Never let a good crisis go to waste.
Via The Guardian:
As Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders make lead contamination crisis central to their campaigns, residents are wary of politics – but ‘it’s still a good thing’
On a recent frigid morning in Flint, Michigan, as another winter storm barreled through town, residents were filing through a water resource center to stock up on bottled water.
“Here we are in a winter advisory, not supposed to be driving on the roads, and you’ve got to drive out to get water,” said Kortney Porteous as she picked up a case of water.
This is the new state of normalcy in the city of 100,000, which has been grappling with a lead-contamination crisis that has left many residents living on bottled water, unsure of the long-term health effects of high levels of lead in their water, and deeply mistrustful of government.
Residents are expecting another surge of attention to their plight as the Democratic presidential candidates come to Flint Sunday for a debate. And despite a feeling that they are a source of political gain, many residents are ready to capitalize on the attention to demand action.
“You know how it goes, it’s an election year,” said James McCovery, a Flint native. “If it wasn’t an election year, and they were already [elected], I feel like neither one of them would be working as hard as they are.” But he said he’s grateful that they are.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have made Flint’s water crisis a hallmark of their campaigns: Sanders visited the city last week for a town hall and has called for Michigan governor Rick Snyder to resign. Clinton used her victory speech on Super Tuesday to highlight the situation, taking aim at Snyder by saying the “city’s children were poisoned by toxic water because the governor wanted to save a little money.” (Without naming Clinton, Snyder later responded, “Flint families need our help, not political rhetoric.”)