Mayor lashes out at trustees angered by her lavish spending with village $5M in debt: 'Attacking a black woman'

A black municipal leader in Illinois had a meltdown at a recent public meeting, demanding racial solidarity after black trustees dared to question her lavish spending habits with the village reportedly millions of dollars in debt.

On Monday, Democrat Mayor Tiffany Henyard excoriated a group of trustees for the village of Dolton, just south of Chicago, suggesting they were racial turncoats who were "sitting up here beating and attacking a black woman that’s in power."

"Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves because y'all are black," she shouted. "Y'all are black."

With hair neatly coiffed and earrings twinkling, Henyard also insinuated that she was the only area leader of any importance and that the trustees were lazy. "You all don’t do no work, no work," she insisted to the trustees dutifully attending the meeting.

"Y'all forget I’m the leader," her rant continued. "They want to hear from the mayor. You ain’t learned that yet.

"The mayor — not the trustees that don’t do nothing. They only run their mouth."

Some of the trustees have been running their mouths, but perhaps with good reason. Credit card receipts for nearby Thornton Township, another municipality headed by Henyard, show that Henyard and other officials took trips to Portland, Atlanta, and New York City, flying first class and racking up tens of thousands of dollars in accommodation costs.

WGN reported that taxpayers shelled out more than $67,000 for these trips and an additional $23,000 for Henyard to reportedly treat staff members and supporters to a fine-dining experience back in Illinois, even as Henyard has never fully explained the public purpose of these expenses and Dolton cannot afford to pay its bills.

"At the end of the day, vendors are not being paid," trustee Jason House said at the public meeting, lamenting the village's enormous $5 million debt. "The board approved it, but vendors are not being paid."

A public relations firm for Dolton and Thornton Township claimed that the travel expenses "play a crucial role in building relationships, attracting investment and securing valuable resources for our township’s development."

Public safety also remains an issue for the Chicago-area village. Earlier this month, four people were shot and wounded in Dolton, but Henyard may not have noticed since she enjoys the protection of a sizeable security retinue. The New York Post reported that six village officers have been assigned to keep her safe, sometimes working more than 100 hours a week and collecting considerable overtime pay.

"We’re not saying police aren’t doing a good job," trustee Brittney Norwood quipped at the meeting. "We’re saying you’re assigning all of them to be with you when they should be out here protecting the residents so we can all feel safe."

Dolton Police Chief Lewis Lacey expressed his frustration as well. "It’s unfortunate that politics are being played," he said. "What’s happened is a million dollars out of my budget have been cut because of politics."

Though the median income in Dolton is just $24,000, Henyard, first elected in 2021, earns $285,000 between her two municipal roles. Henyard also has a hair and makeup stylist to help her look her best before every public appearance, though whether she pays for these assistants out of pocket is unclear.

The office of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is even looking into a cancer charity bearing Henyard's name because the charity has not filed the financial reports required by state law regarding charities and nonprofits. Last month, the AG’s charitable trusts bureau sent a letter to the Tiffany Henyard Cares Foundation, demanding its leadership submit the necessary reports or face further investigation.

"Failure to comply [by February 16] will leave us no alternative but to pursue all available legal remedies in obtaining compliance with the Illinois charitable organization laws," the letter said.

The state AG's office, the Dolton police chief, and several trustees have all voiced concerns about Henyard and her work in the public and nonprofit sector. But at the meeting earlier this week, Henyard still positioned herself as the victim of "grandstanders" and a champion of "the people."

"Everything we do is for the people ... but we’re under attack," she claimed, ostensibly addressing her constituents. "We get scrutinized by the media. For what? Loving on the people? Showing that they matter to us?

"We go through the fires for y'all."

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