Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard scored a big win in court this week when a judge directed the Cook County clerk to disregard votes cast on two mayoral recall referendums.
Attorney Bob Fioretti, a former Chicago alderman who represented Henyard, said Cook County Circuit Court Judge Paul Karkula made the right call.
“Without a prior recall mechanism in place it was totally inappropriate to have both questions on the same ballot at the same time,” Fioretti said.
Early voting began June 13 in suburban Cook County for the June 28 primary election. Ballots in Dolton contain two questions about a recall. The first asks whether the village should create a mechanism to recall the mayor before a four-year term has ended. The second asks whether Henyard, who was elected in 2021, should be recalled.
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Dolton Village Board members are continuing to ask residents to vote on the referendums and intend to appeal the ruling, Trustee Jason House said.
“We felt the ruling was improper,” House said. “The recall questions are already on the ballot. People have already voted. The county clerk’s office must have thought it was legal because they put it on the ballot.”
A representative for Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough said the office, which administers elections, would follow the court’s direction to not count votes cast on the recall questions.
Henyard named Yarbrough and all six Dolton Village Board trustees as defendants in a lawsuit filed April 25. Her suit challenged the constitutionality of the recall questions that a board majority voted Dec. 8 to place on ballots.
“The other trustees and I are going to fight hard to make sure your vote counts,” House said in a video shared Friday on social media. “It’s unfortunate that in today’s society, where voter rights are being attacked all over the country, that Dolton residents will be told that their vote does not count.”
Henyard could have avoided the confusion surrounding the recall questions had she filed her complaint sooner, before the deadline for printing ballots. I have criticized Henyard, who is also Thornton Township supervisor. However, I also have agreed with her argument in this instance that the recall referendum was improper.
As Fioretti explained, the reason follows the same legal principle that says you cannot change an elected official’s compensation while they are in the middle of a term. Similarly, if a legislative body like a village board or city council wants to impose term limits on a mayor or village president, the clock starts after the current term has ended.
“Since both referendums were placed on the ballot at the same time, it was confusing to voters,” Fioretti said. “That’s a problem. There was no prior mechanism in place as to whether you can have a recall.”
Unless the decision is overturned on appeal, Dolton trustees are back at square one. Not only will votes to recall Henyard not be counted, neither will votes on whether to create a mechanism to recall the mayor.
It seems the proper course of action would be for the Dolton Village Board to consider a resolution to place a referendum on November ballots asking voters whether the village should create a mechanism to recall the mayor.
Henyard issued a statement Friday in response to the ruling.
“There was no constitutional basis for the recall referendum and the will of 82 percent of Dolton voters who supported me last year will not be nullified by political opportunists trying to circumvent the law,” Henyard said. “It was a waste of time and taxpayer money to have to fight something in court that on its face had no legal basis.”
Previously, when I asked Henyard her reaction to the recall measures, she told me she thought it was unfair the referendum only applied to the mayor and not trustees.
As long as Dolton trustees are considering recall mechanisms, they ought to give residents the opportunity to weigh in on whether trustees should be subject to recalls as well.
If such questions were placed on ballots in November and if a majority of Dolton voters approved them, I still agree with Fioretti’s point that no recall provision should apply until after current terms for all elected officials have expired.
For Henyard, that would mean she should be able to serve out her term as mayor and not have to face voters until 2025. That appeals to my sense of fairness because there was no recall mechanism in place when Henyard was elected in 2021. She had no reason to believe she should not be able to fulfill a four-term term.
I dislike how Henyard stands to collect more than $277,000 a year in gross salary and expenses as township supervisor, not counting the cost of health insurance, pension and other benefits. But I understand the law says you cannot change an elected official’s pay in the middle of a term.
I maintain that the Thornton Township Board ought to reduce the overly generous supervisor compensation package that rewarded the late Frank Zuccarelli for his years of service to residents.
I share concerns raised by Dolton trustees about a lack of transparency in Henyard’s administration. I wish the board majority the best in its efforts to uphold their oaths to be accountable to taxpayers and closely watch Henyard’s spending.
Even though I accept that the law says Henyard ought to be able to serve out her four-year term as mayor without facing a recall, I still believe she ought to resign as Dolton mayor.
When Henyard accepted the nomination to fill the supervisor vacancy, she took on significant additional responsibilities. No individual could reasonably be expected to succeed as both mayor and supervisor. The communities of Dolton and Thornton Township face significant challenges that demand substantial time commitments from leaders.
Even though the recall ruling means Henyard may not have to answer to Dolton voters at the ballot box until 2025, she ought to seriously consider whether she is doing what is best for herself, her family and her community by continuing to attempt to serve as both mayor and supervisor.
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Ted Slowik is a columnist at the Daily Southtown.