Imagine this: A big, black Chevrolet Suburban with tinted windows pulls up in front of a building. A police officer exits from the front passenger seat, scans the crowd waiting, and then opens the rear passenger door. He offers his hand to an impeccably dressed lady, who steps out of the vehicle with a smile and waives to the crowd. She is immediately surrounded by a security detail.
This sounds like a celebrity singer or actress just arrived, doesn’t it? Or maybe the young lady is royalty?
No, she is none of that. She is Tiffany Henyard, mayor of Dolton, Illinois. Since winning the mayoral race three years ago at the ripe young age of 37, Ms. Henyard has risen to national prominence—but not for the best of reasons. Fox News reports:
A mayor of a small, unassuming town on the outskirts of Chicago where the median income is $24K [€22,000] per year, has been living the life of a royal as she is deemed by critics to exhibit antics that are both corrupt (meaning, what they consider an overuse of her power) and hilarious to the point where she belongs in a comedy show
That is a low median income for any city or town in America. It is a small tax base for any government, not only because of how little income taxes can be paid out of it. Property taxes, local sales taxes, and other fees and charges are all sourced from the same income.
Mayor Henyard, on the other hand, does not have to worry. According to Fox News, she makes $300,000 per year.
One of Mayor Henyard’s first big-ticket expenditures after assuming office (which includes being the supervisor of nearby Thornton township), was to buy two big vehicles for herself to be chauffeured around in. In its cheapest configuration, one of them, a Chevrolet Suburban, costs almost $60,000 today; the other, a Ford Expedition, comes with an entry price of just over $55,000. Even if we assume that the mayor/supervisor did not go for the more lavish versions of either vehicle—which can run price tags up to $90,000—the cost for both vehicles easily ends up in the six figures.
The cost is not all that raises eyebrows. Both vehicles were equipped as police vehicles, with police license plates. Since neither was operated as a police vehicle, but was used to haul the mayor around, the Illinois State Police swooped in and removed their license plates. They also un-registered both vehicles and decreed that the registrations could only be reinstated when all police equipment had been removed.
That’s right: a mayor actually does not have the right to weave through traffic aided by blue lights and sirens.
Traveling in celebrity style is only one of Henyard’s many self-appointed mayoral perks. According to msn.com, the mayor
has a makeup artist and a hairdresser whom she uses before public appearances and photoshoots … In addition, the Democrat “supermayor” of the town of a handful residents has been criticized for spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on security.
When Mayor Henyard wanted to go to a conference in Las Vegas, she let her taxpayers pick up the tab. Local TV station WGN9 has the details, including credit card statements showing
taxpayers also spent money on the Vegas trip. Charges included more than $8,400 for hotels; $587 at Ruth’s Chris Steak House and $3,741, just on Heynard’s roundtrip flight.
Taxpayers have also been forced to pay for “more than $24,000 at restaurants during a recent 12-month span” as well as “flights and hotels on trips to Texas, Alabama and Missouri.”
That is a lot of travel and eating out. Presumably, these expenses are for more city officials than just the mayor, but it is still a lot of money for a city with 21,000 constituents, most of them poor.
Any law-abiding taxpayer should of course be outraged about this out-of-control behavior by an elected official. Unfortunately, Mayor Heynard’s excesses, while conspicuous in such a small town, are not exactly unique—especially if one considers that she is the mayor of a town in the fine state of Illinois.
For those who are unfamiliar with politics in the “Prairie State,” the Illinois Policy Institute offers a pertinent introduction:
Illinois ranks second in public corruption convictions on a per capita basis and Chicago ranks first, according to U.S. Department of Justice data for 1976 to 2019. This culture of corruption has infiltrated the governor’s mansion, with four of Illinois’ past 10 governors spending time in federal prison. An additional two governors were prosecuted for wrongdoing but acquitted at trial. Even current Gov. J.B. Pritzker has come under federal investigation
One of the highest-profile cases of recent was the prosecution of Governor Rod Blagojevich. The Policy Institute explains how he, while in office,
was impeached in 2009 amid numerous allegations of corruption, including an attempt to profit from President Barack Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat after his presidential victory.
