Mich. sex scandal: 1 lawmaker resigns, other is expelled

Kathleen Gray | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Politician caught in sex scandal resigns Michigan State Representative Todd Courser resigned from the Michigan House of Representatives amid a controversial sex and cover-up scandal.

LANSING, Mich. — It took 14 hours, two failed votes and a day full of drama, but during the early hours of Friday, two Michigan lawmakers embroiled in a controversial sex and cover-up scandal were no longer members of the state's House of Representatives.

State Rep. Todd Courser resigned from his House seat at 3:12 a.m. Friday, and an hour later, state Rep. Cindy Gamrat was expelled, ending the scandal that has rocked the Michigan capital for the last month.

"I felt is was the appropriate thing to do. I put everybody through a whole bunch, my family, constituents and the people in this room," said Courser. "You go 14-15 hours later, they would have been doing a third vote. I felt they were just going to go until they got their answer."

His resignation letter was short and simple: "I hereby tender my resignation from the Michigan House of Representatives effective immediately. It has been an honor serving with the dedicated members and staff of the House of Representatives."

Gamrat decided to stick it out and asked her colleagues to censure, rather than expel her.

"I firmly believe in restoration and redemption," she said." I have done everything I can to redeem this situation and I'm sincerely sorry for what this has caused. I still believe my actions warrant censure, but not expulsion."

Her colleagues disagreed, voting 91-12 to expel her with five Democrats declining to vote on the matter.

It appeared throughout the evening that Courser and Gamrat, two tea party Republicans caught up in a sex and cover-up scandal, might save their jobs, thanks to Democrats. Twenty-six Democrats initially refused to vote on a resolution to expel Courser, leaving the expulsion vote six votes shy of the 73 votes needed to remove the lawmaker from office.

After a 67-14 vote, with 26 Democrats refusing to vote and two Democrats absent, Republicans called for a reconsideration of the vote and the board stayed open until it was cleared shortly before midnight, so the House could adjourn for the day and reconvene a minute later.

"It's sort of Shakespearian, if you look at it: My fate rests in the hands of the Democrats," Courser said late Thursday.

But the lengthy and passionate debate took its toll. Courser said, leading to his decision to resign.

"It’s an unfortunate chapter where we’re at, but it’s time to turn a page and go in a different direction and obviously heal, in my own house and in this body as well," he said. "It’s been hell."

Many Democrats said they wouldn't vote on the measure because of the process that was used to get to an expulsion.

In the end, an amendment was added onto the Gamrat expulsion resolution, calling for a Michigan State Police investigation into the controversy. Another resolution called on the Attorney General's office to looking into the matter. With those amendments, Democrats switched from voting no or not voting to supporting the expulsion.

"House Democrats have called for weeks for an independent law enforcement investigation of these very serious allegations regarding Reps. Courser and Gamrat," said House Minority Leader Tim Greimel, a Democrat from Auburn Hills.

But Republicans said the 833-page report and testimony from both Courser and Gamrat, who both admitted misconduct in office and misuse of taxpayer resources but asked for censure rather than expulsion, clearly laid out plenty of reason to expel the two members.

The resignation and expulsion capped a day of drama for the two lawmakers and the entire Legislature. Republicans held the board open for more than seven hours, waiting for the Democrats who chose not to vote to change their mind. They invoked "Rule 32," which requires members to stay in their seats indefinitely. They repeatedly ran down the list of Democratic members who weren't voting to ask whether they changed their mind. When the first vote failed 67-14, with 26 Democrats not voting and two Democrats absent, they tried again; reconsidering the vote and keeping the board open with the hopes that they could come up with the necessary 73 votes.

The day of drama began with the committee's 4-0 vote to expel both Courser and Gamrat. The two Democrats on the committee passed on the vote.

The scandal swirling around Courser and Gamrat had been rumored for months, but burst onto the public scene last month when audio recordings surfaced and revealed that Courser had asked his staff to send an anonymous, "false flag" email that he had written, saying he was addicted to drugs and pornography, and paid for sex with men outside a Lansing bar. His staff refused to participate in the attempt to make it appear that Courser was the victim of a smear campaign and to downplay the affair he was having with Gamrat. But the email still was widely sent around Lansing.

Courser, in the recordings and Facebook posts, has said he was being blackmailed and that the phony emails were an attempt to smoke out the person who was trying to get him to resign from office or risk having the evidence of the affair released to the public. He has released text messages he says both he and his brother have received from the supposed blackmailer.

Contributing: Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press

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