Disgraced lawmakers, out of office, face criminal probe

Associated Press

LANSING, Mich.

Two disgraced tea-party Republicans are gone from Michigan’s Legislature, but their troubles may not be over as attention turns to a criminal investigation of misconduct including a plot to conceal their extramarital affair with an email of false and explicit claims.

Todd Courser resigned early Friday rather than be kicked out of the GOP-led House, after asking a reluctant aide to send the email to Republican activists and others in May claiming he had been caught with a male prostitute.

The email was intended to make his affair with Cindy Gamrat appear less believable if it was exposed by what Courser said was an anonymous blackmailer demanding his resignation.

The self-smear email called Courser a “bi-sexual porn addicted sex deviant” and “gun toting Bible thumping ... freak” and Gamrat a “tramp.”

Gamrat sought leniency, saying in part that she did not realize how explicit the email was, only to become the fourth lawmaker ever expelled at the end of a marathon session that ended before sunrise Friday. “I just want to go home and be with my family,” Gamrat, of Plainwell, said later at her lawyer’s office.

Lawmakers have asked state police and the attorney general to investigate further. A House Business Office report uncovered dishonesty, misconduct and a misuse of public resources by the pair of self-described social conservatives but no specific crimes except possible campaign-finance law abuses.

“There are mechanisms for that to take,” Gov. Rick Snyder said of uncovering possible criminal activity. The governor spoke to The Associated Press on Friday evening from Japan, where he was taking part in a trade and investment mission.

“I support the state police investigation ... and we’ll see where that turns out,” he added.

State police are investigating the purported blackmail and this week obtained a warrant for records from a phone company related to a prepaid, or “burner,” phone from which Courser and Gamrat said they received threatening text messages.