Rick Snyder was the Governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. A former Gateway businessman, Snyder was pushed further right politically by the Tea Party faction of the Republican Party. He passed legislation that would allow him to appoint emergency managers to take control of financially insecure municipalities like Flint and implement severe—and damaging—austerity measures in these already vulnerable places. Following Mona and her team’s exposure of the Flint water crisis, Snyder personally apologized to Mona for his office’s neglect—and though she was appalled by Snyder’s administration’s negligence, Mona believed his apology was genuine.
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Rick Snyder Character Timeline in What the Eyes Don’t See
The timeline below shows where the character Rick Snyder appears in What the Eyes Don’t See. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: What the Eyes Don’t See
In 2011, Michigan governor Rick Snyder declared Flint to be in a state of “local government financial emergency,” as it was...
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Chapter 9: Sit Down
When former Gateway businessman Rick Snyder was elected governor in 2010, he campaigned as a moderate who would run the state...
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Chapter 23: All the Things We Found Out Later
...began putting pressure on the governor to switch the source back. On October 8th, Governor Snyder announced that the water would be switched back to Detroit. Right away, supportive and congratulatory...
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Chapter 24: Fire Ant
In January of 2016, Mona agreed to attend a press conference featuring Governor Snyder and the new mayor of Flint, Karen Weaver, as they spoke about the crisis. Mona...
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The new mayor, Karen Weaver, soon declared a citywide state of emergency. Then, Governor Snyder declared an emergency in Genesee County—and, on January 16th, 2016, President Barack Obama declared a...
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Chapter 25: Truth and Reconciliation
...visit. They swept her office with metal detectors and other “security gizmos,” and then Rick Snyder entered with a “posse” including the Lieutenant Governor and MDHHS director Nick Lyon. The governor...
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As Snyder went on, though, Mona could see genuine remorse in his eyes. He wanted to discuss...
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When Governor Snyder asked Mona if she’d attend the press conference at which he was announcing the new...
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