Cindy Gamrat

Cindy Gamrat
Member of the Michigan House of Representatives
from the 80th district
In office
January 1, 2015 – September 11, 2015
Preceded by Robert Genetski
Personal details
Political party Republican (expelled from caucus)
Spouse(s) Joe
Children 3
Residence Plainwell, Michigan
Profession Nurse

Cindy Gamrat is a former Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives, representing the 80th district. She was first elected in 2014, after playing a leading role in organizing the Tea Party Movement in Michigan. She engaged in an extramarital affair with fellow Representative Todd Courser, and was expelled in September 2015 for using taxpayer resources in an attempt to cover up the affair.

Political career

Tea Party organizing activity

Gamrat became a Tea Party organizer after moving to Michigan in 2010. [1] Shortly after moving, she founded Plainwell Patriots Tea Party and in 2011 founded Michigan 4 Conservative Senate.[2]

In 2011, Gamrat was leader of the Plainwell Patriots Tea Party which hosted a United States Senate candidate forum on November 22 of that year. The event featured Cornerstone Schools executive Clark Durant, former Kent County Judge Randy Hekman, libertarian activist Scotty Boman of Detroit, Gary Glenn of Midland, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, and Roscommon businessman Peter Konetchy.[3]

Michigan 4 Conservative Senate, also founded by Gamrat, was patterned after successful efforts by Indiana tea party groups that rallied behind Richard Mourdock as the tea party challenger to Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar. In Michigan, she organized more than 50 tea party groups, under the name Michigan 4 Conservative Senate (MI4CS), to try to avoid dispersing tea party clout in a field crowded with conservatives.[4] In addition to coordinating forums by tea party groups around the state, MI4CS organized a candidate forum at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant Michigan on January 14, 2012. The forum preceded a convention of Michigan tea party groups that would decide which of the participating candidates they would support. Clark Durant, Randy Hekman, Scotty Boman, Chuck Marino and Gary Glenn participated, while Peter Konetchy, Rick Wilson, and former Congressman Pete Hoekstra chose not to.[4]

Michigan House of Representatives

With incumbent Bob Genetski unable to run for reelection due to term limits,[5] Gamrat ran for election to the Michigan House of Representatives for the 80th district in the 2014 elections on a platform focused on leadership and family values,[6] while identifying as part of the Tea Party Movement.[7][8] Gamrat defeated Geoff Parker of the Democratic Party and Arnis Davidsons of the Libertarian Party in the general election.[5]

In April 2015, Gamrat was permanently removed from the Michigan House's Republican Party caucus for violating their confidentiality rules with a Facebook post.[7] The Detroit News published audio recordings on August 7, 2015, in which fellow Michigan Representative Todd Courser asked staff to create a rumor that he had sex with a male prostitute in order to distract from the affair he was having with Gamrat.[9] Kevin Cotter, the Speaker of the Michigan House, initiated an investigation into their use of public funds to cover up their affair.[10] She was expelled from the Michigan House on September 11, becoming the fourth lawmaker to be expelled from the legislature in Michigan history. Courser resigned before the House could pass a resolution to expel him.[11]

In addition to note, she had run as a "family-values" Republican before the scandalous affair was made public. A staffer of Cindy Gamrat has said of the affair with Todd Courser that "they would spend lots of time in the back offices which were cutoff from the rest of the offices [...] bring him a pillow and tuck him in and a blanket, long walks together during the day, long personal romantic hugs during the day [etc, etc, etc]"[12]

Gamrat filed paperwork with the Allegan County Clerk to become a candidate in the special election to fill her former seat.[13] She received 9% of the vote in the primary election, finishing in third place.[14]

Personal life

Gamrat is a nurse[15] from Plainwell, Michigan.[7] She and her husband, Joe,[6] have three children, whom they have homeschooled.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "Rep. Cindy Gamrat's past, present and future in politics is hot topic of discussion". MLive.com. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Cindy Gamrat wins GOP nomination for state House in the 80th District". MLive.com. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  3. ↑ US Senate Debate - Michigan (1).m4v. YouTube. November 22, 2011. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Michigan tea partiers seek consensus Senate pick". MLive.com. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  5. 1 2 "2014 election results: Republican Cindy Gamrat wins 80th District state House seat". MLive.com. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Alex Shabad, WZZM (August 7, 2015). "Neighbors react to Rep. Gamrat's alleged sex scandal". WZZM 13 News. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 "Tea party state Rep. Cindy Gamrat kicked from House Republican caucus". MLive.com. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Alliance between three Tea Party newcomers in Lansing now down to two". MLive.com. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  9. ↑ Chad Livengood, Detroit News Lansing Bureau (August 7, 2015). "Recordings: State rep asked aide to hide relationship". Detroit News. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  10. ↑ Paul Egan and Kathleen Gray (August 7, 2015). "House speaker: Investigate lawmakers for reportedly covering up affair". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Todd Courser resigns, Cindy Gamrat expelled from Michigan House in wake of sex scandal". MLive.com. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  12. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfhkdViiFFk, retrieved 2015-10-14 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ↑ http://www.freep.com/story/news/2015/09/17/cindy-gamrat-todd-courser-sex-scandal-michigan-legislature/32566215/
  14. ↑ http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/todd-courser-cindy-gamrat-fail-michigan-comeback-bids-gop-n456986
  15. 1 2 Livengood, Chad (January 19, 2015). "3 firebrands could test fellow GOP lawmakers". The Detroit News. Retrieved August 7, 2015.

External links

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