Expelled Michigan lawmaker files to run for the seat she lost

LANSING, Mich. Michigan state Rep. Cindy Gamrat was expelled from office last week, and on Thursday she filed with the Allegan County Clerk that she intends to run in the special election to fill that seat.

“She filed just after 2 p.m.,” said Allegan County Clerk Joyce Watts.

Gamrat, a Plainwell Republican who was caught up in a sex and cover-up scandal along with state Rep. Todd Courser, R-Lapeer, was expelled from her seat shortly after 4 a.m. Friday. Courser resigned at 3:12 a.m. Friday.

“What weighed really heavy on me this whole time, was I felt it was really important for my voters to have a voice in this. I continue to have to fight for them,” she said in an interview with the Detroit Free Press.

“I still continue to get a lot of supportive, encouraging messages. Since this happened, everyone recognizes me now,” Gamrat added. “People keep telling me they feel terrible about what has happened to me and my family. They want to see me fight on.”

She said she’s not concerned about going back to a body that voted 91-12 to boot her from office. “I wouldn’t vote with the caucus. I wasn’t part of the team,” she said. “When I look at the people who have filed, I don’t think they can stand against the pressures of Lansing.”

Courser hasn’t filed for the seat that he resigned from last week. In a broadcast of the WKAR-TV public television show “Off the Record,” Courser said he still thinks a censure would have been the more appropriate action for the Legislature to take, but he hasn’t decided what to do and that it will be up to his wife, Fon, to determine his political future.

When asked if he would stay out of the race if his wife told him to, Courser said, “That’s correct and that’s how it should be.”

Four people have filed for the seat in Lapeer County, including Republicans Chris Tuski, Jake Davison, Ian Kempf, Gary Howell and James Dewilde. Jan Peabody, chairwoman of the Lapeer County Republican Party who finished a close second to Courser in the August 2014 primary election, also is expected to file.

Gamrat will be joined on the ballot by at least four other candidates: Republicans Mary Whiteford, who finished a close second to Gamrat in the 2014 election, Bill Sage, Shannon Szukala and Kevin Travis. County Commissioner Jim Storey also has said he plans to run for the seat.

That glut of candidates could help Gamrat get into office, said Allegan County Republican Party chairman Steve McNeal.

“We knew this was a possibility because everybody knew this was a great opportunity. Everybody would look at it and say all I need is $100 if I’m a Republican or not to get into this race,” he said. “When that stage was set, we knew there was a good chance that everyone else would split the ‘anyone but Cindy’ vote.”

While Gamrat has the legal right to run for the seat she lost, McNeal said: “But that doesn’t mean it’s the moral right. If she wins, it will be because there are too many other candidates in the race.”

Candidates have until 4 p.m. Friday to file for the seat. The special primary election will be held Nov. 3 with the general election scheduled for next May. County clerks in both counties said the special election is going to be expensive. Both counties had already printed ballots for the Nov. 3 election and were preparing to send out absentee ballots. Those ballots will have to be thrown out to accommodate the election in the two state House districts. Lapeer County Clerk Theresa Spencer said the election will cost between $100,000 and $120,000. While Watts said it could cost up to $30,000 to replace the ballots that had to be thrown away.

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 e-mails 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.

Attorney General Bill Schuette said Thursday that he opened an investigation into the matter on Sept. 4, when an executive summary of the controversy was released by the House Business Office. His office is working with the Michigan State Police to see if any crimes were committed, such as misconduct in office or using state resources to cover-up the affair.

“I made a decision to open an investigation. I thought it was appropriate, It will be thorough and when it’s done, we’ll let everybody know,” Schuette said.

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