Legislators Not Quitting, Ex-Aide Shares Steamy Details About Affair

» Get Patch’s daily newsletter and real-time news alerts.

The two conservative Republican lawmakers embroiled in a sex scandal and elaborate cover-up scheme returned to the Michigan Capitol Tuesday, a day after a former aide offered salacious details of an interoffice romance he said created “untenable” working conditions.

State Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat, whose extramarital affair has made sizzling headlines since it was exposed last week by The Detroit News, both face censure and are under pressure to resign.

Courser told reporters at the Capitol Tuesday that he’s not going anywhere. He sat in the gallery with visitors after he and Gamrat were booted out of caucus sessions as the Legislature got back to work after a month-long summer recess.

“People wanted me to speak about the censure and whether or not that’s going to be moving forward,” Courser, of Lapeer, said. “I think it’s a little premature to make a statement on that. I’m working on it, in regards to how that will look and feel as we go forward.”

“... Obviously I will take that day-by-day as I work that out, obviously with my wife, and praying about that and being concerned about it,” he said. “When you’re going through personal crises and difficulties in a family, you need to really retrench and spend time with your family and have those discussions. ...”

Gamrat, of Plainwell, tearfully admitted her involvement in the affair in a news conference Friday, but like Courser, said she had no plans to quit, the Associated Press reported.

• Related: State Rep Wanted to Cover Up Affair With Fake Gay Sex Scandal

“For now I believe that the best path is for me to move forward and I intend to continue to represent my district to the best of my ability,” she said. “I know that I have made some poor decisions … that do not line up with who I am or what I believe. I know that over the weeks and months to come, I will have some hard decisions to make.”

Gamrat offered a letter of apology to House Minority Leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills, and asked if she could read it personally. Greimel refused, saying that would be “highly unusual,” according to the Detroit Free Press.

“There are very serious criminal allegations here and a law enforcement agency with subpoena power needs to get involved here and investigate,” Greimel said. “If the allegations against them are true and that’s an open question – misusing taxpayer funded staff time and then firing the staff when they refused to go along with the scheme – that’s a very serious allegation and they should leave the House immediately.”

• Related: Not My Finest Moment’ – State Rep Apologizes for Fake Sex Scandal Scheme

Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, ordered an investigation of Courser and Gamrat to determine if they used taxpayer money to hide their relationship. They could face criminal charges or be ordered to make restitution.

The investigation also includes allegations that Courser improperly fired aides who refused to go along with a bizarre misinformation campaign in which sexually explicit emails accusing Courser – a staunch gay marriage opponent – of having sex with a male prostitute were sent to Republicans and reporters in May.

Courser, who admitted to orchestrating the cover-up and acknowledged he was a “hypocrite,” said he figured the fake scandal would be so over the top that no one would believe it, and would deflect attention away from the real extramarital affair with Gamrat.

In addition to the legislative oversight, the Michigan State Police launched an investigation Friday after Courser visited the Lapeer post of his own accord, the Free Press said. MSP spokeswoman Shannon Banner declined to reveal the nature of the investigation.

Gamrat has denied her involvement in the cover-up scheme, and Courser has since said the email was an attempt to draw out a blackmailer associated with the “Lansing mafia” establishment – political enemies he accused of colluding with former staffers Ben Graham, Joshua Cline and Keith Allard.

• Related: Rep. Courser’s Brother Posts Alleged Blackmail Texts Online

Both Courser, 43, and Gamrat, 42, are freshmen legislators with tea party backing. Both are married. He has four children and she has three. Both are religious conservatives.

One of the former aides, Cline, said at a Monday news conference that the relationship between the two was so openly intimate that it created a hostile work environment.

Courser and Gamrat would “routinely disappear for hours at a time,” then return to office and ask staffers to get dinner for them, Cline said. Courser often took naps in Gamrat’s office, and she would get him a pillow and tuck him in, the former aide aid.

“They spent an inordinate amount of time going for walks with each other during the day,” Cline said. “They frequently greeted each other with what appeared to be long, romantic, highly personal hugs and embraces.”

Cline said he began to suspect in January that the two were having an affair, but when he suggested they should “adopt and enforce professional and personal boundaries,” Courser and Gamrat dismissed his concerns and “impressed upon me that as a mere staffer, such a suggestion was not my place.”

Gamrat’s husband, Joe, confronted the two legislators at a Radisson Hotel in Lansing in February, Cline said.

“He told me, as a warning that ‘you’re going to be in for a very bad day.’ He had seen Todd and Cindy stay in their legislative offices until late at night. He had also seen Cindy leave Todd’s hotel room at 2 a.m.,” Cline said. “Cindy arrived late that day looking disheveled. ... And (Courser) spent most of the time leaning on cabinets in Rep. Gamrat’s office. He was distraught, despondent, very quiet. They spent a lot of time in their back office that day.”

Cline resigned in April.

“It was not an easy task to chose integrity over a paycheck. But I chose to preserve my integrity and resign effective immediately,” Cline said. “Having chosen integrity over continued employment in a hostile, untenable work environment in which I was required to turn a blind eye to unethical behavior in the offices of Courser and Gamrat, I am confident I did the right thing.”

• Tell Us: Should Courser and Gamrat resign?

Gamrat spokesman Justin Near declined comment on Cline’s press conference. Courser did not return calls for comment by the Free Press, and refused to discuss the affair in any detail with reporters on Tuesday.