US Rep. Cummings DESTROYS Michigan Gov Snyder At Flint Water Contamination Hearing

[KeepItReal]

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) fiercely questioned Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Thursday during a House committee hearing over the water crisis in Flint.

“There is no doubt in my mind that if a corporate CEO did what Governor Snyder’s administration has done, he would be hauled up on criminal charges,” Cummings said during his opening statement.

“There will now be an entire generation of children who suffer from brain damage, learning disorders, and many other horrible effects of lead poisoning that were afflicted on them by Gov. Snyder’s administration,” he added.

“It seems like there are two basic possibilities. Either your chief of staff told you about these concerns and you did nothing, or he didn’t tell you and you are an absentee governor,” he concluded.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/watch-elijah-cummings-annihilates-michigan-governor-rick-snyder-during-flint-hearing/

[B Calm]

1. Snyder is pointing his finger at the EPA, but he's the one who created the problem.

The SOB should be in prison!

[KeepItReal]

2. His chief of staff and chief counsel KNEW they had f@cked up!

...for months and months and let those citizens continue to be poisoned.

The DOJ better come down hard on these bastards.

[King_Klonopin]

40. This is Republicanism 101

Use a disaster (in this case, criminal negligence) which we created
to push an agenda -- in this case, their hatred of the EPA.

Classic jiu jitsu conservative politics. You can also assume that this
tactic was a coordinated effort by Snyder and his Congressional
conspirators. Let's blame gubmint !

[Gothmog]

3. Snyder needs to be recalled and removed from office

[catbyte]

38. Tragically, after my goddamned fellow Democrats had a hissy fit & stayed home in 2010, allowing this

clusterfuck to occur, the Republicans in the legislature made a recall almost impossible. The Republican party has ruined Michigan, but they wouldn't have had the opportunity to do so if Democrats had gotten off their asses and voted in 2010. I blame them as much as the Republicans.

[Akamai]

49. ex-Gov. Strickland of Ohio blamed much of the malaise of 2010 on Pres. Obama.

Gov. Strickland, who lost by only a little bit to John Kasich, said that Obama did not define the differences between Republicans and Democrats nearly well enough. I certainly agree with that, and recall Obama using less than hot language to refer to the people who are sabotaging all of the Democratic hopes and aspirations.

Remember how Obama Referring to Republicans as "my friends"? They clearly were not his friends, but he did not make it clear to the American people how destructive the Republican Party was.

I do so like Obama in many, many ways, but his failure to "name and blame" the Republicans for the harm that they have done did lead in part to the debacle of 2010.

Go Bernie!

[ananda]

4. And yet ..

.. has Snyder, a Reep, suffered any consequences yet?

Yeah, a verbal spanking will sure do it.

[Johonny]

5. He wants to look forward not back

Hey we all do, but forward I see a huge cost to society in terms of lives affected and money to fix the water. In the future I also see you in jail a long time.

[B Calm]

6. I look forward to seeing his right-wing ass behind bars!

[tosh]

18. Exactly...and nothing less.

[etherealtruth]

7. Congress Critter Matt Cartwright kicked his @ss today , as well

As a resident of Michigan I am horrified that my tax dollars are being used to fund Snyder's defense.

No words can adequately describe how I feel about an entire city being poisoned

[safeinOhio]

14. The guy is worth $200 million

And can not only afford his lawyers, he can afford to help out the kids in flint. It'd be just terrible if he only left his own kids $100 million. Not like they have brain damage.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

8. He's been using taxpayer money to fund his defense, too.

This POS needs to live the rest of his life in prison. And not no la-dee-dah minimum security golf resort for rich pukes.

[Orrex]

9. I respectfully disagree with Sen. Cummings on one point

“There is no doubt in my mind that if a corporate CEO did what Governor Snyder’s administration has done, he would be hauled up on criminal charges,

That seems unrealistically optimistic, but the rest of his presentation is 100% spot on.

[LiberalArkie]

11. If a corporate CEO of a small 50 person corporation, I can see him I'm jail.

[Orrex]

12. Yeah, probably

But a multi-state utility conglomerate, for instance? No chance in a million years.

[louis-t]

28. Remember, this was the same, exact slogan repigs used against Clinton.

Remember? And no one was poisoned. And no one died.

[valerief]

10. Snyder embodies the Republican Party. Reckless, greedy, cruel, self-serving. nt

[Delmette]

13. Rep. William Clay, D. Missouri is picking up the pace.

He is slamming the R's for wanting to shut down the EPA and leaving it all up to the states.

My take on this is that Ms. McCarty has repeatedly tried to remind R's that the law includes respecting the state's right to handle clean water issues.

I have watched this hearing from the beginning. The tone of the questions is clearly divided on party lines. The D's are pushing the Governor to accept and acknowledge the state's responsibility even when they disparaged citizens and the mayor of Flint. The R's are blaming EPA for not acting sooner when the state was saying everything was ok.

[MerryBlooms]

16. His time was the my favorite of the hearing. He was wonderful and really laid it out there.

[BlueMTexpat]

15. I heart Elijah!

He's my Rep!

[hopemountain]

41. well, if you ever have the opportunity

please give him a huge hug for the rest of us - the kind that channels all the love from those who love and honor him back

[BlueMTexpat]

45. If I ever do, I most certainly will!

[Else You Are Mad]

17. The sad thing is..

That this sub-human scum bag will end up with a multimillion dollar a year lobbying job no matter what the outcome of this catastrophe. And, absent a miracle, will never see a day of jail time. What is just as sad, what Cummings said is wrong: there is no way a CEO would be held accountable in this day and age. Look at BP, Koch, ad nauseum. We need to start, as a people, rising up and making sure these things stop happening and that those that are liable/guilty are held accountable.

we CANNOT allow this to continue.