The good governor, who had the power to appoint a successor to Obama until the next regular election, was overheard saying that he was not going to give away the appointment “for [expletive] nothing.”
Blagojevich, a Democrat, was first elected governor in 2003. His immediate predecessor, a Republican by the name of George Ryan, was also a distinguished gentleman of impeccable character. Governor Ryan was convicted in federal court
in April 2006 on fraud and racketeering charges. Federal prosecutors had alleged that under Ryan, the state of Illinois was basically for sale. They accused Ryan of presiding over state government offices that were thoroughly corrupt for at least a decade. Ryan steered lucrative state government contracts and leases to friends and government insiders who gave him and his family vacations, gifts and cash.
Before he became governor, Mr. Ryan was the Secretary of State for Illinois. He made sure to put that office to hard work—but perhaps not entirely as taxpayers intended for him to do. His deeds were uncovered after a horrible car accident, where debris from a truck ruptured the gasoline tank on a minivan. The family inside lost six of their children in the fire.
Several motorists had tried to warn the truck driver that parts of his trailer were hanging loose, but the driver apparently did not understand English.
Just for the record: you are not allowed to operate a commercial vehicle in the United States if you don’t understand English. This is one reason why this is so.
The Chicago Tribune has the story of what happened next:
A federal investigation determined that the truck driver who lost the taillight had gotten his license through a system of bribery in the secretary of state’s office, run by George Ryan. The driver was unqualified … By the investigation’s conclusion, 75 people would be convicted, including Ryan, who had become governor.
According to the Tribune, subsequent to the horrible accident,
when there were questions to be asked about the truck driver’s license, the secretary of state’s inspector general—a Ryan crony—quashed the investigation.
George Ryan was not the first secretary of state in Illinois to profit from holding the office. Behold the story of one of his predecessors, Paul Powell, who assumed the office where, as NBC Chicago puts it, “he really got rich”:
His death was kept a secret for more than 24 hours, while aides removed incriminating papers from his office. Unfortunately, there was so much to incriminate Paul Powell that they couldn’t collect everything. After Powell’s funeral, his friend John Rendleman, chancellor of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, opened the secretary of state’s hotel room, and found $800,000 in cash
Politics for profit is an old Illinois tradition. One of the foremost bearers of that tradition was Fred Roti, the son of an Al Capone associate. According to NBC Chicago, Fred Roti started his political career as a precinct captain for the Democrat party. The precinct captain is a local party functionary, a do-it-all who—among other things—makes sure that there are candidates for all the local elected offices.
In other words, it is a position where you build a network of influence. Unsurprisingly, Roti rapidly rose to power. He was elected to the state senate when he was only 30. Once he had assumed that office, NBC Chicago reports:
Roti caucused with the West Side Bloc, a group of legislators who blocked anti-crime bills on behalf of their gangster patrons. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, politicians who defied the Bloc had their careers ended with pistols or shotguns.
Fred Roti’s career in politics ended after he was found guilty of fixing a court case for a bribe of $10,000 and “a $7,500 bribe for a zoning change.” In other words, someone wanted to do something else with a piece of land than what the local zoning board had designated it for. Roti made sure the local zoning board got an offer they could not refuse.
That all happened decades ago. But no reason to worry: the great state of Illinois has not kicked its old habits of politics for profit. On December 26th msn.com reported:
Former powerful Democratic City Council member Ed Burke was found guilty on most of the 14 corruption counts against him, including racketeering, bribery, and extortion. The charges were related to his attempts to extort company executives for business at his property tax law firm.
The formal title for a member of the Chicago City Council is “alderman” and his or her district is called a “ward.” The aldermen wield considerably more power than most city council members have in other cities. They influence regulations that can make or break businesses, which is perhaps one of the reasons why, as CBS News reports, Ed Burke is far from the only Chicago alderman who has been caught profiteering from politics. Here are a few scattered examples from their article, and these are just from the past decade:
Willie Cochran, found guilty of “taking $14,000 from a 20th Ward charity he founded to help seniors and children. Prosecutors said he used the money to pay for his daughter’s tuition, home expenses and gambling at an Indiana casino.” If the former alderman had not gone out of state to gamble, but done it in Illinois, maybe he would not have gotten in trouble?
