MASON CITY – A public forum for Mason City candidates was held Saturday at the Mason City library.
Questions were written by Mason City citizens and given to the moderator, Hampton Mayor Shawn Dietz, to ask the candidates.
The candidates who chose to attend were: Sheryl Gerk and Jodi Draper (running for Second Ward City Council); Matt Marquardt (running for Fourth Ward City Council); Leonard Foster (running for At-Large City Council); and Quinn Symonds and Max Weaver (running for mayor). No incumbent candidates appeared.
KAAL-TV from Minnesota attended to provide news coverage. NorthIowaToday.com and the Globe Gazette also had personnel in attendance.
All candidates received the same number of questions, including an opening statement and a closing statement.
Th next public forum for Mason City candidates will be held on Monday, October 28th at 7:00 PM at the PRime N Wine restaurant.
The entire forum is available for viewing in the following video:
I love the way this was orchestrated to place Mayor Bookmeyer right between Max and Matt. I bet seeing that really would have made him feel welcome. His placement there was clearly done to intimidate him had he shown up. If they really had wanted him to participate and feel welcome, they would have put him at the left end of the table with Quinn seated next to him. Or they would have had two tables – one for incumbents and one for challengers.
IMO, they did not participate in these forums because the moderator was chosen by the proxy for the challengers with no input from the incumbents. I’m not sure I would have confidence that one moderator could single-handedly control the ugly negativity that has been spewed on these pages by Matt, his proxies, and some of his supporters who might be in attendance. I would be afraid that it might deteriorate into a free for all and I would want a police presence. I hope that tonight’s forum goes smoothly and civilly if any of the incumbents decide to participate.
I too was at the forum @ the library on Saturday. I was very impressed with all of those running for office that were there. They were professional in their demeanor & replies to questions. There was no disrespect toward those who decided that this forum was not worth their time. The empty spaces at the table with their names in front of their chairs spoke VOLUMES to those in attendance. When you work for a job, you are expected to be at meetings, no questions asked, if your job performance is bad, you are asked to give an account why and how are you going to turn it around, if you are late or refuse to go to meetings you are fired. You account to who pays your salary. WE THE PEOPLE PAY YOUR SALARY, you owe us an account of your performance and why you were not there!
This was and has been news for a long time. Why wasn’t our radio stations & KIMT there covering it? It is the people of Mason City that support you & support your advertisers. You owe the people of Mason City an explanation. When a TV station from another state drives here to cover it, but a station here won’t go a few blocks to cover it, there is something drastically wrong ~ please explain it Jamie Copley.
It was stated on the news piece on channel 6 that Scott Tornquist & Janet Solberg gave the excuses that who was sponsoring it was prejudicial & they were not told about it far enough in advance. I’m sorry, but when you are campaigning for an office, you jump at the chance to get your opinions out to the people no matter what the notice. The only valid reason to not be there would be a death in the family, BUT Leonard Foster showed up & his wife recently pasted away…so what was your excuse?? Prejudicial? Why didn’t you get someone to sponsor a forum if you thought whoever got this one together was one sided? How could it be prejudicial anyway when neither the incumbents or candidates knew what would be asked? Negativity? There was no negativity towards anyone the whole night. If there had been, that is why you have a moderator to admonish anything that isn’t positive or did you not agree to Mayor Dietz doing it & by the way he did an excellent job!!
If you were not at the forum, you missed a terrific experience to learn new, fresh ideas for our city. To see positive members of our community want what is best for the city & the people of Mason City. Be sure to go to the one at the Prime & Wine on Monday nite Oct. 28th & VOTE on Nov. 5th.
As Meredith Willson put in his file “The Music Man”..We got trouble, right here in Mason City, with a capital “T”. He had so much pride for this city that I can only imagine if he were here now, he would be ashamed of how this city has been run. Only YOU, can change it. Vote for change!
THE THREE D’s !!!!!!
Great talk Max! If that doesn’t make sense to anyone then there is nothing we can do.
If people don’t want to be governed your way then nothing we can do.
