Lester: College of DuPage's legal tab at $3.9 million and growing

The College of DuPage's legal bills since last May have now reached at least $3.9 million and are only climbing, according to a memo I obtained in recent days. The tab covers bills from May through December, with January, February and March of this year still outstanding. Roughly $2.3 million comes from law firms - $1.03 million from Schuyler, Roche and Crisham, $463,729 from Rathje & Woodward and $880,869 from Schiff Hardin - representing various trustees, who are being sued both as individuals and as members of the board by former President Robert Breuder and two financial administrators who were terminated last fall.

The memo notes that before the college's financial mismanagement and infighting landed it in the news, average legal expenses were about $550,000 a year.

Update: On Thursday afternoon, after this column initially published, I spoke on background with a college administrator who noted that $1.6 million of the $3.9 millon comes from Alix Partners, a high-end temp agency that hired two people to replace the fired financial administrators. The official went on to say the college had $550,000 in legal costs in fiscal year 2014 - but costs spiked to $900,000 in fiscal year 2015.

Seeing red in Aurora

We in the newsroom apparently weren't the only ones having problems with Election Night returns from the Aurora Election Commission. Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner describes an "abysmal" failure in posting primary results in a timely manner and now says he wants the city's election commission abolished. Furthermore, Weisner says the Election Night troubles are "the most recent example of general incompetence" by the commission, which also has failed to perform required audits and properly set up early voting locations.

The commission, meanwhile, points to a time stamp on its website that says results were posted shortly before midnight. But Weisner says even if the results were available at that time, somewhere, he couldn't locate them. This isn't the first time that there's been talk about abolishing the commission.

Bipartisan breakfasting

While GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner and the leaders of the Illinois Legislature haven't met for months amid a nearly 9-month-long budget impasse, Illinois first lady Diana Rauner was spotted breakfasting at the Atwood Cafe in Chicago earlier this week with two leading Democratic members of the Senate - Appropriations Chairwoman Sen. Heather Steans of Chicago and Revenue Committee Chairwoman Toi Hutchinson of Olympia Fields.

All this brings to mind a favorite Margaret Thatcher quote: "If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman."

While a senior administration official wouldn't disclose the agenda, it was noted that meetings between Diana Rauner and lawmakers are a semiregular occurrence.

Via Crucis

Thousands will gather on Elgin's east side at 3 p.m. Friday as members of St. Joseph Catholic Church stage a dramatic testament to their beliefs through "La Via Crucis" or the "Way of the Cross." The annual procession, which winds through Division, Gifford and Park streets, re-creates - quite vividly - the suffering and crucifixion of Christ in his final hours. While other heavily Hispanic parishes in the suburbs also hold re-enactments, Elgin's is the biggest and most dramatic that I've seen. Rehearsals began two months ago with no detail overlooked.

Bollywood in the 'burbs

Some of India's most renowned Bollywood personalities will perform before an expected crowd of about 1,000 at the Meadows Club in Rolling Meadows Friday as part of a national tour, club CEO Madan Kulkarni tells me. Javed Akhtar, who has written some of the biggest blockbusters of the Indian film industry, and his wife Shabana Azmi, a well-known actress, will narrate the performance. There's still a bit of political flavor permeating the venue that several weeks ago hosted GOP presidential bidder Ted Cruz. Kulkarni tells me both Akhtar and Azmi have spent time as members of India's parliament. Tickets range between $35 and $125.

Journeys

Though I wrecked two pairs of running shoes in the process, I can't say enough good things about the Fox Valley Winter Challenge Trail Series, a three-race competition that concluded with a 10K last weekend in Geneva's Fabyan Woods. It involved charging through large patches of water and ankle-deep mud and over rocks and logs. My next running adventure will be training for the Chicago Marathon with Sister Stephanie Baliga - a Rockford native who was a nationally-ranked Division I runner while a student at the University of Illinois. These days, Baliga runs the Mission at Our Lady of the Angels in Chicago's West Humboldt Park neighborhood. The mission, you'll remember, was the site of the deadly school fire that claimed the lives of 92 students and three nuns in 1958.