Sex Scandal, Bizarre Cover-Up Cost State $80K-Plus So Far

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LANSING, MI – Former Republican state representatives Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat have returned to their private lives after a sex scandal and clumsy cover-up erupted at the statehouse and voters declined to return them to office in November in comeback bids.

But the bills associated with one of the state’s most salacious sex scandals are accumulating. The House of Representatives Business Office had paid $80,177 to the Dickinson Wright Law Firm in Lansing for investigative reports into actions that led to Courser’s eleventh hour resignation and Gamrat’s expulsion on Sept. 11.

The bill to the Dickinson Wright firm also includes legal fees to defend lawsuits filed by former House staffers Ben Graham and Keith Allard, who were fired by Courser and Gamrat in July before the sex scandal and fake gay sex coverup broke, the Detroit Free Press reports.

December bills, including the costs associated with a whistleblower lawsuit filed against the House of Representatives by Graham and Allard last fall, have not yet been received.

Progress Michigan, which received the legal bills under the Freedom of Information Act, said the use of an outside law firm was an inappropriate use of public funds.

Lonnie Scott, the group’s executive director, told the Free Press that Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, “bungled” the investigation into the lawmakers’ conduct and “should use his taxpayer-funded attorney to defend the House and pay for any outside counsel himself.”

Gideon D’Assandro, a spokesman for Cotter, said the issues surrounding the removal of the lawmakers were constitutionally complicated and the House would have had to hire extra lawyers or pay for the state attorney general’s office to do the work.

“The Speaker would rather be deliberative and do it right,” D’Assandro told the Free Press.

Recap of Coverage

Stories about the Tea Party Republicans were among our best-read in 2015. Here’s a look back:

• State Rep Wanted to Cover Up Affair With Fake Gay Sex Scandal
• Rep. Courser’s Brother Posts Alleged Blackmail Texts Online
• Not My Finest Moment’ – State Rep Apologizes for Fake Sex Scandal Scheme
• Legislators Not Quitting, Ex-Aide Shares Steamy Details of Affair
• Lawmakers OK Inquiry into House Sex Scandal and Cover-Up
• Select Committee to Decide Fate of Lawmakers in Sex Scandal: Read the Report
• Watch Sex Scandal Hearings Live: Gamrat Expected to Admit Guilt to Keep Job
• Courser Pleads for His Job, Says His ‘Heart Is Sincere’: Watch the Hearing
• Republican-Controlled House Can’t Muster Enough Votes to Oust Courser and Gamrat
• Michigan Lawmakers Ousted in Bizarre Sex Scandal
• Disgraced Lawmaker Cindy Gamrat Files Papers to Replace Herself
• Both of Michigan’s Tea Party Trysters Want Their Jobs Back
• Courser, Gamrat Named in Whistleblower Lawsuit by Ex-Aides
• Election: Michigan’s Tea Party Trysters Soundly Defeated