I gave the mayor an ultimatum—delivered as kindly and benignly as possible. It was pretty simple. If he wouldn’t stand with me and make the announcement that there was lead in the blood of the kids of Flint, then we would do it without him. Kirk, Melany, Senator Ananich, Andy, and I had agreed on this step going into the meeting. Andy had been adamant about issuing a deadline for the mayor, and he wanted it to be Wednesday, September 23, at noon.
