Michigan House Lawyer Urges 1 Expulsion, 1 Censure In Affair Cover-Up

By DAVID EGGERT
Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The top lawyer for the Michigan House recommended Tuesday that one state lawmaker be expelled and another censured for misconduct stemming from an attempt to hide their extramarital affair.

Brock Swartzle, general counsel for the Republican-led chamber and chief of staff to Speaker Kevin Cotter, said GOP Rep. Todd Courser of Lapeer should be expelled. He said a censure would be appropriate for Republican Rep. Cindy Gamrat of Plainwell, who he described as mostly an accomplice in the "bizarre" cover-up attempt.

"Under any standard of appropriate behavior, Rep. Courser has failed in miserable and spectacular fashion," Swartzle said.

Gamrat on Tuesday admitted to official misconduct, misuse of public resources and asked for a censure.

A special six-member House committee is investigating whether to recommend that the 109-member House reprimand, censure or expel the Republican legislators. A censure - more serious than a reprimand - would allow the House to take away Gamrat's committee assignments, staff and ability to send mass mailings to constituents.

Courser, 43, and Gamrat, 42, have refused calls to resign.

Courser has admitted that he arranged for a phony, sexually explicit email to be sent to Republican activists and others that said he had been caught having sex with a male prostitute. He said the tale would make the affair less believable in case it was exposed by an anonymous blackmailer who was sending him and fellow freshman and social conservative Gamrat text messages demanding that he resign or their relationship would be exposed. The self-smear email - which an investigator read for the committee - called Courser a "bi-sexual porn addicted sex deviant" and "gun toting Bible thumping ... freak" and Gamrat a "tramp."

After an aide to Courser and Gamrat was fired in July, he gave The Detroit News a secret audio recording of Courser demanding that he send the email to "inoculate the herd," an apparent reference to Courser's supporters. While the aide refused and the email was likely legal, the plot was unethical and showed a "callous lack of respect" to the public, according to an initial House Business Office investigation. It also said Gamrat was aware of the email contrary to her assertions.

On Tuesday, Gamrat read an at time tearful nine-minute statement to the panel apologizing and, in a change in course from an earlier televised apology, acknowledging that she discussed the email with Courser. She is scheduled to meet with constituents Tuesday evening for the first time since the scandal broke.

"While I did not know in advance of the specific and offensive things that were in the false email that was eventually circulated, I take full responsibility for my role in Rep. Courser's plan and the resulting harm it has caused," Gamrat said. "For this I offer my genuine apology."

She also said she should have done more to stop mistreatment of staffers she and Courser shared together in an unusual office arrangement.

Gamrat was expected to answer questions in the afternoon from the panel, which received a summary of the preliminary investigative report in the morning after holding an initial organizational meeting last week. Courser submitted a letter to the committee Tuesday, but it was not immediately made public.

He attended the hearing with his attorneys. One lawyer, Dan Randazzo, said Courser had not decided whether to testify.

Hearings are expected to conclude this week.

A panel member, GOP Rep. Kurt Heise of Plymouth Township, said the committee will not necessarily rubber-stamp Schwartzle's recommendations.

"She has certainly played this crisis better than Rep. Courser," he said. "She's made some mistakes along the way. But ... I do believe her apology is sincere. We certainly don't give her a free pass. A censure resolution can bring with it many sanctions and restrictions which really are detrimental to her ability to function adequately."

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