FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
August 31, 2015
Contact: Sam Inglot, 616-916-0574, sam@progressmichigan.org
Where’s the Full Report? Progress Michigan Responds to House Report on Courser & Gamrat
Full report with evidence should be released to explain Speaker’s failure to investigate
LANSING — Progress Michigan released the following statement regarding the House Business Office (HBO) report that was just released on State Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat. The report is only a summary of the HBO findings and the public deserves to see the entire report.
The report found that both reps were guilty of misconduct in office. It clears Speaker Cotter of wrongdoing but that conclusion lacks credibility because employees of the Speaker cannot objectively and independently investigate him. Also troubling is that the report indicates that Courser and Gamrat staffers brought their concerns to his chief of staff, Norm Saari, who failed to thoroughly investigate the allegations. The summary does not account for this failure.
“If these allegations were brought to Speaker Cotter’s chief of staff, why weren’t they investigated earlier?” asked Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “Michiganders deserve to know what the Speakers’ office knew about this situation, when they knew about it and what actions they took to protect the public trust. The summary of this report does not go far enough in informing the public of what was going on beyond the headlines.”
In light of the “unresolved issues” raised by the summary report, Progress Michigan is reiterating its call for an independent Michigan State Police investigation.
“From day one Progress Michigan has called on Courser and Gamrat to resign if these allegations were true. That fact remains the same. However, it isn’t at all surprising that the investigation called for by Speaker Cotter, through an office under the control of Speaker Cotter glosses over any involvement by the Speaker’s office and moves directly into prosecution of Reps. Courser and Gamrat,” Scott continued.
Progress Michigan has sent a Freedom of Information Act request seeking all of the documents related to the investigation.
“There should be no problem releasing this full report immediately if Speaker Cotter is truly interested in accountability to the public and has nothing to hide,” Scott said.
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