It is the most prosperous way for everyone!
@ Jerry, I guess I am not all that in the know on Mason City politics gossip, sorry. Okay so your saying mayor Bookmyer is friends with somebody thats a nazi druggy? And this person was behind the Harley-Davidson give away? I want more information, It is hard to believe a politician would be friends with somebody like that. How can this nazi druggy afford the country club? I really want to hear about this, it sounds like crazy.
Jerry is right about the mayor’s friend our local Nazi junkie, Deanna. I have researched this racist extensively on the internet, and he did make the introductions at the Country club that led to the Harley bailout. You asked how he affords the Country club. His money comes from rich parents who spoiled him rotten, inheritances, and owning the world’s most profitable white supremacist record company. He owned this company while he worked for Ronald Reagan. He learned his dirty political tricks under the tutelage of Lee Atwater, who was a Nazi sympathizer. He cashed out of his hate music business for $250,000, after making a fortune on hate. After that deal was made public by the Washington Post, the schemer signed on with the FBI to rat out the Nazis that bought his white supremacist CDs. For ratting out his cohorts, he made another $8,000 a month for about three years. He is a crack head who bashes people who work for the government even though he worked for the government. In other words, he is the biggest hypocrite around. And a very frightening hypocrite at that. Yet, our mayor, and our county Supervisors and other politicians around here associate with him on a regular basis.
If your for real then all I can say is holy shit.
@ Jerry, I guess I am not all that in the know on Mason City politics gossip, sorry. So your saying mayor Bookmyer is friends with somebody thats a nazi druggy? And this person was behind the Harley-Davidson give away? I want more information, It is hard to believe a politician would be friends with somebody like that. How can this nazi druggy afford the country club? I really want to hear about this, it sounds like crazy.
Thank you Mary. You have always been a class act and your participation in the democratic process is really appreciated. Let’s keep up the good work on behalf of the great citizens of Mason City. They deserve better…
If what took place stour day morning at the public library in this community was meant to send a message to the working and middle class, then let’s answer that by voting. Make your vote count like never before.
I meant to say “Saturday”
I have been struggling with this election for sometime now. I do like some of the things that are going on in Mason City now. I just love the downtown area. That being said I find it very disrespectful of the 4 incumbents not to show up. I was unable to attend yesterday morning but I will be there Monday night. I am now leaning toward voting for Max, Jodie, and Leonard. We’ll see what happens Monday night. I hope all candidates show up.
@DR Dunn-some of the things I don’t think people are aware of is that our current mayor and the council had very little if anything to do with the downtown area. Vision Iowa was already approved and the plans had to be submitted before approval. This bunch really did nothing except follow through on what was a done deal prior to them coming on the scene. I want to throw up every time I hear the mayor trying to take credit for Vision Iowa or the streetscape.
Look so what if some the down town might be better that don’t mean it is a good deal for us. Bookmeyer done that to suck up to Minert ok what do you bet he got some money for his campaign, that is called pay back. He got the nazi druggy to interduce him to Minert out to the country club, put’s us on the hook. This mayor only cares about him self nobody else Max is for the people.
This was an awesome event!
Huge thank you to the Local Boilermakers who sponsored the event. Also thank you to KAAL TV who covered the event from start to finish.
Here’s a link to their Top Story this morning – MC Public Forum: http://www.kaaltv.com/index.shtml. There is video on this website as well as the story. The reporter on-site tried to reach each of the 4 incumbents – our currently elected officials – while covering the story. It was their second lead story on last evening’s 10pm news (it aired shortly before 11pm due to the football game). KAAL TV will be back Monday evening to cover that public forum.
Thank you also to Kristin Buehner and Jeff Heinz who covered the event locally. The only media coverage besides NorthIowaToday.
The nearly 100 citizens present were amazing. They listened and were respectful to all candidates. The questions asked were thoughtful and thought-provoking.
Thank you to the MCPL for providing the venue for the event. It was an event in all sense of the word. Mason City should be proud!
