MICHIGAN: Anti-Gay Christian Adulterers Lose Bids To Win Back Legislative Offices

Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat, the Michigan Tea Party-backed anti-gay Christian lawmakers who were busted in a bizarre adultery cover-up scheme, yesterday lost their bids to retake seats in the chamber which expelled them early this fall. The Associated Press reports:

Ms. Gamrat had 9 percent of the vote, with 90 percent of precincts reporting in her former southwestern Michigan district, finishing third to Mary Whiteford. Ms. Whiteford, a former nurse who helps run her family’s wealth management business, had nearly 52 percent. County Commissioner Jim Storey was in second with 24 percent in the eight-candidate primary. Mr. Courser won less than 4 percent, with all precincts reporting in his old Thumb-area district, coming in fifth in an 11-candidate primary. Gary Howell, a farmer, won that race with 26 percent of the vote.

“I told the voters they should have the opportunity to decide,” Mr. Courser told WWJ-AM. He could not overcome the “political headwinds,” he said, which “were unlike anything I’d ever experienced.” An emotional Ms. Gamrat told reporters that regardless of what voters heard or believed, “I worked really hard for them when I was there” in Lansing. “It was a tremendous honor to serve. … My infidelity was wrong, but I don’t think it warranted and merited the maligning of my character that I had on me and my family day after day in the news.”

When it became clear that their affair would become known, Courser attempted to plant a diverting story about his having been caught having sex with a man in an alley behind a nightclub. The scheme fell apart when an aide balked at taking part. Aides for both are now suing the pair, who also face an extortion investigation by the state. Early this year Courser and Gamrat jointly introduced a trio of bills that would have outlawed civil marriage in Michigan. (Tipped by JMG reader TJ)