YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) - Richard Baird, one of nine former officials charged in the Flint water crisis, resigned from the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents on Friday.
Baird, 64, was a top aide to ex-Gov. Rick Snyder, who was arraigned on misdemeanor charges Thursday. In a letter to the board’s chair, Baird said his decision was very difficult but in the best interests of the university.
He said he will be exonerated of the “specious” felony charges - perjury, misconduct in office, obstruction of justice and extortion - but the legal proceedings will “take quite a long while.”
Snyder named Baird to the board in October 2018, for a term that began in 2019 and was to go through 2026. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will appoint a replacement.
The charges have escalated a debate over whether charged state and local officials crossed a line between incompetence and illegality.
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