For Gov. Rick Snyder, the first criminal charges filed in the Flint water crisis are an apparent vindication of his long-standing defense: that career bureaucrats, not Snyder or his top lieutenants, poisoned Flint.

And it’s true that the three men charged, the first significant outcome of an investigation launched by state Attorney General Bill Schuette, fit the bill. The City of Flint’s Michael Glasgow and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Michael Prysby and Stephen Busch are accused of crimes ranging from misconduct in office to water treatment violations to tampering with evidence, charges that reflect the trio’s hands-on roles in Flint’s 2014 drinking water switch and subsequent failure to properly treat its water.

Snyder has accepted responsibility for Flint. But he continues to dodge blame, which he’d prefer to see land at the feet of those career bureaucrats.

What happened in Flint is complicated, a series of disastrous decisions made and OK’d by numerous government officials, set against the backdrop of decades of urban disinvestment and regional racism.

But here’s the thing: All of those decisions, made on Snyder’s watch, are on the governor’s account. Like any CEO, the governor is responsible for the culture of organization he helms, for the leadership he displays and – should – require from those below him. And so (the) charges offer no absolution for the governor.

All three men are mid-level managers, the folks who sign off on treatment plans or water sample collections, and for blame to stop at their feet would be a tragic misread of this public health catastrophe.

None of which diminishes the severity of the charges against Glasgow, Prysby and Busch. State employees Prysby and Busch are accused of altering lead water test results, as is Flint’s Glasgow. Prysby and Busch are also charged with failing to properly enforce water treatment statutes. These are serious crimes.

Under the oversight of state-appointed emergency managers, Flint severed ties with Detroit’s water system in 2013, opting to join a new regional water authority. While that system was under construction, Flint’s then-emergency manager determined that the city would draw its drinking water from the Flint River, treating it at the city’s plant. MDEQ officials told Flint it didn’t need to add corrosion control – chemicals that prevent lead leached from aging service lines and welds from entering the water – to the water it pumped from the Flint River.

In the days before the switch, Glasgow warned that the treatment plant wasn’t ready, telling the Flint Journal last month that he had “marching orders” from higher-ups. Busch cautioned that difficulty of treating the Flint River water could result in carcinogen exposure for residents – something that happened promptly after the switch, when treatment workers overdosed the water with a disinfectant.

Whether Glasgow, Prysby and Busch are guilty is for the courts to decide. Whether Snyder – or ranking members of his administration – will face such charges remains to be seen.

There’s also an ongoing federal investigation; Schuette says there’s more to come. The attorney general is not free from political ambition – he is expected to run for the governor’s seat in 2018 – and it’s all but impossible to see political calculation in this investigation. But the team selected by Schuette include capable investigators, like former FBI agent Andy Arena.

What’s undisputed is that, regardless of what criminal responsibility any investigation assigns, Snyder helms the state. All credit for success, and blame for failure, stops at his desk.

The governor told reporters Wednesday that he’s looking not for vindication, but for the truth. For accountability.

It’s a quest Snyder could complete with ease, were he sufficiently self-aware.

– Detroit Free Press