LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Legislature was back in session Tuesday for the first time since news first broke the a sex scandal cover-up between Rep. Todd Courser and Rep. Cindy Gamrat earlier this month.
In an effort to seemingly avoid the media, Courser remained off the floor and in the House gallery during the opening of Tuesday’s session. Gamrat was seen on the House floor Tuesday morning, but avoided speaking with reporters.
The freshman lawmakers and conservative favorites have admitted to having an affair, and Courser has claimed he was being blackmailed by powerful Lansing sources.
Tuesday morning, after he was expected to release a statement in response to recent censure calls from fellow lawmakers, Courser instead announced he was requesting Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette investigate the purchase of the Capitol View Office building. A plan is pending to move Senate offices into the new space. Courser said it was three times over market value and it was “another example of men in power using the hand of government to enrich themselves or their friends at the expense of the taxpayers.”
Also on Tuesday, Mary Whiteford, who lost a close race to Gamrat in the 2014 Republican primary in Allegan County, announced she is running again in 2016 for the 80th District seat to unseat Gamrat.
“The developments over the past few weeks have made it clear that it will be very difficult for Cindy Gamrat to effectively serve Allegan County because the public trust has been broken," Whiteford said in a release announcing her plans to run.
