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Mich. Republican Todd Courser resigns over affair with fellow Rep. Cindy Gamrat: ‘It’s been hell’

Posted at 10:26 AM, Sep 11, 2015
and last updated 2015-09-11 10:44:17-04

WASHINGTON — The Michigan lawmakers at the center of a sex scandal at the Statehouse were forced out by angry colleagues early Friday morning, following hours of heated debate.

Rep. Todd Courser resigned his House seat at 3:12 a.m., according to the Detroit Free-Press, and one hour later Rep. Cindy Gamrat, his colleague with whom he reportedly had an affair, was expelled by the legislature on a 91-12 vote.

The moves came just a day after Courser apologized for the affair, as a 90-minute recording was played for lawmakers in which he asked his staffer to concoct a bizarre cover-up story alleging that he was a drug and porn addict who paid for sex with men.

The expulsion of Gamrat and forced resignation of Courser come one week after House investigators determined both lawmakers had lied about their relationship and their knowledge of the cover-up.

“It’s an unfortunate chapter where we’re at, but it’s time to turn a page and go in a different direction and obviously heal, in my own house and in this body as well,” Courser told the Free-Press Friday morning. “It’s been hell.”