THORNTON TOWNSHIP, Ill. (WGN) — As supervisor of Thornton Township, Tiffany Henyard was paid an annual salary of more than $200,000, plus stipends for expenses, travel and more.
But according to the township’s most recent salary ordinance, her successor was to be paid at a much lower rate: $57,000 a year for the first term.
So, why is Napoleon Harris earning the same salary as Henyard?
WGN Investigates found Harris’ other taxpayer-funded position helped quietly pave the way for him to protect the payment perk.
“What you make is based on what you’re able to deliver,” Harris told WGN Investigates back in April. “That’s like people saying professional athletes shouldn’t be making millions or doctors.”
Harris has been a Democratic state senator since 2013.
He defeated Henyard this year to take over as the township’s new supervisor, his second taxpayer-funded position.
In 2024, Henyard was paid a total of $282,812 by the township. That included an annual salary of $202,950, in addition to allowances for a telephone, vehicle and $59,400 for “expenses.”
Under the ordinance, Henyard collected that amount because she took over for Frank Zuccarelli in the middle of his term. Zuccarelli had been supervisor since the early 1990s.
But after she was defeated, the pay was to be significantly lowered. The township’s salary ordinance set the salary for first term supervisors at $57,000 a year.
But WGN Investigates found that Harris — even before he won the township office — introduced legislation in the Illinois General Assembly to protect the payment perk.
His bill didn’t pass. But we found legislation with the same language was later advanced and passed by a different Democratic legislator.
It was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker last year.
Thanks to the legislative maneuver, Harris stands to collect the same benefits as Henyard. That’s in addition to $123,971 he is to be paid as a state senator.
“This is the professional democratic machine, tried and tested and it appears they’ve taken hold of Thornton Township,” Paul Robertz, a resident of Thornton Township, told WGN Investigates.