Gov. Rick Snyder is shaking up his communications team amid the Flint water crisis, reassigning his communications director and press secretary. The latest release contains material from 2011 until January 5, 2016, when the state declared a water emergency in the city.
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Gadola quickly wrote that the idea of using the Flint River as a drinking water source was “downright scary”.
Snyder’s office says a permanent director will be chosen but the immediate focus is providing safe water for Flint.
New emails released from Governor Rick Snyder’s office this morning show Flint’s water concerns reached Governor’s top advisers as far back as October 2014. The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News earlier reported about the emails.
Liberal group Progress Michigan again called for Snyder to resign, citing the emails.
Meegan Holland is out as communications director and will be replaced by Ari Adler, who was press secretary to former House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, and has held several other senior communications positions in the executive and legislative branches.
“At worst he’s been lying all along and at best he’s the worst manager on the planet”.
According to Gov. Snyder’s Office, Adler previously served as communications director for the state’s Department of Transportation and as press secretary for leaders in the state legislature.
Snyder, scheduled to testify to Congress on March 17, has repeatedly apologized for the state’s poor handling of the crisis.
State regulators failed to require Flint to treat river water with anti-corrosion chemicals when its water source was switched in 2014, allowing lead to be scraped from aging pipes and into drinking water.
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Officials continue to warn pregnant women and children against using the water unless it has been tested because lead levels continue to exceed what can be handled by a filter, despite the city’s switch-back to Detroit water.
