A Michigan lawmaker had an email sent to his Republican supporters falsely claiming he had been caught having sex with a male prostitute, apparently believing such a smear campaign would help cover up an alleged extramarital affair between him and another state lawmaker, a newspaper reported Friday.
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“My actions in and around these events in the email that was sent to misdirect attention were my doing both in planning and execution”, Courser said in a almost 30-minute audio file posted on his campaign website.
Courser went on to claim that Graham and another former Lansing staffer, Josh Cline, are somehow involved in the blackmail scheme against him as a means to “extract their revenge” for being fired.
The business office for the Michigan House of Representatives worked throughout the weekend to examine e-mail and personnel records of state Reps.
Cotter on Friday ordered the non-partisan House Business Office to launch an investigation to determine whether Courser and Gamrat broke any House rules and used taxpayer resources inappropriately. The sexually explicit email was received by Republicans on May 20 and 21, the two days following Courser’s recorded meeting with Graham.
Courser released an audio recorded statement Monday morning.
Some have called for the pair to resign, and Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, has called for an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing. It was the only option that I felt would be unpredicted by the blackmailer. He is allegedly heard on audio recordings speaking about his sexual relationship with Gamrat.
Last year, Lapeer County Democrats suspected – but could never prove – that Eickholdt was a fake candidate planted by Courser or local Republicans to hurt their favored candidate, DeLuca, in a primary, former county chairwoman Nancy Coscarelli said.
“There’s certainly not bugging of his office”. Within the recordings, Courser asks the aide, Ben Graham, to e-mail Republican activists and operatives from an nameless account to create “an entire smear marketing campaign” about him.
The email, Courser said, “was really put in motion to try to disrupt the blackmailer and to give me some clues as to what their ability was as far as surveillance over my life and the threats they were making”. The email “scam sham” was sparked by anonymous text messages the representatives received earlier in the day threatening to expose their relationship, according to Courser.
Courser first identified Eickholdt by his nickname as someone who could send the email for him during a May 19 meeting with Graham at his Lapeer law office.
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Courser said he and his family have been working through issues privately.
