The State Board of Canvassers on Monday approved a petition to recall Michigan Governor Rick Snyder without mentioning the lead contamination of Flint water. But then, it rejected several other proposals that cite the water crisis in seeking Snyder's removal from office.
According to MLive, the petition that was approved is related to the governor's creation of the State School Reform or Redesign Office. The board rejected nine petitions related to the issues in Flint water because of spelling errors, on top of another 12 it has rejected since last November.
One petition seeking to remove Snyder from his office declared a state of emergency in Genesee County and Flint was rejected because "Genesee" was misspelled as "Genesse." Another petition was denied for misspelling the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act.
Raw Story claimed that more than 100 Michigan residents got upset over Snyder's involvement in the Flint water crisis. They had even gone into a meeting of the Michigan Board of State Canvassers to express their frustration and to submit recall petitions. Of the 10 petitions presented before the Monday's meeting, nine were rejected on technicalities, mostly because of spelling errors.
Dorothy Batchelder, who has relatives in Flint, expressed anger at having recall petitions turned away over typos when people are suffering severe health issues. She stated, "You are playing with semantics and in the meantime, my family and members of my family have been poisoned."
The 57-year old governor has been in the middle of a lot of controversy ever since the magnitude of the Flint water crisis came to light. As recalled, in April 2014, in an effort to save money, Flint stopped purchasing treated Detroit water and instead began drawing water from the Flint River.
The corrosive Flint River water, Mother Jones claimed, leached lead from the city's aging water pipes, eventually poisoning between 6,000 and 12,000 Flint children, and rendering the water brown, smelly, and undrinkable, as reported by Inquistr.
On the other hand, supporters of recalling the Republican over Flint's supply of corrosive river water pleaded with the board, asking members to ignore the "minor mistakes." However, the petition that the board members approved was filed by Benjamin Lazarus, which seeks to remove Snyder because of his authorization to move the office that deals with struggling schools, the State School Reform Office/Redesign Office in the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.
Meanwhile, the board came up with a 2-2 split decision, on one water crisis-related proposal that cites Snyder's acknowledgement last month that he failed Flint residents. But then, the proposal still needed at least 3-1 vote in favor of the approval.
