A meeting that involved addressing allegations of corruption and lavish spending against scandal-ridden “supermayor” Tiffany Henyard descended into chaos on Monday as her opponents and supporters clashed in Dolton, Illinois.
The scuffle in the small town south of Chicago took place after Dolton trustees voted 4-2 to reinstate former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to investigate Henyard, who has been accused of using village funds as her own piggybank – billing taxpayers thousands of dollars for her hair and makeup team as well as going on a lavish trip to Las Vegas.
Police had to break up the altercation, which almost came to blows, as Henyard and the trustees cleared the room.
The town had previously hired Lightfoot to look into Henyard, but the Dolton mayor, who previously insisted that “God chose me,” vetoed the move. Henyard also previously vetoed the board’s request to launch a federal investigation into gathering information on her alleged spending and finance mismanagement.
“We are not going to allow anyone stop us or obstruct our ability to get to the facts,” Lightfoot said during the meeting, but she was being drowned out by Henyard and trustees who made several attempts to talk over her, Fox 32 Chicago reports. Lightfoot’s microphone was also turned off as she tried to speak, according to a report.
The incident capped off more than two hours of heated debate when village residents packed the chamber to air their grievances against Henyard, blasting her apparent lack of transparency on the spending of village finances.
“You’re not going to understand until they come and put cuffs on you,” resident Thelma Gant said, referring to a separate FBI probe.
Henyard stared down and appeared to ignore most of the public commenters, Fox 32 reports.
Afterward, Henyard blamed the media and what she sees as a political smear campaign for all the heat.
Tiffany Henyard’s outfits are professionally styled by a fashion expert. (stylemebrandon | Instagram/screenshot)
“You guys are following a fiction, a made-up story,” Henyard said into her golden microphone.
Lightfoot has continued to work on the investigation, though she has yet to receive payment for her work, according to NBC Chicago. Her investigation is expected to be complete in 60 days, the outlet reports. Lightfoot was initially expected to be paid $400 an hour, but Henyard previously said she would not be paid.
Henyard has drawn national attention to the small town which has a population of around 21,500. Dolton residents have already called for Henyard’s resignation and for her to be arrested.
Earlier in the day, village officials blocked off the street in front of Village Hall, making residents park a block away and walk.
“You made the elderly and the disabled walk here,” Gant said. “I hope you’re proud of yourself, Tiffany Henyard.”
Henyard has been dubbed the “worst mayor in America” by critics after being accused of financial misdeeds as well as weaponizing police raids. Most recently, she has also come under fire for an alleged sexual assault by one of her allies during the Vegas trip, where the alleged victim claims to have been fired after speaking out. Henyard’s cancer charity is also facing scrutiny.
Fox News Digital previously reported that Henyard has been living like a royal with a combined salary of nearly $300,000, more than the state’s governor, and frequent use of beauty vendors, despite the 23,000 residents of the Illinois town having a median income of $24,000.
In April, the FBI served two federal subpoenas as part of an investigation. Henyard herself was not served.
The first one was for employment records, personnel files and disciplinary reports for 25 Dolton employees, including three police officers and Keith Freeman, who is the village administrator and Henyard’s top aide. Freeman was charged with bankruptcy fraud.
The second subpoena was served specifically on Freeman, asking for records of all companies associated with him and possible ties to the village.
In February, it was reported that the FBI was investigating Henyard, as six individuals had reportedly spoken to the agency about her alleged misconduct, including “business owners, a former village employee and one or more public officials.”
Last month, board members of Dolton appointed a mayor pro tempore to sign off on village business and pay bills as they said Henyard had missed 25 of the special meetings and refused to allow some business to be put on the agenda for the village’s regular meetings,
Henyard has appealed to racial politics amid her scandals before, proclaiming during a previous meeting, “Y’all got false narratives out there, and y’all should be ashamed of y’all selves. Y’all Black. Y’all are Black! And y’all sitting up here beating and attacking on a Black woman that’s in power. Y’all should be ashamed of y’all selves.”
Lightfoot later released a statement encouraging Heynard to cooperate with her investigation.
“I commend the Village of Dolton Board of Trustees for decisively exercising their authority to override Mayor Henyard’s veto and preventing any attempts to stall an independent investigation into the matters outlined in the resolution,” the statement reads, in part.
“They understand that village residents deserve a transparent and thorough process.”