Despite having introduced legislation to "protect traditional marriage," State Rep. Todd Courser, R-Lapeer, was also struggling to hide his own marital infidelity with Plainwell Republican lawmaker Cindy Gamrat, according to an explosive new report from The Detroit News.
The revelations come from secret recordings made by former staffer Ben Graham. There are two recordings, the first with just Courser, the second with Courser and Gamrat.
As a result of the report, House Speaker Kevin Cotter has asked the House Business Office to investigate the couple, and whether their actions violated state laws or House rules.
In the first recording, Courser encourages Graham to send a salacious email accusing the freshman tea party politician of being "bi-sexual porn addicted sex deviant" and having a drug problem. The email, which was eventually sent by someone using the email address [email protected], also alleged Courser was caught having "paid male on male sex" behind a downtown Lansing nightclub.
Graham and another aide worked for both Gamrat and Courser -an odd cost saving measure since the two lawmakers' districts are 130 miles away from each other.
The reason the socially conservative lawmaker – who introduced legislation to require religious clergy to sign all marriage licenses in Michigan – wanted the smear email sent?
"It was designed, Courser said on the recording, to 'inoculate the herd' an apparent reference to Courser and Gamrat's followers in the tea party movement," The Detroit News reported. "'It will make anything else that comes out after that- that isn't a video – mundane, tame by comparison,' Courser, a married father of four, told Graham."
Between The Lines has been aware of the rumors related to an extramarital affair between the two conservative freshmen lawmakers for quite sometime. In June, persistent rumors circulated that the two had been caught in the downtown Radisson Hotel by Gamrat's angry husband, Joe. The rumor indicated that a loud disturbance followed the discovery of the sexual relationship and Lansing Police were called to the hotel, located just blocks from the lawmakers' downtown offices and the capitol building. BTL filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Lansing Police Department. The request was denied because "no files were found relevant to the requested information about the requested people."
Gamrat and Courser came into office aligned with Gary Glenn, R-Midland. Glenn is the president of the American Family Association of Michigan. BTL had dubbed the trio "the unholy trinity" of the Lansing legislature.
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