Staff

Detroit Free Press

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder today released 274 pages of his personal e-mails from 2014 and 2015, as he and his staff seek to combat calls from protesters for him to resign in the wake of the Flint water crisis.

Snyder pledged to reveal his Flint e-mails in Tuesday's State of the State address, after the Detroit Free Press editorial board and others called for greater transparency from the state's executive office.

The governor’s office and Legislature are exempt from Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, which requires public disclosure of records related to government. Michigan is one of only two states that apply a blanket exemption to electronic communication from the governor's office and Legislature.

Here are nine must-read pages from today's release. You can read all the released e-mails here.

Page 2

Importance: High, the e-mail says. But it's 100% redacted. (The first page of the report says that this e-mail involved an unrelated lawsuit and Snyder invoked attorney-client privilege.)

Page 71

Dennis Muchmore, Snyder's former chief of staff, writes an e-mail to the governor dated Sept. 25, 2015, claiming that some in Flint were turning the issue of children's exposure to lead into "a political football." He said the real responsibility for the water crisis rested with the county, city and KWA. "I can't figure out why the state is responsible except that Dillon did make the ultimate decision so we're not able to avoid the subject."

Page 58

Once Flint was approved into the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA), the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department (DWSD) sent Flint a letter that formally terminated their contract. According to the background information found on Page 58, Genesee County was using DWSD water without a contract at that time.

The city of Flint promptly initiated a proposal to Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to use water from their historical backup system, the Flint River. According to this document, the city of Flint could have continued using DWSD water without a contract, instead of sourcing its own water supply from the Flint River. "This proposed shift was billed as a money saver," the document notes. "But it put the city in the business of water production, where they historically had been in the business of water transmission."

Page 102

This e-mail is one of the few released that was written by Snyder. Dated Oct. 2, 2015, Snyder asks staffers to look into "financing mechanisms" that are available to Flint. He wants action "ASAP."

Page 109

In another e-mail sent from Snyder (on his iPad), he calls for a daily report on Flint "until our recommendations are fully implemented." Among the items Snyder mentioned as part of his daily report: water test results from public schools, number of water filters distributed and new blood test results.

Page 269

Snyder's communications chief Jarrod Agen -- who is now the governor's chief of staff -- outlined personnel changes at Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in advance of a letter from the Flint Water Task Force. Agen said members of Snyder's team met and recommended making "structural changes at DEQ as early as tomorrow." Wrote Agen: "The recommendations in this letter suggest profound change at DEQ and openly criticize Director Wyant."

Page 270-272

This a letter to Snyder from the Flint Water Advisory Task Force, which blames the Department of Environmental Quality for the crisis. The letter is what prompts Snyder's e-mail on Page 269.