Now, Michigan state lawmaker and Teabagger Todd Courser claims that he made up the story about having an extramarital affair with another lawmaker in response to being blackmailed as part of a “clandestine operation to control public officials.”
According to the Detroit News, Courser and Cindy Gamrat, another Tea Party politician, were having an affair. They are both under investigation for violating House rules and misuse of state funds.
Then came the claims of supposed blackmail.
“I feel it is absolutely, absolutely essential for the cause of liberty to have these clandestine operations to control public officials exposed,” Courser said. “Nothing prepared me for the caustic nature of the Lansing mafia … In Lansing, you either go along and play along, or they set up to destroy you by doing what they can to malign, smear and undermine you — in essence, get rid of you.”
According to Huffington Post:
On May 19, Courser allegedly instructed his former aide, Ben Graham, to email other Republicans with an anonymous accusation that Courser was paying for sex with a man behind a nightclub. The congressman indicated that he hoped the false story would minimize the blowback if news of his affair later spread. Graham, who secretly recorded his conversation with Courser, refused to send the email.
The governor of Michigan said that if Courser believed he was being blackmailed, he should have gone to police.
With the investigation underway, Courser has said that he doesn’t plan to resign from office.
“That was pushed on me from many directions … and yet I felt no calling from God to move that way,” said Courser.
Gamrat has made no statement regarding the issue or the blackmail.
