LANSING, Mich. — Thousands of e-mails newly released by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder provide a behind-the-scenes look at how his administration tried to manage the Flint water crisis:
• Prescient warning “This is a public relations crisis — because of a real or perceived problem is irrelevant — waiting to explode nationally,” predicted Ari Adler, special projects manager, in January 2015.
• Where’s the exit? The strain on Snyder’s inner circle was becoming evident by last fall. In an Oct. 1 reply to senior adviser Dick Posthumus about scheduling a meeting, then-Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore lamented that he had already met with two people the previous night, “Flint ministers this morning, Rep. (Sheldon) Neeley at 11:00, our entire group at 10, (then-Flint Mayor) Dayne Walling at 4:00 and (chief deputy treasurer Tom) Saxton at 4:30 all on Flint … help … get me out of this mess.”
• Lead unawareness week The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared Oct. 25-31 national Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, but Snyder’s staff opted out of issuing a proclamation.
“Given recent events, I am not sure this is something we want to be issuing,” wrote Laura Stoken, Snyder’s manager of constituent relations.
• Get out there The communications staff discussed in Oct. 6 e-mails that Snyder should be more visible in Flint to show he cares. Then-communications director Jarrod Agen (now chief of staff) wrote: “Don’t forward or spread this around, but give me your take. I think we may need to get G into Flint this week. Unpublicized, but public. Filter distribution, testing visit, discussion with Superintendent, etc … (And probably again next week).” Then-press secretary David Murray responded: “I think this is a good idea. One thing we keep hearing is that the governor is not involved or is detached. … This would be good to show he’s there and cares. And if we don’t announce until he’s there, we can avoid the protests — and still get the optics.”
• Celebrity trash talk Documentary filmmaker and Flint native Michael Moore tweeted in December for Snyder to be recalled, arrested and imprisoned for “poisoning the ppl left behind in Flint,” prompting this e-mail from then-communications director Meegan Holland: “The pot stirrer and attention whore.”
• Crisis for Christmas The holiday season was no respite for the administration due to the release of a critical auditor’s report and a letter from a Snyder-appointed task force investigating the crisis that laid responsibility at the door of the state Department of Environmental Quality. Communications staffers grumbled as the story drew increasing media attention from The New York Times, the BBC and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.
In a Dec. 21 e-mail responding to an apparent lunch invitation, constituent relations manager Stoken writes, “I’m hoping I can get (away) today — I am anticipating getting slammed” because of a Maddow program.
Separately, Stoken asked whether a form letter being sent to people who write to Snyder should be revised to respond to Maddow’s pointed coverage. Holland replied that Maddow has stirred up controversy but adds: “To answer all her inaccuracies would take more time than what you’d want to give.”
Also on Dec. 21, Murray sent a message to senior policy adviser Karen McPhee with the subject line “Tell me if I was overacting to this,” referring to a radio report that mentions him. “You are not over-reacting,” McPhee responds, adding that the “first sentence is insulting … personal and professionally.” She also describes the report as “childish” and “very immature.”
