LANSING, Mich. (Detroit Free Press) — Two disgraced former state representatives are fighting to get their seats back in special primary elections Tuesday, and a third state House primary will help choose a successor to former state Rep. Brandon Dillon of Grand Rapids, who resigned to become chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party.
The winners of the primaries will compete in special general elections March 8.
Todd Courser of Lapeer and Cindy Gamrat of Plainwell, two freshman Republican tea party lawmakers who espouse traditional family values, admitted to having an extramarital affair and misusing state House resources to try to cover it up. Each is married with children.
In one of the most bizarre political stories in Michigan history, Courser admitted to sending out an anonymous phony e-mail accusing himself of having gay sex behind a Lansing nightclub and being a "porn-addicted sex deviant." Courser, while unsuccessfully trying to persuade a House staffer to circulate the e-mail, described his strategy as a "controlled burn" that would make any reports of an extramarital affair less plausible, according to audio tapes secretly recorded by a former staffer.
Courser, a lawyer, resigned Sept. 11 while facing expulsion from the House. Gamrat was expelled the same day.
Both then opted to run to try to get their seats back.
A conservative returning to office after admission of an affair is not unprecedented: As Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., ran for re-election to Congress in 2012, he was discovered to have had a half dozen affairs while married to his first wife. He won re-election 56% to 44%, won his 2014 GOP primary by 35 votes and won re-election again in 2014 58% to 35%.
Though political observers say voters aren't likely to return either Courser or Gamrat to the state legislature, the crowded Republican primary fields result in a level of uncertainty.
In Courser's district in Michigan's Thumb region, 11 candidates are running, and eight are running for Gamrat's seat in southwest Michigan. Three Democrats also are running in the 82nd House district, which Courser represented, and one Democrat is running in the 80th House district, which Gamrat represented.
Political action committees for business groups and legislative leaders are throwing their financial support behind the candidates who finished second to Courser and Gamrat in the 2014 primaries — nurse Jan Peabody and Mary Whiteford — along with Gary Howell, a candidate in the Courser race. Another candidate who has raised money is Jim Storey, who is running for Gamrat's seat.
An education policy group with ties to one of the state's Republican mega-donors has mailed advertisements attacking Courser and Gamrat for misusing public resources to cover up the affair.
Courser has said he sent the e-mail out of desperation. He accused former aides of conspiring with a blackmailer and GOP leadership in a "political hit" against him.
The staffers have filed a whistleblower and libel/slander lawsuit against Courser and Gamrat.
The special primary election with fewer political fireworks is being held to fill the House seat in the 75th District that was vacated by Dillon, who resigned in August to become chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party.
Two Democrats and one Republican are on the ballot in that race.
Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Paul Egan on Twitter: @paulegan4
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