Former
legislative aides to former Representatives Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat took
the stand on Wednesday in front of a district court judge to determine if
further legal action is necessary.
Ben
Graham and Keith Allard made public recordings of both Mr. Courser and Ms.
Gamrat revealing their affair and cover-up attempts, which include a false flag
email. Both testified along with Joshua Cline, a former staffer who quit prior
to the email incident. Mr. Courser had requested Mr. Graham send a false email
accusing Mr. Courser of having a drug, alcohol, and pornography addiction,
among other claims, to distract from his true affair. Both Mr. Graham and Mr.
Allard recorded conversations regarding this before being fired from the
office.
Mr.
Courser has been charged with one count of perjury and three counts of
misconduct in the office and Ms. Gamrat faces two felony charges of misconduct
in the office. Both have been accused of asking staffers to sign blue backs.
Questions
in the testimony were focused primarily on the blue back issue as well as the
false email. Mr. Cline commented he has heard of staffers signing blue backs
and other documents for their bosses. Ms. Gamrat’s attorney asked the staffers
if she had ever specifically asked the staffers to sign her name on a blue
back, to which they replied she agreed with Mr. Courser but did not explicitly
give permission to do so.
Mr.
Graham and Mr. Allard both testified to the scattered and stressed behavior of
Mr. Courser. Mr. Graham added he recorded the email conversation because he
believed the former Representative to be a danger to himself and Mr. Graham, as
Mr. Courser kept a loaded gun in his Lapeer law office.
Judge
Hugh Clarke conducted the hearing and also ruled the testimony during the House
select committee back in September would be accepted conditionally. The
preliminary exam will continue.