Snyder’s Flint water legal bills nearly triple to $3.4M

Lansing — Gov. Rick Snyder’s office has racked up $3.4 million in legal bills from private laws firms representing the governor and his staff in the Flint water crisis — almost tripling the original $1.2 million budget.

Snyder’s office disclosed Thursday that two law firms billed the governor for $1.2 million in work in February, March and April and that another $2.2 million is needed to pay legal bills for May, June and July.

All told, Snyder’s office and three state departments have spent a combined $5 million to date on private attorneys representing employees under investigation or named as defendants in multiple civil lawsuits related to Flint’s water contamination, according to records compiled by The Detroit News.

To pay for the mounting legal bills for the governor’s office, a $400,000 contract for Detroit attorney Eugene Driker’s law firm has been increased to $1.4 million, Snyder spokeswoman Anna Heaton said Thursday.

Read more: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/08/18/snyders-flint-water-legal-bills-nearly-triple/88980950/

[font color=330099]The $5 million in legal bills would have been a nice down payment for fixing the problem in Flint. The Legislature should refuse to pay the legal bills for the governor since his administration was negligent and incompetent.[/font]