Sandi Jackson, a member of the Reverend Jesse Jackson’s family, was sentenced to one year in federal prison for filing false tax returns. Prosecutors accused her of hiding $600,000 in taxable income.
William Beavers got “six months in prison for obstructing the Internal Revenue Service and failing to report, and pay taxes on, all of his income.” He also “wrote 100 checks for himself, totaling approximately $226,000, from three separate campaign accounts” and then spent “at least a portion” of that money on himself. Apparently, he shared Alderman Cochran’s affinity for gambling.
Isaac Carothers, a former sheriff’s deputy, carried on a fine family tradition of profiteering from politics. In 2010 he admitted to taking bribes and pleaded guilty to charges of tax fraud. He had a fine mentor in the art of politics for profit; as the saying goes, like father, like son:
In 1983, 28th Ward [Alderman] William Carothers was sent to prison for extorting $32,500 worth of remodeling work for his ward office from the builders of Bethany Hospital.
I’m afraid that is all the time we have for now, but we will have plenty of reasons to return to this topic. Politics for profit is a well-entrenched tradition, and not just in Illinois.
Politics for Profit
Imagine this: A big, black Chevrolet Suburban with tinted windows pulls up in front of a building. A police officer exits from the front passenger seat, scans the crowd waiting, and then opens the rear passenger door. He offers his hand to an impeccably dressed lady, who steps out of the vehicle with a smile and waives to the crowd. She is immediately surrounded by a security detail.
This sounds like a celebrity singer or actress just arrived, doesn’t it? Or maybe the young lady is royalty?
No, she is none of that. She is Tiffany Henyard, mayor of Dolton, Illinois. Since winning the mayoral race three years ago at the ripe young age of 37, Ms. Henyard has risen to national prominence—but not for the best of reasons. Fox News reports:
That is a low median income for any city or town in America. It is a small tax base for any government, not only because of how little income taxes can be paid out of it. Property taxes, local sales taxes, and other fees and charges are all sourced from the same income.
Mayor Henyard, on the other hand, does not have to worry. According to Fox News, she makes $300,000 per year.
One of Mayor Henyard’s first big-ticket expenditures after assuming office (which includes being the supervisor of nearby Thornton township), was to buy two big vehicles for herself to be chauffeured around in. In its cheapest configuration, one of them, a Chevrolet Suburban, costs almost $60,000 today; the other, a Ford Expedition, comes with an entry price of just over $55,000. Even if we assume that the mayor/supervisor did not go for the more lavish versions of either vehicle—which can run price tags up to $90,000—the cost for both vehicles easily ends up in the six figures.
The cost is not all that raises eyebrows. Both vehicles were equipped as police vehicles, with police license plates. Since neither was operated as a police vehicle, but was used to haul the mayor around, the Illinois State Police swooped in and removed their license plates. They also un-registered both vehicles and decreed that the registrations could only be reinstated when all police equipment had been removed.
That’s right: a mayor actually does not have the right to weave through traffic aided by blue lights and sirens.
Traveling in celebrity style is only one of Henyard’s many self-appointed mayoral perks. According to msn.com, the mayor
When Mayor Henyard wanted to go to a conference in Las Vegas, she let her taxpayers pick up the tab. Local TV station WGN9 has the details, including credit card statements showing
Taxpayers have also been forced to pay for “more than $24,000 at restaurants during a recent 12-month span” as well as “flights and hotels on trips to Texas, Alabama and Missouri.”
That is a lot of travel and eating out. Presumably, these expenses are for more city officials than just the mayor, but it is still a lot of money for a city with 21,000 constituents, most of them poor.
Any law-abiding taxpayer should of course be outraged about this out-of-control behavior by an elected official. Unfortunately, Mayor Heynard’s excesses, while conspicuous in such a small town, are not exactly unique—especially if one considers that she is the mayor of a town in the fine state of Illinois.
