GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Former state Rep. Cindy Gamrat has filed a sweeping lawsuit against the state House of Representatives, political leaders and staffers and her estranged husband alleging illegal wiretapping, stalking, malicious prosecution and defamation.

Gamrat was disgraced by an extramarital affair with then-Rep. Todd Courser, who resigned an hour before she was forced out of the House.

She represented herself in a lawsuit filed in September against a handful of political figures who asked that it be dismissed for lack of prosecution.

She then hired a lawyer who recently filed an amended complaint in U.S. District Court now naming as defendants the House of Representatives, then-Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter, former aides Keith Allard and Benjamin Graham, House Business Office director Tim Bowlin, Cotter's chief of staff and general counsel, Brock Swartzle, her estranged husband, Joe Gamrat, and others.

Allard and Graham have settled their lawsuit against the House after they lost their jobs. The House also agreed to indemnify them and cover legal costs in cases like this.

"This lawsuit has no merit," Grand Rapids attorney Sarah Riley Howard, who represents Allard and Graham, told MLive and the Grand Rapids Press.

"Although Cindy Gamrat's lawsuit claims to have taxpayers' interests at heart, she seems very willing to waste a lot of their money deflecting blame for her actions."

Courser, R-Lapeer, filed a separate lawsuit against many of the same defendants in Gamrat's complaint.

But he filed a motion to dismiss because of stress-related poor health while fighting criminal charges, his attorney said.

In January, an Ingham County judge ordered Courser to undergo a psychiatric examination to determine his competency to stand trial on a perjury charge.

Courser and Gamrat, R-Plainwell, both elected in 2014, shared staff - but not offices - to cut expenses. They were accused of misconduct for misusing state resources to cover up their affair.

Gamrat said in the lawsuit that her troubles began Jan. 15, 2015, the day after she was sworn into office.

She said Cotter directed her and others to sign a confidential "Caucus Pledge" that required her to pledge votes on important issues to the caucus, or Cotter, rather than the wishes of her constituents.

She said she refused to sign, which prompted Cotter, his chief of staff, Norm Saari, and Swartle, to meet with her staff and order them to direct information about her to them, according to the lawsuit.

She said that Allard, Graham and another aide, Joshua Cline, began to issue reports as directed by Cotter, the lawsuit said.

She said her three staffers began to communicate with Joe Gamrat.

Her estranged husband - they are in the process of divorce, records showed - had begun "secretly conducting surveillance of Gamrat in her car, her home, her bedroom, and her campaign headquarters by placing secret wiretapping and surveillance devices in these locations," Grand Rapids attorney Tyler Osburn wrote in a 38-page complaint.

She accused Joe Gamrat and two others of secretly bugging her state office, hotel rooms, car and and purse with wiretapping devices. They also monitored her phone calls and voicemails, emails and texts, she said in the lawsuit.

Joe Gamrat forwarded the information both directly and anonymously to her friends, colleagues and pastor, the lawsuit said. Before long, Gamrat and Courser believed they were under surveillance at many places, including the Radisson Hotel in Lansing.

Cline soon quit.

Gamrat said Graham and Allard secretly recorded her conversations.

"On a number of occasions, Allard commented to Gamrat and Courser and other staff that Gamrat's office was 'bugged,'" Osburn wrote.

A state police investigation showed that David Horr, named as a defendant in the lawsuit and a friend to Joe Gamrat, sent anonymous texts to Courser at his friend's behest in an effort to get Courser to resign.

The texts threatened to expose the affair, which led to Courser's infamous suggestion to staffers that they "inoculate the herd" by issuing an anonymous, outlandish allegation against him so that reports of an affair would not be believed.

Gamrat said she also came under fire in the House because she broke the "Caucus Pledge."

She also criticized a report by the House Business Office, which alleged she misused state funds, as inadequate with many factual errors.

"The HBO Report was based primarily upon the accusations alone of Allard and Graham," while evidence corroborating Gamrat's testimony was ignored, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges violation of due-process rights, breach of contract, malicious prosecution/abuse of process, violation of state eavesdropping and federal wiretapping laws, civil stalking, defamation, fraud and conspiracy.