Governor Rick Snyder testified under oath today Tuesday about Detroit’s historic bankruptcy filing.
As The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Jake Neher reports, the deposition can be used in federal court to determine if Detroit is eligible for Chapter Nine bankruptcy.
Union lawyers grilled the governor for three hours about what led to the bankruptcy filing.
Sharon Levine is an attorney for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. She says she’s happy the governor agreed to cooperate with the deposition. But Levine says Snyder did not ease concerns that the bankruptcy could threaten retiree pensions.
“We were a little bit concerned to learn today that there is no real plan yet in place with regard to how to deal with those pension issues coming out of Chapter Nine,” she says.
Levine says the governor also failed to convince her that he and the emergency manager he appointed negotiated in good faith with stakeholders. If a federal judge is equally unconvinced of that, he could deny Chapter Nine bankruptcy for Detroit.
Snyder says bankruptcy was a “last option”.