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FILE- In
a file
photo
from
Feb. 5,
2016,
Michigan
Gov.
Rick
Snyder,
center
and Our
Lady of
Guadalupe
Church
Deacon
Omar
Odette,
right,
meet
with
volunteers
helping
to load
vehicles
with
bottled
water in
Flint,
Mich.
Snyder's
standing
as one
of the
GOP's
most
accomplished
governors
has
taken a
beating
in the
lead-contaminated
water
emergency
in
Flint.
Democrats,
especially
those
running
for
president,
are
pointing
to
mistakes
by
Snyder's
administration
during
the
crisis
as a
vivid
example
of
Republican-style
cost-cutting
run
amok.
(AP
Photo:
Carlos
Osorio) |
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Flint
crisis
may help
governor
ease GOP
doubt on
Detroit
aid
By David
Eggert
Associated
Press
LANSING,
MI -
Rick
Snyder's
standing
as one
of the
GOP's
most
accomplished
governors
has
taken a
beating
in the
crisis
over
lead-contaminated
water in
Flint,
Michigan.
Democrats,
especially
those
running
for
president,
have
pointed
to his
administration's
mishandling
of the
city's
switch
to a
cheaper
water
supply
as an
example
of
Republican
cost-cutting
run
amok.
But in a
twist,
the
national
scorn
could
pay one
political
dividend
for him
inside
the
state.
The
uproar
should
lessen
resistance
within
his own
party to
the
largest
remaining
item in
Snyder's
plan for
revitalizing
Michigan's
economy:
rescuing
the
worst-in-the-nation
public
schools
in
Detroit.
Snyder's
oft-stated
goal
since
his
election
in 2010
has been
reversing
the
state's
economic
slide
that
worsened
during
the U.S.
auto
industry's
downturn.
His
successful
effort
to push
financially
devastated
Detroit
through
bankruptcy
was a
key step
in his
plan.
But
until
the
Flint
disaster
erupted,
the
GOP-controlled
Legislature
was
balking
at also
pumping
much
more
money
into
fixing
the
schools,
despite
the
governor's
insistence
that
functioning
Detroit
schools
are
essential
to
giving
Michigan
a
metropolitan
economic
hub
again.
Snyder's
bailout
of the
city
cost
$195
million
in state
money.
The
school
rescue
would
cost
$720
million
more.
Now,
with the
national
spotlight
on Flint
and
Michigan's
other
high-poverty,
majority-black
cities,
the
political
atmosphere
has
changed.
Republicans
are
moving
to unify
behind
the
governor,
potentially
to limit
the
political
impact
to him
and the
party.
"In a
bizarre
kind of
way,
it's
conceivable
this
might
work to
his
advantage,"
said
former
GOP
lawmaker
Bill
Ballenger,
a
long-time
political
analyst.
He noted
that
Snyder
made
both
helping
Flint
and
Detroit
major
themes
in his
annual
budget
address
this
week,
and
legislators
could
worry
"they're
going to
start
getting
tarred
with the
same
brush
that
Snyder
is if
they
don't do
anything."
Snyder,
a former
corporate
CEO who
ran for
office
as a
turnaround
specialist,
has been
juggling
the
complicated
politics
of a
state
split
between
white,
more
affluent
and
conservative
residents
and
poorer
black
residents
in the
industrial
cities.
As
Snyder
has
pursued
his
urban
rescue
plans,
some
Republicans
have
complained
about
throwing
good
money
after
bad.
Recently,
the
finances
of
Detroit
Public
Schools,
with a
projected
$515
million
debt
load,
have
become
so dire
that the
system -
which
has been
under
state
financial
management
for
almost
seven
years -
appears
in
danger
of
starting
to run
out of
money in
April.
Snyder
initially
proposed
that
other
schools
forgo
$50 per
student
in state
funding
annually
to come
up with
the
bailout
money,
but it
was
rejected
outright
by the
Legislature.
In the
newly
changed
political
environment,
however,
lawmakers
appear
to open
to
diverting
money
from the
state's
settlement
with
tobacco
companies,
which is
used for
general
spending
and
economic
development.
Getting
beyond
Detroit's
financial
woes
cannot
be
avoided,
said
Republican
Rep. Al
Pscholka,
chairman
of the
House
Appropriations
Committee.
"All of
us agree
that the
financial
piece
must be
taken
care of
and
probably
pretty
quickly,"
he said.
Snyder
and
lawmakers
are
negotiating
a way of
providing
state
oversight
to
ensure
that the
school
system
stays
solvent
but is
run by a
locally
elected
school
board.
Like
with the
2014 aid
package
for the
city of
Detroit,
Snyder
is
warning
legislators
that
bailing
out the
state's
largest
school
district
would be
cheaper
now than
later.
However,
Snyder
and
legislators
say they
are also
concerned
about
how to
improve
the
district's
academic
quality.
"We have
to do
something.
What
that
something
is is
the big
question
right
now,"
said
Republican
Rep. Tom
Hooker.
But
Hooker
said a
bailout
would
not be
approved
merely
to
provide
Snyder
with a
legislative
"win"
after
the
Flint
debacle.
Democratic
presidential
candidates
Hillary
Clinton
and
Bernie
Sanders
have
both
condemned
Snyder's
handling
of the
crisis.
GOP
strategist
Tom
Shields
predicted
the
attacks
will
only
intensify
before
Michigan's
March 8
primary,
saying
Flint
has
become a
"symbolic
racial
issue."
"The
Republicans
in the
Legislature
are
certainly
rallying
around
the
governor
on the
Flint
water
issue
and that
could
continue
on the
funding
of
Detroit
schools.
Six
months
ago, the
governor
was
having a
hard
time
finding
a
Republican
sponsor
of the
Detroit
schools
legislation.
But now
Republicans
are
starting
to line
up in
support,"
he said.
Lawmakers
have
committed
$37
million
- with
another
$195
million
on the
table -
to help
Flint
deal
with the
lead
contamination
of its
water
supply,
which
occurred
when the
city
switched
to local
river
water
without
applying
chemicals
that
would
prevent
corrosion
of lead
pipes.
The
state
Department
of
Environmental
Quality
has
acknowledged
instructing
Flint,
which
was run
by a
state-appointed
financial
manager
at the
time,
not to
use
corrosion
chemicals
based on
a
misreading
of
federal
regulations.
The cost
to aid
impoverished
Flint
and
Detroit
could
continue
for
years,
in part
funded
by the
state's
budget
surplus.
Republican
Sen.
Mike
Kowall
said he
wants to
avoid
"just
throwing
good
money
after
bad" but
people
also
"just
want to
get
something
done.
... We
have
another
opportunity
to clean
this
problem
up,
too."
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