Opinion: Tornquist bailed on the people of Mason City

Opinion by NIT Publisher Matt Marquardt –

What was Scott Tornquist thinking last Tuesday night?

That evening, he sat through his last ever city council meeting as an elected official in Mason City.

He knew what was coming – his abrupt departure – but alas, he said nothing.

There was no farewell speech. There was no recounting of all his accomplishments. There was no reminiscing. There was no cheesy plaque presented by the mayor. There were no tears, no thank you’s, no goodbyes, no “I’ll miss you all”. (We do offer a public podium for comments; it is televised. A city council member can put anything on an agenda he or she wants. He had ample opportunity that night, and many before that, for a proper send-off.)

But not a word came out of his mouth about quitting. Nothing after 10 years, from a man who’s been through a lot of turbulance in elected office.

Tornquist sat there Tuesday night, went through the motions, as if every day coming next would be just like the last. He mis-lead us all, one more time.

And then he snuck out of town Thursday, abandoning his perch he had fought so hard to get. Expensive billboards, radio spots, bruising elections; real nail-biters. All given up in flippant fashion. Here one day and gone the next.

He gave it all up in the black… er, blink, of an eye.

Never mind that the business world and Chamber-of-Commerce-type folk he always pandered to demand a two-week notice when quitting a job.

Tornquist, in the end, thumbed his nose at that tradition. He wanted out of here, real fast, and he didn’t want any conversation about it.

Why did Scott Tornquist quit two days later on a Thursday, with only a bland post to his (ignored by all) website and just a (likely) call to his old pal Skippy?

First let me say – as Scott Tornquist makes his hasty departure from Mason City and turns his back on everything he fought so hard to get – forgive me if this sounds like I’m giving him a boot in the rear end to help him get out of town just a little faster.

But something just smells rotten in Denmark on this whole deal.

The way Tornquist quit is not befitting a man who served 10 years in office and presumably (thinks) he has a lot to brag about over that span of time. It’s not befitting a man who claims to adhere to “doing things by the book”. It’s not befitting a man the people paid tens of thousands of dollars to over the years to presumably do what’s right for the community.  He took no victory lap.

To me, Tornquist is behaving like a man who got undercharged in the checkout lane and wants to get out of the store before the clerks realize he ripped them off.

They way he is leaving town makes it clear that a few possibilities are actually taking place. But which one (or combination) best fits?

Possibility #1: SCANDAL
Tornquist wants out of here quick, fast, and in a hurry before some skeleton comes leaping out of the closet and wraps it bony fingers around his neck. What could it be?

Possibility #2: A POLITICAL DIRTY TRICK
Tornquist and his cronies are playing one last political dirty trick on the people of Mason City. It is quite clear that Tornquist knew he was leaving for some time (buying a house in Indianapolis isn’t done overnight). And NIT is told the mayor and others knew about it, too. The fact that he waited until June to reveal his intentions was a tactic to keep an election for his vacant seat off this November’s ballot. Plain and simple, a scheme was hatched to rob the voters. Just one more back room, sleazy deal perpetrated by Tornquist, Eric Bookmeyer, the Chamber, and the oligarchy that controls this town. The mayor’s fine-tuned council could fall apart this fall if John Lee and Jean the Greek Queen quit. Alex Kuhn – a shoe-in for re-election – is not always the robot that Bookmeyer wants. This is a tenuous strangle-hold on power they now possess. It becomes more tenuous with Tornquist’s flight east. Four council seats could hold persons that won’t always play ball quietly as the mayor and chamber want. Holding Tornquist’s vacant seat a secret in order to foil an election appears to have been planned all long.  Let’s see who they march out as potential appointees.

Possibility #3: THE PRICE OF STAYING IN MASON CITY IS TOO HIGH
Word is, there are some storm clouds coming for the mayor and council. Some potential embarrassment. The last time Scott Tornquist faced some potential embarrassment, he lost big in court and had to pay an adversary off.  My guess is, he found that distasteful, and when people read about it, they’ll learn he was one of the bullies who picked on an elderly, African-American Hall of Famer and crushed a Human Rights office.  It most certainly appears that Scott Tornquist wants no more part of the political bio-hazard here in Mason City, especially as the council appears to be in flux and other developments loom.  He doesn’t want to work with anybody other than himself (locked in solitary confinement working from home) and the other 5 council zombies who stumble around in the dark waiting of the Exalted Drunk Man to tell them what’s next.

Scott Tornquist is moving to Indiana.  He will cheer on his Purdue Biolermakers up close.  Just kind of feels like, he never truly fit in here…  kind of like a Purdue fan surrounded by Hawkeyes, Cyclones and Panthers.  Here’s to pouring a beer on the head of the nearest Boilermaker fan as the Hawkeyes cruise to a 55-0 victory over Purdue this fall in Kinnick Stadium.