Publisher's Synopsis
Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the Flint water crisis, Chariton uncovers new evidence that sheds light on the miscarriage of justice and corruption that led to the poisoning of Flint's citizens. Most people perceive the Flint water crisis as a tragic failure, long in the rearview mirror, born from terrible government decisions to cut corners and save money. However, an active coverup is stillvictimizing Flint residents nearly a decade later. From crooked Wall Street financial schemes to illegal political payoffs, destruction of evidence, witness tampering, perjury, and threatened whistleblowers, Toxic Government: Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover Up and the Poisoning of 100,000 People will, for the first time, reveal the real story behind the government's full involvement in the Flint water crisis. As the coverup continues today, innocent residents have been arrested, surveilled, threatened, and made to feel like they are crazy. With more immune-damaged residents slowly dying every year, Flint's lead levels again on the rise, and a deadly pandemic thrown on top of it, it is time for the true story of the Flint water cover up to be told. Based on eight years of reporting, thousands of confidential documents from the criminal investigation, and the former Governor of Michigan's own words under oath, Jordan Chariton takes readers on the road to crisis before the Flint River switch—when government officials blew through blinking red stop signs and orchestrated a financial scheme that allowed a nearly bankrupt Flint to borrow $100 million dollars for a new water system. As brown, smelly water flowed to the homes of Flint and residents grew sick, politicians intentionally and knowingly allowed Americans to drink poison for years as they prioritized their own political ambitions and survival. Readers will be shocked by the stunning scope of injustice unveiled.Toxic Government is a cautionary tale about "take charge" leaders who come to power with no real understanding of the workings of government and a willingness to make moral compromises to pursue their own path to power. Perhaps even more important, given the growing issue of water and environmental contamination surging across the US, Chariton provides information that could help prevent this tragedy from happening yet again in any other community.
