The Price of Honesty …
Globe-Gazette abruptly Kills Blodgett’s Column
MASON CITY – Within 48 hours of a blockbuster story in The Des Moines Sunday Register about Mason City’s 2016 Prestage Plant fiasco, during which Eric Bookmeyer‘s bullying allegedly pushed late councilman Alex Kuhn to suicide, longtime political columnist Todd Blodgett was notified by Globe-Gazette editor David Mayberry that he will no longer publish Blodgett’s monthly political columns.
According to Blodgett, Mayberry offered no explanation. However, Mr. Blodgett told NIT that he feels “certain” it was in retaliation for his frank, truthful responses he provided to reporter Rekha Basu. Ms. Basu’s Front Page article on the Prestage plant and the suicide of Mason City’s late, at-Large City Council member Alex J. Kuhn was published on April 9, 2017. The Globe-Gazette wasn’t pleased with the expose’. Alex Kuhn served on the City Council of Mason City from 2011-16.
As Mr. Blodgett told NorthIowaToday.com, “I never even mentioned the Globe-Gazette. As a boy, I had a Globe-Gazette paper route. That paper endorsed my dad for all of his campaigns. While growing up, my family was close with Mrs. Lee Loomis, and Don and Betty Harrer – who were then the biggest players in Lee Enterprises.” [Lee Enterprises, inc., owns the Globe-Gazette – ed.]. Blodgett also told NIT that during his years on President Reagan’s White House staff, he regularly made sure the Globe-Gazette was grouped among major publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and The Wall Street Journal – so that Reagan would be certain to read it. Blodgett’s immediate boss, then-White House Press Secretary Larry Speakes, wasn’t pleased that the young staffer did that. “But Larry knew that the President liked me, and had known me since I was 15 years old” Blodgett said.
Kuhn, a Democrat, and Blodgett, a Republican, were close friends. In the last four months of his life, Kuhn explicitly shared his concerns with Blodgett over the fall-out from the community-splitting controversy. Just days before his shocking death, Kuhn stopped over at Blodgett’s home at the Outing club, on the south shore of Clear Lake. Kuhn’s father, who had served in the Iowa Legislature with Todd Blodgett’s father until 2001, encouraged Blodgett to respond to Ms. Basu’s requests for an interview.
HONEST, BLUNT, AND NOW – TERMINATED
Since 2011, Todd Blodgett’s columns have consistently proven to be the most-often-read columns that the Globe-Gazette publishes. His provocative style and fiery words incite his opponents and enthrall his supporters. The publicly available statistics on the Globe-Gazette’s own website consistently prove that Blodgett attracts more readers and bloggers than any other columnist, including nationally syndicated ones. While researching information for this story, NorthIowaToday.com learned that with ONE exception, each of Blodgett’s columns have hit the Globe’s #1 on both the ‘most read’ and the ‘most blogged’ categories on its website. The one Blodgett-authored column which didn’t hit #1 placed second in the ratings.
The publisher of NorthIowaToday.com, Matt Marquardt – who resigned from the Globe-Gazette in 2006 and later launched this publication and a successful Internet Marketing company – said he was not surprised by David Mayberry’s punitive act.
“I never heard of David Mayberry in my life, until Wednesday, when I happened upon his juvenile Twitter rant. He blasted the Kuhn family, myself, the Des Moines Register, Max Weaver. Clearly, this man is unbalanced, potentially frustrated and angry at his paper’s woeful image in the community and likely demise. To jettison a magnetic personality like Mr. Blodgett just shows, this guy wanted to score some cheap points for himself no matter the price to his newspaper. His employer should take notice of his selfish, rogue behavior.”
FAMILY’S HIGHLY PLACED CONTACTS
Blodgett, whose ties to North Iowa run long and deep, is a member of one of the best-known Republican families in the state of Iowa. He has significant options at his disposal should he ever decide to force Mayberry’s hand. Blodgett’s father is retired orthodontist and businessman Dr. Gary B. Blodgett. He served as Deputy Majority Leader in the Iowa Legislature from 1992 to 2001. From 2001 to 2008, he was a federal Judge in Washington, D.C., after being appointed by President George W. Bush. Todd’s mother, Sandy Blodgett, has since the 1970s been appointed by Iowa Governors and others to serve on numerous Boards and Commissions. Sandy Blodgett also served two terms as a member of the Board of Directors of a Michigan-based hospital corporation, a subsidiary of which is Mason City’s Mercy Health Center. For about 40 of the last 50 years, Mrs. Blodgett has been extensively involved in north Iowa charitable philanthropic endeavors, always as a volunteer. Dr. and Mrs. Blodgett have long been among the most prominent of north Iowans, and two of their three children served on the White House staff.
WHAT IS MAYBERRY THINKING?
“I’ve never even met David Mayberry”, Todd Blodgett told NIT, in a telephone interview. “But between the Globe’s big local advertisers – many of whom are good friends of mine – and some substantial stockholders who are also close buddies, I could have fun with this. I don’t need Lee Enterprises; they needed me.” Blodgett was referring to how Lee Enterprises, inc., the parent corporation of the Globe-Gazette, is in financial trouble, and has filed for bankruptcy. The company’s annual report shows that every newspaper owned by Lee has experienced tumbling circulation and declining newsstand sales. Lee’s publications have also lost paid subscribers and major advertising revenue in recent years. These losses were factors in Lee’s bankruptcy filings.
“I won’t waste the time,” Blodgett said. “Mr. Mayberry has shown himself to be a vindictive, small-minded, petty corporate bureaucrat. He’s not worth my efforts. I have bigger fish to fry.”
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON?
