Dolton dysfunction: Mayor’s attorney suing attorney representing rival trustees
DOLTON, Ill. — The dysfunction in Dolton has taken another turn with Mayor Tiffany Henyard’s hand-picked attorney now suing an attorney who represents rival trustees for defamation.
Attorney Michael Del Galdo has served as Dolton’s prosecutor and special counsel since 2021. He was selected by Mayor Henyard and sits at her side during village board meetings. Those sessions have become heated in recent months following a series of WGN Investigates reports highlighting lavish spending, unexplained luxury travel, and taxpayer-funded self-promotion by Henyard in Dolton as well as Thornton Township where she serves as supervisor.
Trustees have also accused Henyard of awarding contracts to cronies without authorization and have refused to pay some bills.
Trustees opposed to Henyard have been represented by attorney Burt Odelson, whom they appointed as their legislative counsel. Del Galdo is now suing Odelson, accusing him of making false statements that undermined his representation of the village. Those statements included a false claim that Del Galdo had a conflict of interest and that he had billed Dolton tens of thousands of dollars improperly, according to the lawsuit.
Odelson denies wrongdoing and calls the lawsuit “baseless and frivolous.”
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“Mr Del Galdo should be doing the same thing I’m doing and representing our municipal clients and not getting involved with frivolous lawsuits,” Odelson told WGN Investigates.
Payments made to both Del Galdo’s and Odelson’s law firms are mentioned in wide-ranging subpoenas for records served by the FBI to Henyard’s administrations in Thornton Township and Dolton. The federal investigation is ongoing and there is no specific indication of wrongdoing by people and firms mentioned in the subpoenas.
Del Galdo’s legal fees are among the bills trustees refused to pay leading him to send a letter to village officials in April saying he would no longer “work for free” and would be withdrawing from several cases.
“No one wants to represent the Village,” Del Galdo wrote at the time warning that Dolton may owe more than $20 million in excess of insurance policy limits in a case the previous administration and board declined to settle.
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“The Village is quickly approaching the point of being uninsurable. Failure to defend in these lawsuits will likely result in the Village being found in default.”
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