Michigan’s Todd Courser launched smear campaign against himself, claiming he was with male prostitute in bid to conceal extramarital affair with lawmaker

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Federal and state officials are calling for a Michigan lawmaker to resign after it emerged on Friday that he used his taxpayer-funded office to launch a smear campaign against himself, claiming that he had been caught having sex with a male prostitute.

In audio recordings obtained by the Detroit News, Representative Todd Courser was heard asking a now-fired aide to email Republican activists with the false report, in an attempt to distract from an alleged affair with another social conservative, state Representative Cindy Gamrat.

The Detroit News obtained two recordings secretly made in May by a former aide of Courser, a Tea Party-backed social conservative from Lapeer. In the recordings, Courser asks the aide, Ben Graham, to email Republican activists and operatives from an anonymous account to create “a complete smear campaign” about him.

In the recordings, Courser tells Graham that he and state Representative Cindy Gamrat, with whom he took the unusual step of combining office operations, received identical text messages about their relationship that day from an unknown number. Courser wonders aloud whether someone had pictures, video or audio recordings of him and Gamrat.

Neither Courser, a married father of four, nor Gamrat, a married mother of three, directly confirmed or denied having a sexual relationship during the recorded conversations. But they also didn’t dispute Graham’s characterization of their relationship as an extramarital affair, the newspaper reported.

Courser said the email he wanted Graham to send would “inoculate the herd” – an apparent reference to his and Gamrat’s supporters.

“It will make anything else that comes out after that – that isn’t a video – mundane, tame by comparison,” Courser told the aide.

Graham said when he refused to send the email, he was stripped of some of his duties before Courser fired him in early July. The sexually explicit email was received by Republicans on May 20 and 21, the two days following Courser’s recorded meeting with Graham. During the meeting, Courser reads aloud portions of a draft email. The newspaper said it’s unclear who actually sent it.

Gamrat told the Detroit News: “I’m not going to talk about any kind of staff-related issues.”

Courser confirmed “that’s my voice” as a reporter played the recording in his office lobby, but he disputed the legality of the recording.

US Representative Candice Miller issued a statement on Friday, calling for his immediate resignation. “This behavior is a slap in the face, especially from someone who presents himself as a moralist.”

Liberal advocacy organizations also jumped into the fray, with one saying the pair violated their oath of office. And the whirlwind of a story that involves two social conservatives who consistently cite their religious beliefs – Courser has a penchant for penning verbose manifestos on state issues, and occasionally signs off with “In Christ Alone” – didn’t emerge without a joke from across the aisle.

State senator David Knezek, a Democrat, tweeted: “On the phone since 3am trying to find out which of my gay friends ruined these two traditional marriages. No leads.”

Courser and Gamrat are known for their strenuous opposition to same-sex marriage. In June, Courser introduced a bill to prohibit municipal officials from officiating marriages. Writing on the bill, he said: “Our elected officials could be forced to perform same sex marriages” if the US supreme court overturned Michigan’s ban.

Courser didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by the Guardian; Gamrat couldn’t be reached at publicly listed phone numbers.

The Michigan court of appeals ruled in 1982 that participants in a conversation may record a discussion without getting the permission of other participants. “A recording made by a participant is nothing more than a more accurate record of what was said,” the ruling states.