REPORT: Secret Fund Paying for Snyder Spin Effort on Flint Water?

Dan Farough, January 23, 2016

Late Friday (the time you put out something you don't want people to notice) Snyder announced he hired a PR firm to "help" with the Flint water crisis. Snyder tells us not to worry - this PR effort is NOT paid for with public funds.  But if it is not paid for with tax payer dollars, who is paying for it?  Is it his new NERD Fund with it's secret donor connection?  When asked by reporters, neither Snyder's new secretly funded PR team or chief of staff could not be reached for comment...

Not only is the Governor not coming clean with the public by refusing to apply the Freedom of Information to his office, it now appears he is using a secret fund to pay for a PR firm to spin the Flint disaster.  The irony here is hard to miss.

Working with watch dog group Common Cause we did a rapid response to this late breaking story on Friday.  Common Cause is challenging the Gov to disclose which fund is paying for the PR spin effort and who gives to this fund.  Check out the clips below.  Note - The Freep story already has close to 4,000 shares...  Perhaps a misstep by the Snyder's new PR experts?

DFP / DN: Snyder hires PR firm with ties to new chief of staff

NBC: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Hires Spin Doctors for Flint Health Crisis
Murray did not respond to a question about how Mercury and Nowling are being paid. Snyder has a number of non-public funds, largely supported by corporate donors, which he could use to pay the communications experts. Melanie McElroy, executive director of Common Cause in Michigan, challenged Snyder to disclose the sources of the money that will pay Mercury and Nowling. "Not only is he using his exemption from FOIA (the Michigan Freedom of Information Act) to dodge full accountability for this disaster, but now he's using secret money to put a spin on what happened in Flint," McElroy said. The choice of Mercury "gives new meaning to keeping it all in the family," she said.
on.freep.com/1RE07y3
detne.ws/1VeV19t
nbcnews.to/1PtevCD