For those who are unfamiliar with politics in the “Prairie State,” the Illinois Policy Institute offers a pertinent introduction:
One of the highest-profile cases of recent was the prosecution of Governor Rod Blagojevich. The Policy Institute explains how he, while in office,
The good governor, who had the power to appoint a successor to Obama until the next regular election, was overheard saying that he was not going to give away the appointment “for [expletive] nothing.”
Blagojevich, a Democrat, was first elected governor in 2003. His immediate predecessor, a Republican by the name of George Ryan, was also a distinguished gentleman of impeccable character. Governor Ryan was convicted in federal court
Before he became governor, Mr. Ryan was the Secretary of State for Illinois. He made sure to put that office to hard work—but perhaps not entirely as taxpayers intended for him to do. His deeds were uncovered after a horrible car accident, where debris from a truck ruptured the gasoline tank on a minivan. The family inside lost six of their children in the fire.
Several motorists had tried to warn the truck driver that parts of his trailer were hanging loose, but the driver apparently did not understand English.
Just for the record: you are not allowed to operate a commercial vehicle in the United States if you don’t understand English. This is one reason why this is so.
The Chicago Tribune has the story of what happened next:
According to the Tribune, subsequent to the horrible accident,
George Ryan was not the first secretary of state in Illinois to profit from holding the office. Behold the story of one of his predecessors, Paul Powell, who assumed the office where, as NBC Chicago puts it, “he really got rich”:
Politics for profit is an old Illinois tradition. One of the foremost bearers of that tradition was Fred Roti, the son of an Al Capone associate. According to NBC Chicago, Fred Roti started his political career as a precinct captain for the Democrat party. The precinct captain is a local party functionary, a do-it-all who—among other things—makes sure that there are candidates for all the local elected offices.
In other words, it is a position where you build a network of influence. Unsurprisingly, Roti rapidly rose to power. He was elected to the state senate when he was only 30. Once he had assumed that office, NBC Chicago reports:
Fred Roti’s career in politics ended after he was found guilty of fixing a court case for a bribe of $10,000 and “a $7,500 bribe for a zoning change.” In other words, someone wanted to do something else with a piece of land than what the local zoning board had designated it for. Roti made sure the local zoning board got an offer they could not refuse.
That all happened decades ago. But no reason to worry: the great state of Illinois has not kicked its old habits of politics for profit. On December 26th msn.com reported:
The formal title for a member of the Chicago City Council is “alderman” and his or her district is called a “ward.” The aldermen wield considerably more power than most city council members have in other cities. They influence regulations that can make or break businesses, which is perhaps one of the reasons why, as CBS News reports, Ed Burke is far from the only Chicago alderman who has been caught profiteering from politics. Here are a few scattered examples from their article, and these are just from the past decade:
Willie Cochran, found guilty of “taking $14,000 from a 20th Ward charity he founded to help seniors and children. Prosecutors said he used the money to pay for his daughter’s tuition, home expenses and gambling at an Indiana casino.” If the former alderman had not gone out of state to gamble, but done it in Illinois, maybe he would not have gotten in trouble?
Sandi Jackson, a member of the Reverend Jesse Jackson’s family, was sentenced to one year in federal prison for filing false tax returns. Prosecutors accused her of hiding $600,000 in taxable income.
William Beavers got “six months in prison for obstructing the Internal Revenue Service and failing to report, and pay taxes on, all of his income.” He also “wrote 100 checks for himself, totaling approximately $226,000, from three separate campaign accounts” and then spent “at least a portion” of that money on himself. Apparently, he shared Alderman Cochran’s affinity for gambling.
Isaac Carothers, a former sheriff’s deputy, carried on a fine family tradition of profiteering from politics. In 2010 he admitted to taking bribes and pleaded guilty to charges of tax fraud. He had a fine mentor in the art of politics for profit; as the saying goes, like father, like son:
I’m afraid that is all the time we have for now, but we will have plenty of reasons to return to this topic. Politics for profit is a well-entrenched tradition, and not just in Illinois.
READ NEXT
Merry Christmas from The European Conservative
A Defense of the Small Christmas Ritual
Trump Broadened the Tent; Europe Must Follow Suit