Governor defends Cabinet members

An apologetic Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was largely silent last year when criminal charges were brought against state officials over Flint’s man-made drinking water crisis, except to say some “bureaucrats” had failed residents and that he was focused on the city’s recovery.

Now, with two of his own Cabinet members facing unprecedented manslaughter or other charges related to a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that some experts have linked to the municipal water, a more defiant Snyder is keeping them on the job and publicly and privately defending their names. He referred to Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon as a “strong leader.” He said Lyon and Chief Medical Executive Eden Wells have his “full faith and confidence” and have been instrumental in Flint’s rehabilitation.

They are the highestranking officials to be charged in Attorney General Bill Schuette’s investigation of the city’s lead contamination.