Chicago Public Schools today filed suit seeking "damages and civil penalties in excess of $65 million" from former CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and others involved with her in the SUPES Academy contract-steering scandal.

In an action filed in Cook County Circuit Court, CPS contends that, in exchange for receiving personal contracts worth more than $865,000, Byrd-Bennett "entered into a conspiracy" with officials of the SUPES principal-training academy and an affiliated company to steer contracts worth more than $23 million to them.

The move has been expected since Byrd-Bennett resigned after the scandal first was disclosed. She since has pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges in the case.

"In plain terms, defendants have stolen money from (CPS) and the schoolchildren of the city of Chicago, and that money should be returned," the suit contends. "Defendants have used and are continuing to use public funds fraudulently obtained from (CPS) to pay multiple law firms to defend them in their efforts to avoid the consequence of their wrongful conduct."

The lawsuit does not state how the $65 million figure was determined, but in a statement CPS noted that state law allows defrauded public entities to seek triple damages.

Named as defendants in the cases were Byrd-Bennett, SUPES, Synesi Associates and two officials of those companies, Gary Solomon and Thomas Vranas.

Byrd-Bennett's attorney, Michael Scudder, had no immediate comment on the suit.

CPS CEO Forrest Claypool released a statement on the justification for the action:

“Barbara Byrd-Bennett and her co-conspirators knew the district's dire straits and still concocted this scheme to divert needed resources away from classrooms and line their own pockets. So today CPS took action in Cook County court to go after the $65 million in damages and civil penalties that our children are entitled to receive. With serious budget challenges facing the district, we'll continue to fight for every dollar our children deserve.”

Meanwhile, Byrd-Bennett is one of the stars of ex-Ald. Dick Simpson's annual review of corruption in Illinois, which coincidentally also was released today.

The report terms 2015 “a banner” year for political miscreants, with a guilty plea by ex-U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the indictment of a Chicago police officer in the Laquan McDonald shooting case and a federal probe into the hiring practices of Cook County Court Clerk Dorothy Brown.

“No matter how you slice it, 2015 was a bad year for public corruption in our state,” said Simpson, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “We cataloged 27 convictions, 28 indictments, the launching of 11 corruption investigations, and the sentencing of 30” individuals in such cases.

The report also notes the resignation of Peoria Congressman Aaron Schock, the release of former Chicago Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. from prison, the conviction of Redflex Traffic Systems CEO Karen Finley for passing money to a Chicago official to try to get a red-light camera contract and the suicide of Fox Lake Police Lt. Charles Gliniewicz amid a probe of theft from a youth program he ran.

But, notes Simpson, at last check California and New York still have more crooked public officials than Illinois does.

Feel better now?