Diceman:
The governor appointed the emergency manager, because Flint is one of those cities that has a long tradition of electing worthless idiots who aren’t fit to run a front-yard lemonade stand. (Granted, they’re not in a same league as Detroit in that regard.) The governor didn’t make any decisions regarding Flint’s water, and calls for his resignation are just naked political grandstanding.
Diceman:
The EMs tend to be unpopular, but the simple unpleasant truth is that the municipalities that get them tend to have a long history of really bad leaders who can be counted on to make bad decisions and piss away any money you give them. (See Detroit, and even moreso the Detroit Public Schools.)
. . .
Just . . .
I think it is appropriate here to quote this post from the “What’s the most undemocratic thing US politicians ever rammed down the public throat?” thread:
Michigan’s Emergency Fiscal Manager law (you know, the one that is currently being blamed for the Flint poisoned water situation) has to be up there. The law allows the governor to appoint an Emergency Fiscal Manger to take over administration of any city whose finances are deemed dire enough. Said manager can rip up union contracts, override city councils, and dictate what local government can and can’t do. So, under criteria decided by the governor, he can appoint someone answerable only to him who can override the rule of the local city government in the name of “fiscal responsibility.”
But that’s not even the most disgusting part. The citizens of Michigan did not like this law and once it was passed, succeeded in getting enough signatures to get it on a ballot referendum, where it was voted down. The legislature then resurrected it and tacked it onto a spending bill, which is not subject to referendum. Thus the State of MI pretty much said to its citizens, “screw you…we’re going to reserve the right to override your local elected officials whether you want it or not.” I have been amazed, quite frankly, that this didn’t provoke the national uproar it deserved. After all, if this is deemed constitutional (and I don’t know if it has been), it’s a tactic that any state legislature could use. Perhaps because it was aimed mostly at Detroit, or because Rick Snyder is not as personally confrontational as, say, Scott Walker, it seems to have slid under the radar. But that doesn’t make it any less despicable.
The current Emergency Fiscal Manager of Flint is the person who decided to save a few bucks by using water from the Flint river, rather than Detroit-treated water, with catastrophic results for the citizens of Flint. Now there are calls for the governor to resign, Flint has been declared a disaster area and the EPA is investigating. I can only hope the implosion takes the EFM law with it.