Panel starts look at affair cover- up

LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan legislative committee on Tuesday held a disciplinary hearing for two conservative state lawmakers accused of misusing public resources to hide an affair, including by sending a false, sexually explicit email claiming that one of them had sex with a male prostitute.

A House Business Office report released Monday alleges that Republican Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat were dishonest and violated House rules and campaignfinance laws.

The special six- member panel convened briefly Tuesday to adopt rules, and more hearings are planned. It could recommend discipline including censure or expulsion from the House.

Gamrat, who attended the hearing with a lawyer, told reporters that she came to let her colleagues know she wants “to be part of the solution moving forward … and get back to the business of the people of Michigan.”

Courser, 43, has admitted to orchestrating a fictional email sent to GOP activists and others in May that said he was caught with a male prostitute behind a Lansing nightclub. The aim of the email, he said, was to make his affair with Gamrat less believable if it was exposed. He said he concocted the scheme after a “blackmailer” sent anonymous text messages demanding that he resign or the relationship would be revealed.

Gamrat, 42, denies she knew about the email before it was sent, but the House Business Office investigation said recordings secretly made by an aide to Courser and Gamrat and staff members’ testimony show she did.

Asked if she should still represent her district, she said: "I still believe it's important to take responsibility for your actions, not to be held responsible for the actions of others, but for yours. ... That's for my voters to decide."

In a statement Monday, Courser complained that "hand- picked" evidence he has not been allowed to see would be presented to a "hand- picked" committee. He said the email was not sent with state resources and that any misconduct could warrant a fine or censure, but not expulsion.

Both will be given the opportunity to appear before the committee with legal representation.

Rep. Ed McBroom, a Republican farmer who is chairman of the panel, said he hopes to conclude hearings within a week or two.