Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
A long-awaited report on an internal investigation into a sex scandal involving two state lawmakers has been released.
It outlines what the House Business Office calls deceptive, deceitful and dishonest conduct by state Representatives Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat.
The report lays out findings of misconduct and misuse of taxpayer resources by the two Tea Party Republicans.
According to the report the two directed staff to cover up their affair by lying about where they were, forge their signatures on legislation they introduced and do political work on state time.
House Speaker Kevin Cotter is calling on them to resign.
Both have said they are going to stay in office.
A special committee has been formed to determine if Courser and Gamrat are fit to stay in office.
That committee will meet Tuesday morning.
—————————————————————
The top Democrat in Michigan wants the state attorney general to step in and investigate misconduct allegations against two state lawmakers.
State Democratic Party Chair Brandon Dillon says the report issued by the House Business Office Monday doesn’t go far enough.
He calls the report sanitized and says there isn’t enough evidence to support the claims of misconduct.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Bill Schuette says he’s received the report and is reading through it.
Meanwhile, a special committee will meet Tuesday to begin the process of determining if State Representatives Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat should stay in office.
—————————————————————–
A House special committee will hold its first hearing this morning to determine the fate of two state lawmakers who used taxpayer resources to cover up their affair.
The hearing comes less than 24 hours after a report was released by the House Business Office.
The weeks-long internal investigation found State Representatives Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat had their staffers cover up their affair and do political work on state time.
Gideon D’Assandro, spokesperson for House Speaker Kevin Cotter, says today’s hearing will likely be the first of many.
He says it could take a few weeks before the hearings are complete.
The committee could dole out a number of punishments, including expulsion from the House.
——————————————————————
State Representative Todd Courser isn’t going down without and fight and is ripping the internal investigation by the House Business Office that found evidence he and Representative Cindy Gamrat used state resources to hide an affair.
Courser issued a 4,100 word response accusing Speaker Kevin Cotter of creating a “kangaroo court” and claiming the report was “abridged and doctored” to seek retribution against him.
Courser also says Cotter hand-picked the evidence to be given to the committee that will decide punishment for him and Gamrat, and fears he won’t be able to give any evidence to counter the allegations included in the investigation.
