The Hillary Clinton campaign is calling for a democratic debate to be held in Flint, Michigan, a city that has recently received a national spotlight due to lead in the water supply.
“The water crisis in Flint is unconscionable,” Hillary for America Campaign Chair John Podesta said in a press release. “It’s been going on for years, as the people of Flint repeatedly asked for help and were ignored by state government.”
Clinton has received praise from the mayor of Flint, Karen Weaver, for bringing attention to the crisis.
In 2013, Michigan’s state treasurer, Andy Dillion, approved changing Flint’s water source in order to save money. Since then, the water has become contaminated with lead, ravaging the town. Elevated levels of lead have been found in children’s blood. Earlier this month, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency for the Flint area and apologized for the slow reaction to the crisis.
“As Hillary has said, this would not have happened in a wealthy community,” Podesta said. “It was only when the crisis was finally brought to national attention that real steps were taken to begin to address the immediate issues like access to clean water and health monitoring, and longer term health and infrastructure challenges.”
Earlier this month, Gov. Snyder released hundreds of pages of internal documents relating to the water crisis in Flint, which revealed the political calculus behind the crisis.
Photo via Υπουργείο Εξωτερικών / Flickr (CC BY 2.0) | Remix by Max Fleishman