Schuette’s selection of Flood to lead his Flint water investigation also has been criticized by Common Cause in Michigan and Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon because Flood has been a campaign donor to both Snyder and Schuette.
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But Snyder spokesman Ari Adler said the firm, which will be paid up to $800,000, will mainly work on searching for, processing and producing “large quantities” of emails and documents.
Flint switched its water supply from Detroit to the Flint River in April 2014 in a cost-cutting move when the city was under a state-appointed emergency manager.
“In response to Governor Rick Snyder’s call for a joint investigation by the state Auditor General and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General, MDHHS will fully cooperate with this investigation related to the Flint water crisis”.
“We do not believe there will be a need for criminal defense, because the governor and his administration have not committed any crimes”, Adler said on March 3.
Snyder’s office hired attorneys Eugene Driker and Brian Lennon.
Snyder, who will testify before a congressional panel Thursday, alerted the Attorney General’s Office to the new probe.
“The public health issues the people of Flint and Genesee County are facing warranted an internal review”, Snyder said in a press release.
But officials said in the emails that efforts to combat contaminants by flushing the water system and using different treatment methods might have inadvertently promoted Legionella.
The notification came after Snyder’s previously estimated legal fees – to be paid with public money – hovered at almost $1 million in February.
Andrea Bitely, a spokeswoman for the MI attorney general’s office, defended Flood’s contract and said the office “is running an independent, broad-based investigation team that will leave no stone unturned”.
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Some expertsbelieve the Flint River was the source of the Legionella bacteria, although no definitive link has been made.
