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The horrid mess that is the public water supply in Flint, Mich., has rightly come into the portfolio of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, aka Jason Chaffetz's playhouse.

It is a chance for the Utah congressman to win back some of the respect he lost when he conducted the laughable attack on Planned Parenthood last year.

You remember:

Chaffetz humiliates himself with attack on Planned Parenthood — Salt Lake Tribune Editorial, Oct. 1, 2015

"Utah's Rep. Jason Chaffetz Tuesday humiliated himself, his constituents, his institution and his gender by deliberately becoming the national face of the willful ignorance and misogynistic politics that define his party's shameful attack on women's health in general and Planned Parenthood in particular.

"He also flunked fourth grade math. ..."

For Chaffetz, no such thing as bad publicity — George Pyle | The Salt Lake Tribune

Chaffetz uses phony stats to harass Planned Parenthood — Dana Milbank | The Washington Post

Lying With Charts, Anti-Abortion Edition — Kevin Drum | Mother Jones

The result was a barrage of lampooning by, among others, Jon Oliver.

Today the committee was asking the proper questions about how the city of Flint, then under the control of a viceroy appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, changed the source of its municipal water supply and unleashed a flow of lead-infused water into the homes of all the people who lived there. Mostly poor and black.

The problem for Chaffetz is that, even if he does his job really well, gets to the bottom of all this, fairly lays blame and proposes solutions, it won't be funny. And so Good Jason won't get much, if any, compensatory time in the most influential national media outlets, the late night talk shows.

This major dispatch from the Associated Press doesn't even mention Chaffetz by name.

Regulator: Michigan should have forced Flint to treat water — Matthew Daly | The Associated Press

" ... The crisis has taken on partisan overtones, as Democrats blame the Republican governor and some Republicans target the federal Environmental Protection Agency for failing to intervene sooner. ..."

There's also a YouTube video of the hearing. You can wade through the 6 hours and 11 minutes if you want and see how Chaffetz looks. I'm sure The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight, Colbert, etc., have interns who do that.

But the write-up in The Detroit News, where this is a huge local story, does give Chaffetz some good lines. Even though they are a long way down in long story.

Lawmakers spar on state's blame for Flint water — Melissa Nann Burke and Jim Lynch | The Detroit News

" ... Chaffetz also said the committee has directed U.S. marshals to 'hunt down' former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley to serve him his subpoena.

"Chaffetz had harsh words for Earley – particularly his refusal to appear in D.C. Wednesday. An attorney for Earley allegedly refused service of a subpoena earlier this week.

" 'We're calling on the U.S. Marshals to hunt him down and serve him that subpoena,' Chaffetz said...."

Over at The Huffington Post, Chaffetz is high in the story, though not necessarily the hero of the piece:

"Members of Congress wanted to get to the bottom of the Flint water crisis, but several key players were missing from an oversight hearing on Wednesday.

"House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) opted not to call Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) to testify, to the consternation of committee Democrats. And Darnell Earley, one of the emergency managers Snyder had appointed to run Flint, refused to testify even after Chaffetz issued a subpoena Tuesday.

" 'We're calling on the U.S. Marshals to hunt him down and give him that subpoena," Chaffetz said.

That sounds like a powerful enough sound bite. Stay tuned.

Elseweb: