It’s become such a cliché that movie plots are made of it: It takes a crook to catch a crook. Or it takes a terrorist to catch a terrorist. Or it takes a hacker to catch … you get the idea.
In fact, you can picture the scene in your mind’s eye. The camera focuses on two pairs of boots trudging ominously down a prison hallway. They stop at a reinforced steel door, unlock it, and let it open slowly … revealing the world’s greatest jewel thief, arms dealer, chemical weapons expert or whatever the plot requires. A pregnant silence. Then, “We need your help.”
In real life, of course, things have never worked this way. We killed Osama bin Laden because of U.S. intelligence and the acumen of SEAL Team Six, not because we let one of Gaddafi’s hoodlums out of Gitmo to tell us exactly where the world’s deadliest terrorist mastermind was holed up. But don’t tell those in charge of the People’s Republic of Illinois this because they apparently think putting what was one of America’s worst mayors on the trail of the woman now being called America’s worst mayor will somehow yield fruit.
According to the New York Post, Lori Lightfoot — the former Chicago mayor who got the boot from Windy City voters last year after her tenure saw a spike in crime, a further deterioration of the school system, poor economic performance and accusations of police misconduct, inter alia — has a new gig: special investigator for Dolton, Illinois, as it probes the woman who’s been called the “worst mayor in America,” Tiffany Henyard.
Zero accountability and zero repercussions. If Tiffany Henyard holds her job as mayor of Dolton, all hope is gone. #Illinois pic.twitter.com/rKUYrpDNrj
— Jen (@IlliniJen) April 4, 2024
While Heynard has been proclaimed “Super Mayor” — if only by herself, mostly — being super apparently requires misspending taxpayer funds on lavish getaways and allegedly using the police to harass businesses that won’t donate to her, according to accusations.
So now, Lightfoot will be paid $400 an hour to investigate Henyard after a Monday vote by the board of the village of Dolton.
“As someone who has made good governance the cornerstone of my career in public service, I recognize that maintaining the trust of those you serve and making decisions in their best interests is essential,” Lightfoot said in a statement after the vote.
Is Lori Lightfoot a bad choice for this position?
Yes: 100% (5 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
“The residents of Dolton deserve nothing less than a government that is fully accountable, responsive, transparent, and effective stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
Please do hold your laughter.
Lori Lightfoot is being hired by the trustees of Dolton to investigate Tiffany Henyard. Here’s a part of her speech she just made a few minutes ago, pic.twitter.com/G4QOYyFVmi
— Ja’Mal Green (@JaymalGreen) April 9, 2024
Lightfoot said that she would offer her recommendations and findings “without bias” and was “honored” to serve in the role. In addition to being a former mayor, she’s also a former federal prosecutor and prominent attorney.
Now, in fairness, “Super Mayor” may actually be worse than Lightfoot, although the city she runs is considerably smaller. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a May 2023 taxpayer-funded trip to Las Vegas, which was supposed to be in service of “economic development” in Dolton.
Not only did the village board say that there was “a total failure to report anything relative to potential economic development, or any other events that took place in Las Vegas, to the Board of Trustees,” but they also said that the group spent lavishly during the adventure.
Furthermore, the board stated that it learned of “serious sexual assault allegations” against a former Dolton employee for conduct during the trip and that those in the mayor’s office “have gone to great lengths to cover-up and hide the alleged sexual misconduct and reporting of the sexual misconduct.”
“Us figuring out what happened in Vegas is extremely important for the residents,” one board member told the Post.
Not that this is the only problem that Henyard faces, however — the FBI is conducting its own investigation.
“Henyard is also facing allegations she misspent federal COVID-19 relief funds, hired contractors without seeking proper bids, overpaid vendors without approval from the board, and accepted large campaign contributions from vendors chosen by the mayor,” the Post noted.
In addition, business owners have said that the mayor has shook them down for campaign contributions; Lawrence Gardner, 57, said he was forced to shutter his business after he didn’t repeat a $3,500 contribution to the mayor’s campaign.
“I made the payment,” he said. “Then every year she started coming and required the same thing, and we had a problem about that.”
He alleged the city then made up claims of illegal alcohol sales, forcing him to shut down.
“What is she, Nino Brown?” he said, referring to the drug kingpin character from the film “New Jack City.”
“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.”
Similar stories abound. It’s pretty clear that there’s enough smoke around Henyard’s administration to safely assume there’s fire. However, hiring Lori Lightfoot to get to the bottom of it — especially when there’s an FBI investigation underway — isn’t just supererogatory.
Hiring one failed mayor to combat a failing one only works in the movies. In the real world, it’s simply a matter of throwing more money at a problem created by the profligate waste of it in the first place. Let the FBI handle Nino Brown and Lori Lightfoot do what she does best: literally anything else but being involved in government.
