Todd Courser, the conservative freshman Republican state Representative from Lapeer, describes his early years as a "Huckleberry Finn childhood."
Now, he describes himself as "a barbarian warlord" who is "the conscience" of his party.
Nancy Derringer wrote a profile of Courser for Bridge Magazine titled, “Todd Courser hits Lansing like a cannonball.”
Derringer says her interest in Courser began when she contacted him while working on a holiday piece about how to get along with family members who don’t share your opinions.
“He has such a lively, interesting biography,” Derringer says. “I found myself utterly charmed by him.”
She tells us that since it began in January, Courser’s career in the House so far has been one crusade after another.
According to Derringer, when he moved into his office, he pushed a bunch of the furniture into the hall to make more room for guests. After being told that was against the rules, he was very public about expressing his displeasure.
“That was the first fight he picked,” Derringer says.
The second fight came after he was assigned his desk in the House.
“He wrote something like more than 2,000 words complaining about the seat selection process,” Derringer says. “You know, I think he wanted to sit with his friends and he didn’t get to sit with them, so he blew a gasket over it.”
Derringer tells us that these first few months haven’t won him any friends.
“Right off the bat, he is seen as petty and not in line with the nominal head of the Republican Party in Michigan,” Derringer says.
But according to Derringer, that doesn’t seem to bother Courser. “He really believes that that is the way you make your mark. You don’t form alliances.”
Derringer says this “chip on his shoulder” behavior is “kind of what makes him interesting to me, because he really doesn’t present himself that way.”
Nancy Derringer tells us more about Rep. Courser and his controversial approach to state politics in our interview above.
