Written by by Robyn Dolgin at americanthinker.com
Dolton, Illinois mayor Tiffany Henyard offered a memorable non-mea-culpa when confronting demands for an FBI probe into her spending spree using public funds.
First, she reminded her constituents in the bankrupt small town of Dolton that she is “a black woman in power.” Does that mean she’s bulletproof because of checking off a couple of DEI boxes? Her next step — as a minority politician — was to continue to block demands for access to the city’s financial records and to assure her voters she would continue to “keep loving on them.”
Her warm-fuzzy homilies are wearing thin as hard-working vendors — who fulfilled their contracts to pave highways and maintain foliage -– remain unpaid. It’s difficult for Mayor Henyard to toss out the “r” bomb — racism — because many of her detractors share the same ethnic classification.
Many of those constituents, including unpaid vendors, are pressing city officials to explain how the mayor’s profligate spending was allowed since her first year in office (2021 until present). She didn’t exactly make a secret of her expenditures as she proudly posted her lavish indulgences on social media. Mayor Henyard appeared more like a “Real Housewife of Beverly Hills” than a public servant entrusted with the welfare of 20,000 residents in the mostly blue-collar town.
She is pictured emerging from chauffeur-driven SUVs with security details (estimated at more than $100,000); enjoying trips to posh hotels and first-class travel for herself and other city officials ($67,000); establishing a grossly inflated $300,000 mayor’s salary, and retaining the services of hair and make-up stylists for public events (costs unknown with FBI probe pending). Not to pick on the mayor’s dog, but the canine is featured in her office also laden with jewelry.
Some of the wrongs can be corrected. The mayor has proposed legislation to cap the future mayor’s salary at $25,000. That salary is much more fitting for a town awash in millions in debt. But, too late for the legislation to apply to Henyard.
It is difficult to parody the antics of the mayor given her unorthodox behavior and unprofessional conduct in an effort to thwart any serious investigation into her financial malfeasance.
She actually made national headlines for the manner in which she celebrated avoiding her removal from office based on a technicality. Humility aside, she chose the city chambers to dance to a song by pop star Rihanna in which the title would prove particularly distasteful to unpaid vendors: “Bi*** Better Have My Money.”
Taxpayers have not been remiss in trying to hold the mayor to account, but she would rather not hear from them. She cited “credible security concerns” to lock the chamber doors, refusing entry to her constituents, ignoring the banging on the other side.