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 "There are a number of folk out there that are spending their time
mainly on the political side and the blame side," he said at a
meeting in Flint of local and state officials responding to the
crisis.
Snyder's comments came a day after liberal group Progress Michigan
released emails showing high-ranking state officials knew about an
increase in Legionnaires' disease in Genesee County, where Flint is
located, and a possible link to the contaminated water almost a year
before the governor said he got information about the outbreak.
Snyder, who has repeatedly apologized for the state's poor handling
of the crisis, previously said he did not learn of the rise in
Legionnaires' cases until last month.
 The governor and state officials have been criticized for not
catching the contaminated water sooner, with some calling for Snyder
to resign.
Later on Friday, Snyder's office said the former head of the state
Department of Environmental Quality's Drinking Water and Municipal
Assistance unit, Liane Shekter Smith, was fired. She and a second
employee were suspended last month, and a state spokesman cited a
civil service rule allowing for termination due to failure to do
one's job.
A second DEQ employee, environmental manager Stephen Busch, remains
on suspension and no decision has been made on his status, state
officials said.
Flint, near Detroit, was under the control of a state-appointed
emergency manager when it switched the source of its tap water from
Detroit's system to the Flint River in April 2014 to save money.
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It switched back last October after tests found high levels of lead
in samples of children's blood. The more corrosive water from the
river leached more lead from the city pipes than Detroit water did.
Lead can damage the nervous system.
On Friday, lawmakers on a U.S. House of Representatives panel said
they plan to hold a hearing next month to address Flint health and
infrastructure issues. The energy and commerce panel did not have
details on the date or who would testify.
This week, Congress held its first hearing into the Flint crisis.
The House Oversight Committee did not invite Snyder, a Republican,
to testify, something Democrats on the panel complained bitterly
about.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit and Timothy Gardner in
Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish)
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