It was good last week to finally see criminal charges filed in the Flint, Mich., water crisis.
What was better, was to hear Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette say there's more to come.
The first charges against three local and state officials have been termed misconduct of career bureaucrats. But according to the Detroit Free Press, the prosecution team is trying to uncover more about why these individuals, as well as others still under investigation, may have acted the way they did and who may have instructed them to do so.
"Nobody is ruled out," Schuette said.
The charges stem from the lead contamination of Flint's drinking water in April 2014 after the city, under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager, switched its drinking water source from Lake Huron water treated by the Detroit water system to Flint River water treated at the Flint Water Treatment Plant. Why? To save money. After scores of children tested positive for lead poisoning, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials have acknowledged a disastrous mistake when they failed to require the city to add corrosion-control chemicals as part of the treatment process, another money saver. Without the control chemicals, the corrosion ruined the pipes and caused lead to leach and flow into the taps of Flint residents, and some researchers say 8,000 children have been exposed.
Adding insult to injury, state officials have claimed the city lead testers got artificially low lead readings because they didn't test the homes with lead service lines or other features that would put them most at high risk for lead. Among those charged is a city of Flint official who signed a document saying the homes Flint used to test tap water under the federal Lead and Copper Rule all had lead service lines - a statement investigators allege was false.
Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Snyder - one who many say has the ultimate responsibility even if no culpability is found - was making good on a pledge to drink Flint water for a month. His water is filtered, of course. And the people in Flint still do not have clean water delivered to them on any regular basis.
Where is justice here? It must not be just about criminal charges.