WESTMINSTER

City information systems director Maureen Tighe is seeking more than $500,000 in her ongoing sexual harassment complaint against Police Chief James Cook and the city, according to court papers filed Tuesday. Tighe’s lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that Cook sexually harassed her at work after they ended a seven-year relationship in 1995. She had initially filed the suit in Orange County Superior Court in October, but the judge dismissed key elements, essentially gutting the case, said Tighe’s attorney, Michelle A. Reinglass.

The suit claims that after Tighe refused Cook’s requests for sex in February 1996, he “began a personal campaign of harassment intended to discredit [Tighe],” which allegedly included threatening to cut her department out of the police budget by hiring consultants and criticizing her to the city manager.

Cook and city attorney Richard D. Jones could not be reached Wednesday for comment, but in the past Cook has denied any wrongdoing, and noted that he was cleared by several internal city investigations. The City Council in October voted to pay for Cook’s defense in the suit, although it did not pay for the $29,393 he incurred defending himself during the internal investigations.