Under-fire “Dictator” Mayor Tiffany Henyard is in hot water again after the Illinois township she leads hosted an $85,000 bash featuring a rapper and R&B artist before her colleagues pulled the plug on upcoming events this week.
Henyard, who leads Dolton village and Thornton Township, appeared to be having the time of her life last month, posting video of herself on social media singing along with songs during the party that one ex-trustee called a “flop,” according to reports.
“I told you we always got something going on,” she exclaimed on Facebook in mid-August as she embarrassingly called herself the “super mayor” and “people’s mayor.”
But in order to pull off the event, called the “Taste of Thornton Township,” Henyard’s administration spent tens of thousands of dollars, including a performance of R&B artist Keke Wyatt for $30,000 and rapper J. Holiday for $20,000, WGN reported.
The town also spent $6,600 for bouncy houses and paid for a sound system, staffing and equipment. The total was slightly more than $85,000, according to the outlet.
“This is all for the babies,” Henyard insisted from the event before she referred to herself in the third-person.
“They don’t show you this side of Tiffany Henyard: The productivity.”
But the event didn’t seem heavily attended, and former Dolton trustee Valeria Stubbs told WGN the party was a “flop.”
Another concerned resident, Jennifer Robertz, said she was “flabbergasted” by the sky-high costs.
“I was pissed off,” she told the station. “That’s my money. That’s the people’s money.”
Henyard has faced mounting scrutiny in recent months for alleged misuses of taxpayer money as subpoenas have been served in Dolton and Thornton Township as part of a federal probe.
Much of the controversy she’s caught up in comes as leader of Dolton, where she’s been described as a dictator by some residents.
A report conducted by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled the village’s spending has sharply increased — including $43,000 on Amazon in one day — while the municipal coffers have been drained.
Henyard’s leadership has led to sharp divisions on the boards in Dolton and Thornton — with another battle on display Tuesday.
Thornton Township trustees refused to sign off on multiple events as they panned Henyard for reckless spending.
A trio of trustees voted to scrap the planned Gospel Fest, House Fest and bingo as the town is operating with an approved budget, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“We can’t continue to spend money without that in place,” trustee Chris Gonzalez reportedly said.
“And even beyond that, I mean we had a couple of events here in the past month or so that just an extraordinary amount of money was spent unnecessarily.”
Other payments of items and services were also rejected by trustees, the newspaper reported.
Henyard had no problem clapping back at her colleagues.
“You guys want to just halt things here at Thornton Township, because I don’t see y’all doing nothing,” Henyard said, according to CBS Chicago.
“But yet, y’all have started saying no to everything that myself and our team is coming up with — and I see no ideas from any of you.”
