Flint Mayor: Hillary Clinton Committed to Lead-Free America

PHILADELPHIA, PA — When no one else heard a call for help about the slow poisoning of Flint children who were drinking lead-contaminated water, Hillary Clinton listened, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said Wednesday in a speech to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Weaver said the former secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee “made a commitment as president that she will work towards a lead-free America, and that’s why I’m with her.”

In the approximately four-minute speech, Weaver criticized the Republican-controlled Legislature for removing control of the city from local leaders and appointing an emergency manager who made the controversial decision to begin drawing water from the polluted Flint River in 2014 “to save a handful of dollars.”

The corrosive water from the river caused the aging water pipes to leach lead, potentially poisoning the predominantly poor, predominately black city of 100,000. It wasn’t until nearly two years after the switch that Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency in Flint. A presidential declaration followed within days.

Clinton first visited Flint last winter “when the crisis hit,” Weaver said. “She joined with our community groups and our churches. Hillary said ‘I will do everything I can to help you get back up and to help you get your strength.’ ”

The water crisis loomed large at a March debate held in Flint between Clinton and her chief rival for the Democratic nomination, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Both candidates called for Gov. Rick Snyder’s resignation, and Clinton leveled sharp criticism at the Republican governor for not using the state’s rainy-day fund to address the man-made catastrophe. “It’s raining lead in Flint,” Clinton said at the time, adding the crisis “will always be a priority” if she wins the presidency.

Flint’s troubles are mentioned prominently in the 51-page Democratic Party platform adopted by convention delegates Monday. It calls the public health catastrophe in Flint, which has been called a failure of government at all levels, a reminder that “low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately home to environmental justice ‘hot spots,’ where air pollution, water pollution, and toxic hazards like lead increase health and economic hardship.”

The Michigan Republican Party criticized Democrats for using the crisis as “political fodder.”

“First, it was Hillary Clinton using a Flint church as a backdrop for a campaign commercial, then going months without mentioning Flint again (even while doing a speech down the road in Detroit),” the Michigan GOP said in an emailed statement. “Now, thanks to the utter chaos at the Democrats’ convention and the WikiLeaks email release, we see that politics, and not solutions, has been her focus all along. You can see for yourself here.”

The state party pointed out in the statement that state officials have so far committed $240.6 million in state aid to fix the problems in Flint. A Snyder-appointed task force put most of the blame on the Department of Environmental Quality for misapplying federal rules and not requiring corrosion control treatments when the switch from Lake Huron the the Flint River was made.

So far three people face criminal charges, two of the from the DEQ, which is part of Snyder’s administration, and a third from the city of Flint.

Also on Patch

• Flint Water Crisis Criminal Charges ‘First Wave’
• Flint Water Crisis Whistleblowers ‘TIME 100’ Honorees
• Nation's Toughest Lead Water Rules Proposed in Michigan
• Drink Water AND Live in Flint, MI Gov. Rick Snyder Told
• Legionnaires Death Toll Now 12 in Flint Area: Report
• Watch: Congress Eviscerates Rick Snyder Over Flint Water Crisis
• HBO Satirist John Oliver Takes On Flint Water Crisis: Watch

Despite state action, Weaver told the Democratic delegates and a national television audience that the water still isn’t safe to drink or use in cooking.

“Our infrastructure is broken, leaking and rusting away. Our local economy, already down when the water crisis struck, struggles to rebound,” Weaver said. “And there are many more Flints across the country where environmental issues are hurting our kids and families.”

It isn’t known how many people were exposed to the contaminated water, or how many children might suffer lifelong problems as a result. Exposure to lead can cause learning disabilities, antisocial behavior and a host of other health problems, many of them thought to be irreversible.

Weaver spoke following a 3½-minute video that highlighted Clinton’s visits with Flint families in January. You can watch it, and Weaver’s speech, below.

Read the full text of the speech here.