A special House committee voted 4-0 Thursday morning to expel State Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat for misconduct and misuse of taxpayer resources after the two lawmakers were caught up in a sex and cover-up scandal.
The matter now moves to the full House of Representatives, which is anxious to move beyond the controversy; lawmakers could take up the matter on the fate of Courser, R-Lapeer, and Gamrat, R-Plainwell, on Thursday.
"I think it's clear to me through the evidence and testimony that expulsion is a proper move," said state Rep. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, the chairman of the special committee. "The disrepute the House has been brought into is without debate. This episode must be put behind us. Neither has convinced me that they can regain the public trust, and I don't believe they continue to function without that trust. And it diminishes the trust in the entire body to continue to have them here."
The pair "used state resources to further a cover-up, to further their political operations and to further a cause that they seem to believe in, but they certainly don't seem to practice," said state Rep. Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth. "This is clearly a distraction that has brought us into a very dark place that we need to remove ourselves from as quickly as possible."
But Democrats passed on the vote, saying that more information was needed before they could support expulsion. They wanted two former staffers _ Ben Graham and Keith Allard _ to testify before the committee. Their goal is to find out how Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, handled the situation surrounding the firing of the two employees.
"I'm not ready at all to report out any bills. There is more information to gather," said state Rep. Frank Liberati, D-Allen Park. "I'm just looking for a little air of legitimacy to these proceedings."
State Rep. John Chirkun, D-Roseville, even called Allard on Thursday morning and asked him if he'd be willing to testify and said the answer was yes.
McBroom retorted that the politicization of the proceedings was inappropriate and that attorneys for Allard and Graham told the committee that they would not testify. He also noted that both Gamrat and Courser had agreed with the House Business Office report that concluded they had misused taxpayer resources and were guilty of misconduct in office.
The two lawmakers, both tea party Republicans elected on a platform of Christian and family values, have admitted to misconduct in office and misuse of taxpayer resources. But they've also apologized for their actions and asked the House committee to censure rather than expel them. Only three lawmakers in state history have been expelled from office. A censure could carry the loss of committee assignments, staff and office expense allotments.
After the vote, Courser said he would not resign to avoid an expulsion vote in the full House. But Gamrat's attorney, Mike Nichols, said that resignation was still an option for Gamrat.
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.
(c)2015 Detroit Free Press
