cover-ups
Fri Sep 11 10:26:36 EDT 2015Socially-Conservative Michigan Republican Lawmakers: Todd Courser Resigns after Affair with Cindy Gamrat
I don't have a problem with extra-marital sex. I often don't care about affairs, if no one is hurt; particularly if all parties involved are aware of what's going on. (If spouses know, is it even an affair?)One of two socially conservative Michigan lawmakers embroiled in scandal over their extramarital affair and a cover-up attempt resigned early Friday morning rather than be expelled by his colleagues.
Cover-ups - that's where you inevitably get my disapproval.Courser, 43, of Lapeer, has admitted sending an "outlandish" phony email to GOP activists and others in May claiming he was caught with a male prostitute. The email was intended to make his affair with the 42-year-old Gamrat appear less believable....
Lieing is a good reason I'd want him out of my legislature.
Todd Courser From WikipediaDespite calls to resign from office, Courser claimed he was being blackmailed by mainstream Michigan Republicans and would not resign. In the pre-dawn hours of September 11, 2015 Courser resigned after several hours of a stalemate on his expulsion vote.
Cindy Gamrat From WikipediaIn April 2015, Gamrat was permanently removed from the Michigan House's Republican Party caucus for violating their confidentiality rules with a Facebook post.
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. Kevin Cotter, the Speaker of the Michigan House, initiated an investigation into their [Courser and Gamrat] use of public funds to cover up their affair.
She was expelled from the Michigan House of Representatives on the morning of September 11, 2015 for having an affair with State Representative Todd Courser.
Gamrat is a nurse from Plainwell, Michigan. She and her husband, Joe, have three children, whom they have homeschooled.
These guys are both married, and were both elected in 2014, both in their first terms. I guess they just didn't know how to behave. And when you're telling your electorate your party is all about propriety, covering-up an affair is somehow better than admitting to one. When the truth is not your choice, I don't want you setting the policies and making the laws that affect my life.
Gamrat didn't even live in Michigan until 2010 - and she was in the legislature 5 years later. Hard-core Tea-Party organizing can take you a long way, apparently.
[Assuming both parents have real jobs, how do they have time to home-school? If Gamrat isn't treating her legislative work as a real job, I wouldn't want her representing me.]
Friday 22:16
Assisted-Suicide Bill Approved by California Lawmakers
Opponents said the measure could prompt premature suicides.
I don't think I've ever heard a suicide criticized as "premature". Unjustified or ill-founded, but if there's a good reason for a suicide, who are we to question the timing?
And another item:James Blake, who retired from professional tennis in 2013 and was at one time ranked in the top 10 in the world, was standing outside the Grand Hyatt New York Hotel in Midtown Manhattan Wednesday when he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed....
The officer was investigating a credit-card ring and a witness identified Blake as a suspect, officials said. New York City's mayor and police commissioner apologized to Blake Thursday.
"When this incident was reported in the news media, Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bratton both called me to extend their personal apologies, and I greatly appreciate those gestures," Blake said in a statement. "But extending courtesy to a public figure mistreated by the police is not enough." Blake called on the police "to make a significant financial commitment to improving that relationship," especially in neighborhoods where the use of physical force against alleged suspects is common.
Blake said the plainclothes officer, James Frascatore, did not identify himself as an officer or read him his rights, and that police "paraded me down a crowded sidewalk" before realizing they had made a mistake. He said the public deserves more respect from the police. "While I continue to believe the vast majority of our police officers are dedicated public servants who conduct themselves appropriately, I know that what happened to me is not uncommon," Blake said.
I don't think police behavior is any worse than it's been for generations. There's just documentation now - particularly with video-recording devices in many people's pockets."The police officer was apprehending what he had every reason to believe was an individual who had just committed a crime," the PBA [Patrolmen's Benevolent Association], a police union, said in a statement.
Every reason? Even with all the research about how unreliable eyewitness testimony is?
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/767844.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
I don't have a problem with extra-marital sex. I often don't care about affairs, if no one is hurt; particularly if all parties involved are aware of what's going on. (If spouses know, is it even an affair?)One of two socially conservative Michigan lawmakers embroiled in scandal over their extramarital affair and a cover-up attempt resigned early Friday morning rather than be expelled by his colleagues.
Cover-ups - that's where you inevitably get my disapproval.Courser, 43, of Lapeer, has admitted sending an "outlandish" phony email to GOP activists and others in May claiming he was caught with a male prostitute. The email was intended to make his affair with the 42-year-old Gamrat appear less believable....
Lieing is a good reason I'd want him out of my legislature.
Todd Courser From WikipediaDespite calls to resign from office, Courser claimed he was being blackmailed by mainstream Michigan Republicans and would not resign. In the pre-dawn hours of September 11, 2015 Courser resigned after several hours of a stalemate on his expulsion vote.
Cindy Gamrat From WikipediaIn April 2015, Gamrat was permanently removed from the Michigan House's Republican Party caucus for violating their confidentiality rules with a Facebook post.
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. Kevin Cotter, the Speaker of the Michigan House, initiated an investigation into their [Courser and Gamrat] use of public funds to cover up their affair.
She was expelled from the Michigan House of Representatives on the morning of September 11, 2015 for having an affair with State Representative Todd Courser.
Gamrat is a nurse from Plainwell, Michigan. She and her husband, Joe, have three children, whom they have homeschooled.
These guys are both married, and were both elected in 2014, both in their first terms. I guess they just didn't know how to behave. And when you're telling your electorate your party is all about propriety, covering-up an affair is somehow better than admitting to one. When the truth is not your choice, I don't want you setting the policies and making the laws that affect my life.
Gamrat didn't even live in Michigan until 2010 - and she was in the legislature 5 years later. Hard-core Tea-Party organizing can take you a long way, apparently.
[Assuming both parents have real jobs, how do they have time to home-school? If Gamrat isn't treating her legislative work as a real job, I wouldn't want her representing me.]
Friday 22:16
Assisted-Suicide Bill Approved by California Lawmakers
Opponents said the measure could prompt premature suicides.
I don't think I've ever heard a suicide criticized as "premature". Unjustified or ill-founded, but if there's a good reason for a suicide, who are we to question the timing?
And another item:James Blake, who retired from professional tennis in 2013 and was at one time ranked in the top 10 in the world, was standing outside the Grand Hyatt New York Hotel in Midtown Manhattan Wednesday when he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed....
The officer was investigating a credit-card ring and a witness identified Blake as a suspect, officials said. New York City's mayor and police commissioner apologized to Blake Thursday.
"When this incident was reported in the news media, Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bratton both called me to extend their personal apologies, and I greatly appreciate those gestures," Blake said in a statement. "But extending courtesy to a public figure mistreated by the police is not enough." Blake called on the police "to make a significant financial commitment to improving that relationship," especially in neighborhoods where the use of physical force against alleged suspects is common.
Blake said the plainclothes officer, James Frascatore, did not identify himself as an officer or read him his rights, and that police "paraded me down a crowded sidewalk" before realizing they had made a mistake. He said the public deserves more respect from the police. "While I continue to believe the vast majority of our police officers are dedicated public servants who conduct themselves appropriately, I know that what happened to me is not uncommon," Blake said.
I don't think police behavior is any worse than it's been for generations. There's just documentation now - particularly with video-recording devices in many people's pockets."The police officer was apprehending what he had every reason to believe was an individual who had just committed a crime," the PBA [Patrolmen's Benevolent Association], a police union, said in a statement.
Every reason? Even with all the research about how unreliable eyewitness testimony is?
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/767844.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]