The mayor of a small Illinois community brings swagger to her role, and some say she has crossed the line from dressing like a gangsta to acting like one.
As noted by Ballotpedia, Tiffany Henyard, a Democrat, was elected in 2021. A recall to remove her in 2022 failed because the results, which would have removed her, were ruled invalid.
And now, critics say, she is not just dressing like a drug kingpin but also abusing her power, according to the New York Post.
“People look at politics like a joke, it’s like a mockery right now because of all this stuff,” Village of Dolton Trustee Kiana Belcher said. “She comes to board meetings dressed like Nino Brown.”
NEW: The first female mayor of a small Illinois village is facing accusations of shutting down businesses that refuse to donate to her campaign
During official meetings, Tiffany Henyard is seen dressed as the movie gangster Nino Brown from ‘New Jack City.’
She even brought a… pic.twitter.com/0pbvXLrHmz
— Unlimited L’s (@unlimited_ls) February 18, 2024
Brown was a character in the 1991 gangsta movie “New Jack City.” The Post reported that during one meeting, Henyard had a DJ play Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money” as she walked about a room.
Business owners say the show has a dark side.
Lawrence Gardner, 57, said Henyard forced his business to close when he would not reprise an initial $3,500 contribution to her campaign fund.
Should she step down?
“I made the payment,” he said. “Then every year she started coming and required the same thing, and we had a problem about that.”
Gardner said fake claims of selling alcohol and revocation of his business license followed his refusal to pay out more cash.
“What is she, Nino Brown?” he said. “Anything she wants done, she gets them to harass you. She likes nobody. If you are not doing what she say, if you are not doing how she’s saying to do it, you are a problem. She don’t like them.”
Former Dolton Mayor Riley Rogers, who lost to Henyard in 2021, said it’s not just the attitude, but the spending that’s a concern. The village is an estimated $6 million in debt.
“Some people take it as being glamorous by having a bunch of police officers around you and being escorted and being driven around,” Rogers said. “I never had a security detail as mayor.”
“I tried to stay away from the money,” he said. “It’s not your money so you can’t use it like it’s your piggy bank.”
Village resident Sherry Britton, 55, said she regrets her vote for Henyard.
“It was a vote that I regret,” she said. “Please put that in there! It was a vote that I regret deeply. When she got into office, she just shut everyone out and she went into the opposite direction. She became this tyrant and dictator.”
“It seems like her aspirations and goals are for her to be a reality star,” she said. “She didn’t [previously] wear all that make up. She just now thinks she’s this reality star. I don’t know this for sure but they say she is filming a reality show, because the cameras are always with her.”
In today’s paper, Tiffany Henyard: Dolton’s “dictator” mayor https://t.co/IR6Qw8uN8g pic.twitter.com/2P8fd8hYMe
— Steven Vago (@Vagoish) February 16, 2024
Earlier this month, a bank said the village was so far behind on its payments it threatened to repossess all 13 village vehicles, including its police cars, according to WGN-TV.
Trustees said they had approved the payment, but it was not made until the threat arrived.
Henyard has often rebuked her critics on the grounds of race.
“You all should be ashamed of yourselves because you all are black. You all are black! And you all sitting up here beating and attacking a black woman that’s in power,” she said at a Feb. 5 meeting
A resident whose name was not used by the New York Post likened the village to Venezuela.
“It’s like a dictator. There is no call for it. “I’ve never seen a town that’s more screwed up under her, and I’ve seen 20 years of this malarkey. She’s … power-hungry. She doesn’t care how much she bleeds an area out of resources. It’s her life and that’s it,” the resident said.
