HOLLAND (WHTC) — Cindy Gamrat, one of two former Republican state representatives now charged with felonies after a sex scandal and failed cover-up, is fighting back.
She faces two counts of misconduct in office, charges which carry, if she’s convicted, penalities of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The other half of the scandal, Todd Courser of Lapeer County, faces one count of perjury and three counts of misusing his office. A perjury conviction could net him up to 15 year in prison.
R.J. Baker, in an email to WHTC, said he’d filed a motion Friday to co-represent Gamrat in this case. His email included a formal response to Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s press conference announcing the charges.
Baker’s statement read, in part, “After months of investigation and at the expense of tens if not hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, the State of Michigan, after expelling Cindy Gamrat for misuse of taxpayers resources now charges her with two felonies. Two felonies under a vague catchall statute that appears on its face unconstitutional. MCL 750.505. Neither charge calls into question the misuse of tax payer resources, the alleged reason she was expelled, at least as described by the AG at his press conference.”
Baker’s note went on to say that the charges added insult to injury and Gamrat would “avail herself of the constitutional protections afforded her by the Constitution and vigorously defend against this apparent abuse of process. The very protections and Constitution all parties swore to uphold, now ignored.”
His not also suggested, as did Courser’s comments regarding the case, that Schuette’s pursuit of the charges was a form of misusing taxpayer resources.
