A small(ish) town on the outskirts of Chicago has been the center of growing controversy since 2021 when Tiffany Henyard ascended to Mayor. To be brief, she won a four way election to become the Democratic candidate and in April 2021 won the general election to become Mayor. She used a successful slate of three well liked board members that she promoted as "the dream team." About a year later she become Supervisor of Thornton Township, a role she would presumptively receive because of her influence on the Board (several members of the Board were a part of her Mayoral campaign). Throughout this first year she talked nonstop about making Dalton a better place to live and raise families and began calling herself the "Super Mayor." But she says it with a bit of a Chicago accent so it sounds more like "Soo-pa Ma-ya." Things were off to a great start, especially for Henyard who was now receiving an annual salary of $270,000 ($224,000 for the supervisor position and $46,000 for the mayoral position). You might say "that seems like a generous salary for an elected position of a township on the outskirts of Chicago." and to that I would say that the large population of 157,000 people in no way justifies that salary. That's right, she is making almost $2 for every citizen of Dalton Township which has a per capita income of $23,853. A full 20% of Thorton Township is below the poverty line.
Needless to say issues started fast and furious. Even before being appointed to the Supervisor position a rift was developing with board members that had been... critical of her plans, or rather they had supported other individuals in the bid for mayor. This would become a recurring pattern where people that are not openly supporting every policy move she makes would be targeted. It started small, moving trustees offices or changing the lock so trustees couldn't access their office, but things escalated quickly. She then started removing access to accounting systems for key personnel even cutting off access to all members of the board making it impossible for them to see the financial information for the Township.
Things didn't stop there. Several business owners have come forward claiming their business permits have been denied or delayed after declining to support the Super Mayor.
In 2022 a recall movement successfully passed general election and established a mechanism to recall but was ultimately overturned when Illinois Appellate court ruled that both resolutions were improperly drafted and issued a permanent stay in certifying the results. She lost the recall attempt with 56% voting to enact the resolution and recall the mayor.
Sadly that was just the start and things continued to get worse with a now emboldened Tiffany Henyard at the helm. Spending accelerated and bills started going unpaid. Tiffany was often seen with a noticeable security detail of Dalton/Thornton Police officers, costing well into the hundreds of thousands, one report stating that just the security detail alone had cost over $1m. One officer in particular had booked 303 hours on the clock in a two week period - meaning just 33 hours in a two week period had NOT been "on the clock." It has also come out that Tiffany faced charges of criminal trespass to vehicles in 2016 - in general terms those charges are brought when someone has entered a vehicle without permission. While details are not fully available, that would be a lesser charge someone could potentially face for stealing from a vehicle when that person has no prior record. Its a slap on the wrist, but again no details as to the specifics for why Tiffany faced those charges are readily available
I could honestly write a long long story about everything that has happened, some accused some closer to rumor. Numerous lawsuits are pending including at least one by the Thornton Township Board of Trustees. The FBI currently has an open investigation into everything that has happened.
There are lessons to be learned that should be applied to every election at every level,
1. Beware of "Supers." The most prominent example is the first super, Superman. All powerful and thankfully altruistic. Comic books have delved into the carnage that spreads like a plague when that power goes unchecked and instead of the altruistic Clark Kent we get the selfish Tiffany Henyard. Even Superman had his Kryptonite and when the people of Dalton tried to give Tiffany her own it was struck down leaving her free to cause chaos.
2. If someone promises the world, they have to get it from somewhere. As citizens of Dalton/Thornton have found, that means taking it from the future in the form of deficits. Specifics on the Township finances are sparse but some trustees have revealed that prior to Tiffany taking office they had a budgetary surplus, and a significant cash reserve (in excess of $4m) but are now facing a budget deficit of several million and have depleted the reserve.
3. People in power rarely if ever willingly surrender that power. The only check is to limit the amount of power a single person can wield. Luckily in Thornton hiring to several key positions required approval of the Board so when Tiffany tried to hire insiders to those positions and even had them start working. The Board was able to bring a case in Illinois court to block the hiring and even had the judge put in an order barring the individuals from entering employee portions of township buildings and doing work. All this was fought using tax payer funds. Wrap your head around that for a moment, Tiffany hires someone, the Board declines to ratify the hiring, Tiffany tells them to start working anyway, the Board files suit (tax payer funded lawyers) and Tiffany fights the suit (with taxpayer funded lawyers). She is literally bleeding it dry trying to stay in power.
The most recent development is good news however. With the election for Thornton Township coming up in February the Democratic party in Thornton needed to set the delegates for the upcoming ballot. Tiffany was excluded by default because she was unable to complete a full slate (apparently requiring the named delegate and three board members). While this doesn't mean she has lost her seat it does mean that she no longer has the support of the dominant Democrat Party in the upcoming election and must instead attempt to get on the ballot as an independent.
It will takes months, possibly years before the full extent of the damage from Tiffany's tenure will be known. I just hope the people of Thornton and Dalton have learned a lesson and vote accordingly.
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