In May, Republicans across the state of Michigan got an email claiming Courser was a “bisexual porn-addicted sex deviant” and he was caught with male prostitutes, but here’s the twist Courser sent out those emails.
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Some have questioned Gamrat’s choice to share office staff with Courser, which Gamrat said Friday allowed them to “eliminate redundancy and save taxpayer dollars”. That lie, however, was an attempted to cover up the real affair between Courser and Gamrat. And instead he handed over the recordings he made to The Detroit News and now Courser and Gamrat are back in the spotlight, both under investigation and hopefully about to lose their jobs. He is from Lapeer in the Thumb and is an attorney; she lives in Plainwell north of Kalamazoo and homeschooled her children after working as a nurse.
He says he has gotten some support and suffered what he calls “piling on” by critics who condemn his actions and are not ready to forgive, and are not always polite about how they express that criticism.
Courser apologized Monday in an audio statement but said he would not resign, saying he devised the email under intense pressure after a blackmailer sent text messages demanding that he resign or the affair would be exposed.
State Representative Cindy Gamrat announcing on Friday that she has no plans to resign from office. Courser said his aides conspired with a “blackmailer” political consultant in the establishment “Lansing mafia” and the email was an attempt to sniff them out.
Bowlin is investigating whether aides were improperly discharged, a misuse of public resources and potential misconduct warranting the legislators’ expulsion.
Saari told reporters he missed no red flags and 300 House legislative staffers are at-will employees who are hired and fired by lawmakers – their immediate supervisors – while the speaker’s office approves final paperwork.
See, the accusations in the email are so ghastly, that an affair with a female colleague seems tame by comparison.
Computers and records have been seized from an office where Courser and Gamrat shared staff and resources at the Lansing capitol as part of the investigation.
Polls: With so much time left until the 2016 election for president, MacDonald and Stephen each feel that what the polls say today may not be a true reflection of how the election will ultimately turn out. Schuette did not comment.
Congresswoman Candice Miller, a fellow Republican, was the first prominent leader to call for Courser’s resignation.
During the May 19 meeting, Courser twice read aloud portions of a draft email to Graham.
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Under the Michigan Constitution, the House can expel a member with a two-thirds vote. But extending such compassion and forgiveness to them as individual private citizens does not mean they should remain in positions of public trust, leadership, and accountability.
