Editorial by Matt Marquardt –
Mason City is plagued by a liar of a mayor named Eric Bookmeyer. He gets a free paycheck from the people of Mason City and lives off his wife’s labor.
In other words, this man is a parasite who has no idea what a hard day’s work looks like. Some might say he is a virus who latches onto healthy, paying hosts who are foolish enough to foot the bill for his existence.
Such a man is extremely hazardous to the working people of Mason City. He has called jobs that pay $9.50 per hour an “over-achievement”. He said that last year when his cronies shuffled in a new call center when the last one, IC Systems, fled town with its tail between its legs. One call center leaves, the next comes in, paying similar wages. These are not “new jobs” … they replaced only some of the old ones. This is called “progress” in Bookmeyersville, USA. We do not brag about $20 an hour jobs here. We wave goodbye to them.
Meanwhile, surrounding towns are beating Mason City left and right. Charles City is becoming known for high-paying manufacturing jobs. Osage is constructing a new chemical plant. Fort Dodge has a burgeoning industrial park. Lake Mills landed Winnebago manufacturing. Now, even Clear Lake is nearing a rumored distribution center with 160 jobs paying $39K average. (This sounds a lot like Mason City’s botched “attempt” to finalize a deal with Target years ago. Some say that was lost on purpose.)
The truth is, Bookmeyer has nothing to hang his hat on in Mason City. Nothing. His legacy will be that he will be known for killing Human Rights and helping to keep good jobs out of Mason City so that his cronies who run the Chamber of Commerce and the EDC will not have to compete with higher-paying companies. He will also be known by eyewitnesses such as myself who witnessed Bookmeyer drunk as a skunk in the local bars, badgering the lowly wage-earners. Way to go, Eric. You will leave Mason City worse than when you found it; with crumbling infrastructure, skyrocketing taxes and fees, and a dwindling population.
Speaking of wages, not all cities are plagued by a disease like Eric Bookmeyer that sickens the pot for working men and women. In Austin, Minnesota, Mayor Tom Stiehm has advocated for a minimum wage hike above $10.00 an hour. He notes that, like Mason City, the poverty rate in his city hovers near 20%. That is 1-in-5 people. His main opponent is – you guessed it – the Chamber of Commerce. It must be nice to have at least one leader who sees the writing on the wall and stands up for the majority of the people he serves. Austin is lucky to have a leader who acknowledges the truth. We are stuck with a liar and a failure in Eric Bookmeyer.