With 5 months till the April election, neither Thornton Township Supervisor Tiffany Henyard nor the township’s incumbent trustees have introduced plans to run for his or her positions once more.
Candidates working outdoors of a serious occasion needed to file petitions by 5pm on Monday, and 5 folks threw their hats within the ring for the supervisor place and 6 for the 4 director positions. No one has filed for metropolis clerk or assessor, and one particular person has filed for freeway commissioner.
The Reform Thornton Township Party has filed a slate of candidates with Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark working for supervisor and Corean Davis, Rachel Jones, Dominique Randle-El and Jacinta Gholston working for trustee. Davis is the Harvey metropolis supervisor and Randle-El is the Harvey fifth Ward alderman.
Independent candidates for supervisor are Nate Fields, Jr., Stafford Owens and Sidney Moore.
Owens is a member of Thornton Township’s District 205 council. Moore, of Homewood, ran unsuccessfully for Illinois secretary of state in 2022 and mentioned Monday that he comes with expertise working for a number of political campaigns.
Moore mentioned he hopes to deliver transparency and positivity again to the city of about 150,000 folks after Henyard’s high-profile and chaotic administration.
“He brings out the worst in folks,” Moore mentioned of the present supervisor. “People are ashamed to stay on this township now.”
Fields, 33, of South Holland, mentioned final month that he labored for the municipality beneath former supervisor Frank Zuccarelli till his place beneath Henyard was dissolved. He additionally mentioned he desires to enhance transparency and contain the neighborhood extra in municipal decision-making.
“I hope that the neighborhood that’s outraged by how Tiffany is behaving will arise now and say, ‘OK, decide him now,’ as a result of I want to face up and make a distinction now,” Fields mentioned.
Harvey
Mike Nolan/Daily Southtown
Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark throughout a June 2023 metropolis council assembly. (Mike Nolan/Daily Southtown)
Although Henyard and the incumbent trustees haven’t filed, main occasion candidates in municipal elections could also be decided by caucus, in accordance with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
That means Thornton Township voters might not know whether or not their supervisor will run in April’s election till Dec. 3, a stark distinction from Dolton, the place Henyard started campaigning final month for re-election as mayor and filed within the Democratic major in opposition to village trustee Jason House.
City Hall trustees Chris Gonzalez, Carmen Carlisle and Darlene Gray Everett additionally haven’t revealed their plans. Last month, Gerald Jones resigned as trustee, and a vote on his interim alternative is on the agenda of a board assembly scheduled for Tuesday.
Federal investigators since this spring have issued subpoenas searching for data on Henyard, folks affiliated along with her and organizations beneath her management at Dolton Village Hall and Thornton Township Hall in South Holland, in addition to Thornton Township High School District 205.
The Illinois Board of Elections web site states that almost all Illinois townships use the caucus methodology to appoint established occasion candidates for municipal workplaces.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
