Governor Snyder Discusses State of the State, Flint, Emails, And the Emotional Toll

Last night Governor Rick Snyder delivered his most earnest and sober State of the State speech to date. The first third of the speech focused exclusively on the Flint water crisis, apologizing again for the failures of government to protect the people of Flint… then pivoting to issues with Detroit Public Schools, and then finally turning to positive work that has been done in the past year and work left yet to do. As the governor wrapped his speech he called for a continuation of his mantra of “relentless positive action.” But even Governor Snyder’s voice had a tinge of frustration and disbelief as he delivered those very words. Meanwhile, outside of the Capitol… hundreds, maybe thousands of protesters rallied on the steps in the bitter cold to shout down the governor and air their frustrations.

Governor Rick Snyder joins Detroit Today host Stephen Henderson to discuss his latest State of the State speech. Henderson also talks with State Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, Republican State Senator Phil Pavlov, and State Senator Bert Johnson.

Apology: Snyder offers a personal apology to the people of Flint for his role in the water crisis,“This is awful…people’s lives were damaged. That’s not right, that shouldn’t have happened,” and because people under his control caused this to happen, “I’m responsible for that.”

Bottled Water: “Some people have access to bottled water, and some people have filters. That’s all we got,” Senator Ananich says.

Student Numbers: Pavlov says “A District that had about 145,000 students has come down to about 45,000,” which he says is in part because the education that DPS provides isn’t adequate.

To hear more of Stephen’s conversation about the Governor’s State of the State address, click the link above.