The candidates did a great job. The moderator was excellent. Listen through the tape – at the end you’ll hear Hampton Mayor Shawn Dietz say that he had read the piece in Friday’s Globe Gazette in which the 4 incumbents said they would not participate because of all the negativity. Mayor Dietz stated that he did not hear any negativity during the 2 hour public forum. Mr. Dietz spoke with Brent Trout, City Administrator at length prior to this first public forum and checked other sources to prepare for the public forum. He was spot on and amazing. A Mayor from another town 30 miles south shows up for what our current Mayor could not possibly bring himself to attend.
As to Mr. Tornquist and Ms. Solberg’s remarks to KAAL. Both knew this event was being held and there was no short notice. The media coverage as well as personal invitations were out there as early as Monday the 21st. They both chose not to attend as did Mr. Hickey and Mr. Bookmeyer. The 4 were AWOL.
Will they attend the second public forum Monday evening October 28th at 7pm at the Prime and Wine??
Yesterday’s public forum was a history lesson. Mr. Lee – please present this to your students at MCHS. Remind them that this is a democracy right here in River City and a democracy involves all citizens. Remind them that they need to encourage their parents and other adults to VOTE on Tuesday November 5th. A democracy takes work and responsible adults work to keep the right to vote and have a voice in their government. Our forefathers fought to give us this right. 3 generations ahead of us as well as our sons, daughters, fathers, brothers, sisters fight as we speak so we can keep the rights and privileges that are so dear to us.
Don’t let bullies or gangs or can’t-be-bothered-to- attend-incumbents strip you of the right to have a voice in your government.
VOTE ON NOVEMBER 5th!!!! Don’t let them take your voice away.
Beautiful
Fantastic!
I’ve said it before and again
Who can talk after hearing Weaver?! I’d embarass my self!
No wonder Bookmeyer is a ghost. His head would spin!
Bookmeyer you are a nothing prick. Amd we ALL know it. Some are trapped with you and know they screwed up.
Very Disrespectful to the People of Mason city, Vote them all out !!!
This is great.
I was there, they all had name tags at their spot at the table. I was surprised that Max didn’t pull the Clint Eastwood thing and talk to the empty chair sitting beside him.
It is my hope that the citizens of our community send a strong message to these four incumbents by sending them home to stay. How rude to do this to people who actually put you in there in the first place.
Can anyone give me the Cliff Notes version of what Cheryl Gerk was discussing about the police department, a 6-month job given to someone who claimed to have worked for Hennepin County, and what that was all about? I did not have time to watch the whole video to see if she brought it up again. TIA.
Horrible audio. Couldn’t hear what anyone was saying.
I take it that you didn’t take the time to go listen to them first hand then?…
@Reggie (Red)-It must be your computer then as I had no problems hearing it at all. They did a excellent job of presenting their views. I am sorry you feel the need to try to discredit this debate. You should be pissed at your lord the drunk and his monkeys for not participating.
LVS I will try to listen again as I really want to hear what each person has to say.It might well be my computer. The incumbents not showing up was a calculated risk I think. We will see if this was smart or not on Nov. 5th.
Its election time again, and something happened today that I haven’t seen in my lifetime. No incumbents at a public forum, just the challengers. How sad is that. The citizens of Mason City really missed out. I hope the citizens of Mason City will remember this at voting time that the incumbents didn’t even show up for the public forum to represent the citizens of Mason City. At least the challengers want to represent the citizens and proved it today by showing up and answering questions.
MC ’83 – I totally agree with your assessment. All the incumbents have shown their true colors. Now is the time to demonstrate to them that the citizens of MC will not tolerate this kind of behavior. VOTE THEM ALL OUT!! Obviously none of them take their responsibility to the citizens very seriously.
Wow, I can not believe that none of the incumbents showed up. How arrogant to think you do not have to face questions from the citizens of Mason city. How arrogant to think that you have already won the election without having to face the voters. The city council and mayor are so used to not having to answer to the public that they cannot even show up for these forums! The incumbents have totally disrespected all the citizens of Mason City! Vote them all out!