Democrat Tiffany Henyard is the mayor of Dolton, Ill., a small village just south of Chicago, population of about 20,000. She was born in 1983... or is it 1984? Wikipedia strangely doesn't appear to be able to make up its mind on when the mayor was born.
No matter. It's as an adult that Henyard has made Dolton as close to a fascist town as we have in the United States. The FBI is investigating some alleged criminal activity, and the Illinois attorney general's office is looking into alleged financial improprieties.
The Village Board has filed two lawsuits alleging that Henyard is using Dolton police officers for "personal security," including having officers accompany her on a taxpayer-funded jaunt to Las Vegas. Another lawsuit alleges that Henyard has ordered village employees not to respond to document requests that members of the public have demanded under the Freedom of Information Act.
So yeah. Fascist.
Henyard initiated new "security checks" at the monthly board meeting. The "checks" left dozens of people waiting outside despite the "checks" violating Illinois "Sunshine laws." It went for naught. Several villagers were able to make it into the meeting and proceeded to skewer the mayor for some of her more outrageous transgressions.
Village trustees walked out after Henyard said their complaints were a "theater stunt."
An unidentified woman stood at the microphone and accused the mayor of stealing from Henyard's own cancer foundation, saying, "I apologize if I seem irate, I had my radiation today, I have cancer, of course, I do. Tiffany stole money from a cancer foundation. How dare you? How dare you steal, and I helped you with your campaign, how dare you steal from us? I have to buy my wigs, are you going to reimburse me for the wigs that I've been spending my money on?"
The Illinois attorney general is demanding more transparency from the "Cancer And Remission Empowering Survivors" (CARES) Foundation. He has halted all donations to the "charity" until an investigation can be conducted.
The Village doesn't pay its bills on time, if at all. And many of the expenditures are "questionable" to say the least.
WGN Investigates obtained copies of credit card statements that show village officials spent more than $24,000 at restaurants during a recent 12-month span. Other questionable expenditures include the streaming service Hulu and hotel rooms in Elk Grove Village and Matteson, located less than 20 miles from Dolton.
“I’ve seen the same thing and more,” said Sherry Britton, a Dolton resident who has publicly questioned officials’ spending. “You name it. They’ve done it.”
And then there’s the out-of-town travel. Records show officials have paid for flights and hotels on trips to Texas, Alabama and Missouri.
Officials also traveled to Las Vegas, most recently last May. The reason was reportedly to attend a shopping center conference, though it’s unclear if it helped Dolton land any deals.
The FBI is investigating that trip to Vegas after a female village employee alleges she was drugged and raped by a village trustee.
The trustee was stupid enough to have a Facetime conversation with one of the Dolton police officers. “There was some suggestion that the employee may not have had the ability to consent,” the officer states in a complaint.
The trustee “panned the camera toward a bed where [he] could see a woman who was partially undressed,” the officer’s complaint went on. “The trustee then moved the camera to various private areas of the woman’s body displaying them on screen at times moving or removing articles of clothing.” The idiot was bragging about having sex with the unconscious woman.
Henyard has also carried out a vindictive campaign of retaliation against those who oppose her. Two Dolton bars were shut down after the owners made it clear they didn't support Henyard.
The owner of a trucking company, Lawrence Gardner, says his business license was revoked for no reason and that Dolton police officers have harassed his drivers. “I’m suffering,” Gardner said. “They destroyed my trucking company. They shut my store down.”
Stephanie Wiedeman, director of the Dolton Park District, claims that it's a regular occurrence. “She uses the police force to intimidate residents," she said.
Wiedeman says that Henyard objected to a car show taking place on Park District property and had the event shut down.“She used her entire police force to come in and prevent something from happening because things didn’t go her way really,” she said.
The board authorized a raise for one village board employee, Aris Montgomery, but Henyard didn't implement it because the employee opposed her.
“I filed the lawsuit because I am a victim of retaliation,” Montgomery, Dolton’s deputy village clerk, said. “People are walking on eggshells, so to speak. They’re afraid to have an opinion about anything or to fulfill their duties.”
Another resident pointed a finger at Henyard, saying "They say that you're the worst mayor in America. I agree."
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