known, the governor’s chief counsel complained that his own mother, who lived in Flint, was “drinking water with elevated chlorine levels and fecal coliform [bacteria.]” Mr. Muchmore, who does seem to have had a conscience, mused a year ago that “if we procrastinate much longer in doing something direct, we’ll have real trouble.”
Yet we are asked to believe that these top executives, who had daily access to Governor Snyder, never mentioned their concerns to him. That defies belief. If it is true, it means Mr. Snyder has the worst management style in history. If a governor has created a culture in which his top assistants think they shouldn’t tell him that an entire city is being poisoned, something is beyond disastrously wrong.
“I’m kicking myself every day,” Mr. Snyder recently said. “I wish I would have asked more questions. I’m not going to have that happen again.” That isn’t good enough.
Historically, this page has had little patience with critics who demand impeachment or recall or resignation every time an elected official makes a mistake or adopts a bad policy choice. But this fiasco goes far beyond a difference of opinion.
Governor Snyder is now disgraced and politically damaged beyond repair. Michigan cannot afford to wait for new leadership while a governor who has lost all credibility limps through the final three years of his term.
Rick Snyder owes it to his state to apologize to his fellow citizens — and then to resign immediately.
First Published March 2, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
