Hours before Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon announced she was resigning in the wake of the Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal, a local lawmaker was among the minority who voted against a resolution seeking her ouster.

The Michigan House of Representatives voted on a resolution Wednesday, hours after Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison. Republican State Representative Hank Vaupel of Handy Township was one of eleven lawmakers who voted against it. Vaupel tells WHMI Nassar is a monster of the worst kind who used his medical degree to molest the victims for decades. He says Michigan State University failed the victims in the most despicable way but he believed it wasn’t appropriate for the legislature to intervene.

The university announced just hours later President Lou Anna Simon's resignation amid mounting pressure. Vaupel said it was probably the hardest vote he has ever had to make while serving in the Legislature, stressing he is not diminishing the atrocities that took place but felt the legal process needed to run its course. (JM/JK)