Tornquist blows his stack at Mason City bar

NIT opinion –

Scott Tornquist blew his stack Monday night at a Mason City business – something he has done before – after he became furious that a citizen called him out for hiding like a scared rabbit from his last election opponent.

Details started to flow into the NIT newsroom late Tuesday and sources are confirming Scott Tornquist’s latest meltdown. For some background, some say Tornquist has a temper like Mount Vesuvius – and is about as unstable.  He once erupted on a citizen at a Hardee’s restaurant when he was asked why Mason City keeps losing population while Tornquist has been in office.  He told that person to leave town.  Tournquist also used profanity at a city council meeting in 2012 (“I’ll throw your ass out”) while picking on a woman for speaking at the public podium.  Minutes later, his yellow streak surfaced and he stood up and ran out of the meeting before it was over.

Apparently, the fact that Scott Tornquist ducked Leonard Foster in the 2013 council election is a touchy subject for the at-large councilman, and he had another one of his episodes while sitting in a bar Monday night.

But why?  After all, Tornquist won the election; his dirty trick worked.  Yet, something is eating away at him, and he just can’t let it go.

Could it be that deep down, Tornquist knows that Mr. Foster would have drubbed him in a debate?  That Mr. Foster would have humiliated him on the facts?  That folks might have cheered for the words coming out of Mr. Foster’s mouth, and jeered and sneered at Tornquist?  Does he taste the vitriol in the community toward him from the majority of citizens, and was that enough of a clue for him to decide to appear only on expensive billboards in that election?

Perhaps those possibilities bother Tornquist.  Maybe doesn’t sleep well at night because of that.  Perhaps he realizes that those scenarios would have manifested themselves if he had attended a debate, and that the humiliation would have been too much for his fragile ego to bear.

But there’s a safer bet out there.

You see, when a man’s manhood is put to the test, and he fails miserably, that has a tendency to gnaw at the conscience.  And not very deep down, Tornquist knows, he got called out to debate in an election; to debate a former elected council member, a man who had just lost his wife, but yet was willing to go toe to toe.  And Tornquist chose to be a coward and hide.  That’s not what a real man does, and Scott Tornquist is coming to grips with that every time people bring it up.  Perhaps he took solace in the fact that two other “men” – Eric Bookmeyer and Travis Hickey – were also cowards during that election, while his cohort Janet Solberg scurried like a roach when the lights get turned on.  Maybe their combined actions made him feel – for a brief moment –  that his machismo could survive.  Birds of a feather flock together, so they say.

But it’s been almost two years now, and the wounds are deep for Tornquist; the scab has not healed.  You see, you can win an election… but people forget about that.  What they don’t forget about is the legacy you leave behind, your traces, who and what you reveal yourself to be.

Scott Tornquist, you refused to face your opponent in a debate.  Sources say Monday night you blame your email for that.  You even blame NIT.  But, what you need to do, is walk into your bathroom, stand in front of the mirror and look deep within yourself. Are you proud of the milquetoast, milksop that is staring back at you?

Evidently, not.