Democrat Super-mayor Revokes Licenses and Permits to Retaliate Against Her Enemies

Dolton, IL mayor Tiffany Henyard has come up with a unique extortion racket that I’ve certainly never heard being used in the U.S. Under her racket, business owners and pastors who don’t contribute to her campaign or sham charity mysteriously find their permits revoked or refused for renewal. At least one Church, Resurrection Power Assembly, has filed a lawsuit against the mayor and village of Dolton for prohibiting them from using their own property, which Resurrection Power Assembly already purchased and received a general permit to renovate, as a place of worship because it supposedly doesn’t fit the mayor’s plans to restrict the property to “commercial” purposes which she alleges includes charities, clubs, lodges and fraternal societies but not religious institutions. Under this pretext the village of Dolton denied the church a business license and subsequently the electrical and plumbing permits they would need to finish renovations and make the church a suitable place of worship and ministry. However, as the pastor has pointed out the particular zoning code applicable to his church property (section 10-6B-2D) for “Business District: Limited Retail'' includes religious institutions as one of the miscellaneous use and a glance over of the village zoning map shows other religious institutions such as In His Presence Life Center and Grace Temple MB Church in similarly zoned parcels. The refusal to allow renovations and gatherings at the new property has forced the church to rent space for $1,000 a month at another location and has cut church attendance by more than half in less than a year, severely limiting revenue. The church is not the mayor’s only target. Other businesses such as a bar and gaming parlor (Lacey’s Place LLC) had their liquor license renewal denied because the village refused to complete its tax audit prior to its expiration, legally putting them out of business under state law while Lawrence Gardner’s trucking company had its business license revoked, without due process, on mere allegations of selling liquor at a party without a license. His business has been shuttered since January of last year despite a judge ruling in his favor. In a more recent update on this racket, a group of former employees of the mayor, the village of Dolton and Thornton Township, which pays Henyard 200K annually as their supervisor, have filed even more lawsuits over alleged wrongful termination. One of the plaintiffs, Samysha Williams, was the director of Dolton’s Building Permits and Licensing Department who says she was fired for ‘refusing to withhold permits to business owners who did not make donations to Henyard while she was still on maternity leave.

"She didn't want us to process business licenses and permits for certain business owners," said Samysha Williams. "She told me personally, because of one business owners in particular… I told her I said, ‘There's no reason for this business owner not to get his permits,' and she said, 'I don't care. Have his lawyer contact our lawyer.’"

She also alleges that she was terminated for refusing to suppress FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests at Henyard’s direction. The Illinois AG has confirmed in a recent binding opinion that the village and mayor do refuse to respond to FOIA requests for routine municipal financial transactions such as village credit card statements and leases for village vehicles in violation of section 3D of FOIA so it would not be wholly uncharacteristic of the mayor and village to apply the same secrecy elsewhere and retaliate against subordinates who threaten it.