Who’s to blame for the problems with the Flint water system? A few voices have risen up targeting state Representative Al Pscholka for part of it, as he sponsored both the voter-overturned Public Act 4 of 2011 and its replacement, the Local Financial Stability and Choice Act of 2012. One of those voices belongs to Benton Harbor Mayor Pro Tem Duane Seats, who blamed the 2012 law and for Flint’s water crisis at a special meeting of the city commission Monday night.
“It’s one thing to accept responsibility as the governor has done, and say I’m sorry,” he said. “But if you can recall, it was our state representative who fast-tracked that legislation.” Seats says the 2012 law has now jeopardized the lives of Flint residents, and the Stevensville Republican “should be held accountable.”
Pscholka says the financial emergency laws aren’t to blame for Flint’s water woes.
“2006 is when this started,” he told WSJM recently. “This was a local water war between Detroit and Flint. The decision was made by the local (government) to disconnect from the Lake Huron water provided by Detroit for 50 years.
“50 years Detroit had provided water to Flint, but Flint said we want to do our own thing,” Pscholka added. “I guess you could try to politicize it, but people who try to politicize it and make it about something else, I’m sorry, it just doesn’t fly with me.”
Aiding Pscholka’s stance that it’s a problem created by local officials in Flint is a post on Facebook from former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. From his prison cell in Oklahoma, Kilpatrick this week said the problems with Flint’s water system were well known when he was still in office. The disgraced ex-mayor criticizes Governor Snyder for saying he wasn’t aware of the issues with lead in the water until last fall, saying the oft-repeated remark is “misleading at best” and adding Snyder is being “viciously, aggressively, and deliberately untruthful.” Kilpatrick says the Detroit Water and Sewage Department was discussing problems with the Flint Water Department back in 2004.
