Paul Egan

Detroit Free Press

LANSING — The Board of State Canvassers on Monday approved a second recall petition against Gov. Rick Snyder over the Flint drinking water crisis, but rejected as not clear and factual a recall petition against the state official who would replace Snyder in the event of a successful recall — Lt. Gov. Brian Calley.

Both petitions were submitted by Flint activist Quincy Murphy, who did not attend Monday's meeting.

The Murphy recall petition targeting Snyder is the second recall petition against the governor over the Flint water issue that the state elections panel has approved. On Feb. 22, the panel approved a recall petition submitted by metro Detroit pastor David Bullock, who is founder of the Change Agent Consortium.

Bullock has said he plans to start circulating his recall petition on March 27, at which time he will have 60 days to collect nearly 790,000 valid signatures, in order to get the proposed recall on the November ballot.

The panel also approved an earlier recall petition targeting Snyder in February. But that one was over his school reform initiative, and not related to the Flint drinking water issue.

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Murphy's petition cited as reasons for the recall Snyder's own words about the lead contamination of Flint's drinking water from the governor's State of the State address on Jan. 19. It was approved, 4-0, by the panel, which by law has two Republican appointees and two Democratic appointees.

"Government failed you: Federal state, and local leaders by breaking the trust you placed in us," Snyder said in the formal address. "I am sorry most of all that I let you down. You deserve better. You deserve accountability; you deserve to know the buck stops here with me."

Murphy told the Free Press on Monday that his group and Bullock's group are working together and will make a decision about which petition language to circulate. Right now, the groups are working on recruiting volunteers to circulate petitions and have confirmed about 500 of the 1,600 volunteers they feel they need, he said.

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Snyder spokesman Ari Adler said "the best thing for the people of Flint is to have a person willing to stand up and be accountable, take charge of the situation, and fix the current crisis as well as addressing future needs of the city.

"That person is and will continue to be Gov. Rick Snyder," Adler said.

If Snyder is successfully recalled, Calley will become governor under the Michigan Constitution.

Murphy also submitted recall language targeting Calley over an April e-mail he sent related to the August 2015 primary election for the Flint City Council. Because candidates for mayor and two council seats had been given the wrong filing deadline, Councilman Eric Mays, who had been a harsh critic of the state-appointed emergency manager and had served jail time for impaired driving, was the only candidate on the mayoral primary ballot.

Calley, in an e-mail that was released along with a raft of e-mails Snyder released about the Flint drinking water crisis, said the state might want to consider changing the law to allow write-in candidates in the primary. "Too much progress has been made in Flint to let it go to this guy," Calley said in the e-mail, in an apparent reference to Mays.

State law was ultimately changed to allow anyone who filed by the later deadline, which had been provided to them erroneously, to appear on the primary ballot.

The board voted 4-0 to reject the recall petition against Calley after board member Norman Shinkle said part of Murphy's wording was not grammatically clear.

The panel also approved a recall petition against state Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland, for his 2015 votes to increase vehicle registration fees and fuel taxes. That petition was submitted by James McKindles.

Contact Paul Egan; 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.