Statement by Wendy Fields, Common Cause Vice President for Campaigns and Strategic Partnerships.

It will take more than one hearing on the Flint water crisis to deliver the transparency and clarity the people of Flint need to understand who should be held accountable for the poisoning of their community.

This is no time for partisanship; as several members of the Oversight Committee observed today, there is plenty of blame to go around. So Common Cause calls for the creation of an independent, congressionally-chartered select committee, with a mandate to subpoena all relevant records, require the appearance at public hearings of every public official or private citizen involved in this debacle, and issue a full report on its findings. We must determine who knew what and when they knew it, how we can avoid other crises like this, and who should be held accountable. The public’s faith in government at any level depends on transparency and accountability; public servants — elected, appointed, or hired — owe the people of Flint the full truth without further delay.