[Rex]

19. Rep. Cummings is a national treasure, we are lucky to have him serving us.

I love it when he takes down one of these empty suits.

[LovingA2andMI]

20. Hear What Flint Residents Think About --- #TrickyRickyLiarSnyder

Flint Water Crisis - Real Stories, Real People, Real Life - A Mini Documentary

[SCVDem]

21. What's the difference between Snyder and Sadam Hussein?

Both willfully poisoned and killed their people.

One paid the price and the other is why America is sucking.

Justice bought and paid for. The world is watching!

[whereisjustice]

48. Good point and from moral view completely valid

A more progressive Democratic Party would be ruthless in seeking punishment. As we have seen with Wall Street and BP justice is for little people. Just don't get caught smoking pot or driving while black. There will be hell to pay.

[mountain grammy]

22. I wrote to the governor when the news broke

And now get the daily updates from his office. He needs to know, the country is watching. We should put them all under a microscope.

[heaven05]

23. Snyder could care less

about the thousands he has doomed to a life of misery. As it is with any politician, in this case republican, he only cares that he got busted poisoning a whole generation of children.

[Octafish]

24. Yep.

The guy said he won't resign because he wants to make things right with Flint's water, meaning his reputation.

[rladdi]

25. But Rep. Chaffetz give Snyder and the state a free pass, while only blasting the EPA.

Trashing the EPA was the only agenda the committee chairman had for the 3 meetings. Nothing was accomplished or resolve.

[BeyondGeography]

26. Cummings is tough

Just ask Darrell Issa.

[tularetom]

27. Not everything he says is correct

Where he's wrong is that no corporate CEO would ever be hauled up on criminal charges. At least not by the Obama administration or the Bush administration and definitely not by the Hillary Clinton maladministration.

Definitely the Sanders administration would do it. Don't know about the Trump administration.

[KeepItReal]

30. DOJ did get that one mine disaster CEO...barely.

Donald L. Blankenship, whose leadership of the Massey Energy Company was widely criticized after 29 workers were killed in the Upper Big Branch mine in 2010, was convicted Thursday of conspiring to violate federal safety standards, becoming the most prominent American coal executive ever convicted of a crime related to mining deaths.

But in a substantial defeat for the Justice Department, the verdict, announced in Federal District Court here, exonerated Mr. Blankenship, Massey’s former chief executive, of three felony charges that could have led to a prison term of 30 years. Instead, after a long and complex trial that began on Oct. 1, jurors convicted Mr. Blankenship only of a single misdemeanor charge that carried a maximum of a year in prison.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/us/donald-blankenship-massey-energy-upper-big-branch-mine.html

[tularetom]

33. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was during the Eric Holder era

Which makes me question the enthusiasm with which the DOJ pursued Mr Blankenships conviction.

[B Calm]

42. He should have gotten the death penalty.

[Surya Gayatri]

29. K & R. Thanks for posting.

[KeepItReal]

32. You're welcome!

Hope this hearing gets serious coverage in the wider media.

[turbinetree]

31. I wish Representative Cummings would have a glass of the water, in his hand.........................

as a "Show and Tell moment"........................


and would have said to this criminal can you demonstrate to the entire nation , if you would please , if you will drink some of this lead tainted poisoned Flint water, to show the entire population that it is safe to drink?

Will you.......................

Then, he should look down at the Republicans in that hearing and say, is this what you want, you have neglected to fund infrastructure work in this country for a very long long time and we have 26 states that are controlled by your party neglecting the people of this country, by attacking the EPA and the Clean Water ACT, since your allies like the Koch have set up think tanks saying that they are not contaminating the water with there heavy lead, mercury filled pollution




Good on Rep. Cummings, hold this jerk accountable


Honk-----------------------for a political revolution Bernie 2016

[3catwoman3]

34. Snyder should be...

...water boarded with that contaminated H2O.

[uponit7771]

35. How in the world can R's blame this on the EPA? It seems like they are spit balling it now

[Hotler]

36. In China they would march him ....

out to a dirt mound and make him kneel down and put an AK47 round in the back of his head and then send the bill for the bullet to his family.

[Dont call me Shirley]

37. Snyder needs to be in handcuffs!

[King_Klonopin]

39. I watched about 3 minutes of this shitbag on C-SPAN

Had to turn it off before I vomited up my spleen.

Blamed everyone on the planet for the CRIME (it's a crime, not a disaster)
especially "government" entities like EPA. Included himself in a quick, vague
manner to give the appearance of accountability. Can I assume that his
republican pals covered up for him ??

Scum. Pure evil scum.

[B Calm]

43. Even congressional republicans yesterday (who underfunded the EPA) were pointing their fingers

at the EPA and covering up his crime!

[Vinca]

44. Cummings nailed it, but . . .

Congress is now in recess and Flint residents are still without potable water. No spring vacation for them.

[Stellar]

46. and this is why this...

mofo should be in jail - scratch that...under the jail!

[zentrum]

47. There has to be

……more than a scolding. There have to be real consequences.

And frankly, if he was in fact, a CEO of a big corporation, there would be even less chance of consequences. Is anyone investigating how Nestle is profiting from this crime? I don't think so.