Former State Rep. 
Cindy Gamrat has filed to run for the 80th District legislative seat she lost last Friday by expulsion.
Gamrat, who was elected last November to represent all of Allegan County except, Wayland, Leighton and Dorr Townships and the City of Wayland, was expelled by a vote of the full House of Representatives for her role in the coverup of an extra-marital affair with fellow State Rep. Todd Courser. Courser resigned last Friday morning before an expulsion vote was taken and then Gamrat became only the fourth legislator to be expelled by the House in its 178-year history.
But she is not the first to try to gain back her seat. The last legislator to be expelled, David Jaye, tried, but failed, to win election back to his seat.
Gamrat joins Republicans Mary Whiteford, Eric De Witt, Bill Sage, James Siver, Jim Story, Shannon Szukala and Kevin Travis. The winner will face Democrat David Gernant, a former trial judge in Portland, Ore., who has retired and low lives in Plainwell.
The deadline to file for the post was at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18.
The general election for the primary winner against Democrat Gernant is scheduled for March 8.
Courser Friday indicated he also will to try to win back his seat in the 82nd District.
Gamrat and Courser came under fire when an Aug. 7 Detroit News story charged they both tried to cover up their extra-marital affair, with Courser concocting a false rumor about himself to throw investigators off the scent of the real story. The two shared the same legislative office in an unusual move when both first took office last January.
It was an aide to Courser who blew the whistle about the scheme and affair by using an audiotape.
The Michigan Attorney General’s office and Michigan State Police continue to investigate the matter to see if there was any criminal wrongdoing.
