Top Democrat in State Senate Says He’ll Sign Snyder Recall Petition

The top Democrat in the state Senate says he’ll sign a petition to recall Gov. Rick Snyder if given the opportunity.

 looking into the city’s water crisis. State Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich is from Flint. He’s angered by the governor’s testimony in front of a congressional committee.

Ananich says Snyder has continuously shifted blame from his office to other state and federal agencies. And he says the governor’s actions show he’s unable to protect the city’s residents.

“I will sign a recall petition. If someone knocks on my door, there’s no question I will,” said Ananich.

“It was clearly a culture created by the governor that was implemented in a number of departments that failed my community. And if we don’t change that culture, it will fail other communities as well.”

Ananich serves on a special joint committee holding hearings on the Flint water crisis.

He stopped short of calling on Snyder to resign.

Republicans are pushing back against criticism of the governor’s testimony and his overall response to the Flint water crisis. They say Snyder has accepted responsibility.

“I think what the governor is trying to do is pointing out the shortcomings there – as he has acknowledged in Michigan – so that we know where the system has failed on all levels and work to correct those failures so that no other community in Michigan or anywhere else in the country has to go through what Flint has,” said Sarah Anderson with the Michigan Republican Party.

Snyder apologized for his administration’s role in the crisis during his State of the State Address in January.