Todd Blodgett’s father had a run-in with the Globe’s management some 25 years ago. Gary Blodgett’s campaign manager, Mrs. Dee Byerly, in 1991 submitted a news release to the Globe-Gazette on behalf of Dr. Blodgett’s campaign committe. The then-publisher, Howard Query, deemed it un-newsworthy. Upon learning this, Dr. Blodgett contacted Mason Cityan Don ‘Grady’ Harrer – who was at the time the second-largest shareholder in Lee Enterprises. Harrer then called a corporate director, who in turn contacted an executive at the Lee corporate headquarters in Davenport, Iowa. Within hours, a senior Lee Enterprises executive countermanded the newspaper staff. Two days later, the Blodgett campaign’s news release, which had been rejected, was prominently featured as a news article in the Globe.
NorthIowaToday.com contacted a longtime, senior employee of the newspaper, who is familiar with how things operate within what’s left of the crumbling Lee Enterprises operation. “The members of Lee’s Board of Directors always pay close attention to stockholders. The same goes for any advertisers who spend big money with local papers. They’ve got huge influence with the Board members and with the corporate office,” the former Lee employee told NIT. “If someone with Todd Blodgett’s contacts raises a stink about this, a Board member could force Mayberry to try to justify terminating Blodgett’s column. If that happens, it won’t go well for Dave.”
IT’S ALL ABOUT MONEY; DOES MAYBERRY GET IT?
The directors are responsible to stockholders, and they control management, from Lee Enterprises CEO Kevin Mowbray on down. Even those who disagree with Blodgett’s right-wing politics know his columns are lightning rods for controversy. His work brings in readers and bloggers, and generates letters to the editor in response to whatever he writes. The online activity generated by Mr. Blodgett’s columns represents ‘clicks’ – which equates to income to an ailing news corporation in dire need of it.
The retired Globe-Gazette employee also told NorthIowaToday.com that, “If Blodgett wants the Globe to reinstate his column, he’ll be back in, believe me. The directors simply cannot afford to ignore the kind of financial pressure that Blodgett knows how to apply, and not only from big, local advertisers. The stockholders won’t stand for this crap, either. They’re all about profits. Todd learned from his old man how things work, and doc taught him well. He did the same thing, and pulled it off. I was there, and saw it. In the case of old Doc and his son, I don’t think that the apple fell far from the tree.”
Advertising revenue is the lifeblood of any newspaper, and the stockholders elect the members of the Board of Directors. A local editor who pushes out a popular, well-known writer whose work consistently attracts readers and bloggers targets himself or herself for recrimination, should the writer decide to fire back, and lines up well-connected, influential advertisers to contact Board members, and the corporate offices. That is what the former Lee Enterprises employee told NIT that David Mayberry must fear, if Blodgett decides to go after him. But he doesn’t appear to be interested.
NOT JUST ANY COLUMNIST…
Blodgett is no run-of-the-mill writer. He has been quoted extensively in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NBC Nightly News, the Associated Press, the Huffington Post, the London Times, and hundreds of other publications in recent years in the USA and Europe. There is an impressive Wikipedia page featuring Mr. Blodgett’s biographical information. As a former White House aide to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and as a former paid FBI informant, Blodgett is regularly called by reporters for comment on political issues, particularly those relating to Far Right white Supremacists. For nearly three years, Mr. Blodgett worked as a full-time, paid confidential informant for the FBI. The bureau assigned him to monitor the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations, Holocaust deniers, and violent, racist Skinheads. An NIT reader who read about Blodgett’s fate at Mayberry’s hands contacted the NIT offices as this story was being written. This reader said, “While Dave worries about Blodgett’s high-level connections, maybe he should fear the low-lifes that Todd knows!”
Blodgett said that in replying to Mayberry’s email notifying him of his column’s termination, he told the editor he has no plans to turn up the heat on this matter. However, he told NorthIowaToday.com that if he does, “Mr. Mayberry may end up feeling about as comfortable as a one-legged Klansman at a Black Panthers rally. He just won’t run as fast, get as far, or last as long.”
Miss your column’s Mr Blodget, can you please write some for N.I.T? With all this stuff going on these days we would like to know what your thinking is.
“blodgett and magnetic personality” in the same sentence. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!
He is like that, Blodgett he works people pretty good. I do know him, he is real funny. Not like anybody else we know. Could of done alot of things but the drugs got him. No, we are not republitard’s.
Anybody thinks Blodgett will go make trouble for Mayberry does not know. I know Todd, he has better things to do. No way he does his. I do go on to the Globb site, that thing is going down bad. It would of been a smart thing keep Blodgett on there, we like the way he thinks.
The Globe isn’t going away. Lee Enterprises is bigger than you now and thriving fine. Matt M just WISHES it would fail. He wants to be the star of MC. Dream on…. http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/business/lee-enterprises-buys-quad-cities-paper-20170619
I have known Todd Blodgett since 2003 and relocated to north Iowa following his advice arriving the week following Alex Kuhn’s suicide. I walked with Todd in support of suicide awareness and he has introduced me to several friends, colleagues, and acquaintances around. Clear lake and mason city and not one I would describe as poor white trash not educated past the 2nd grade. For my part I do not agree with Todd’s politics but I do enjoy debating the issues with him honestly and he and his family have been welcoming and their generosity amazing. He is a friend and while I did not know Alex Kuhn I can say if he had more friends like Todd rather than politician opponents interested only in personal profit, he would still be alive today.
Interesting commentary from you Joel, considering what an upstanding person that you are.
http://northiowatoday.com/2017/01/04/mason-city-man-faces-felony-after-police-catch-him-damaging-house/
https://www.facebook.com/joel.donaldson.12/posts/1308456889197132?comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22O%22%7D
https://www.gofundme.com/g3wry5y4
@ Chuck, OMG, this man is scary. Another one of Blodgett’s thugs, I suspect. It really is horrible, the kind of insane, violent people (felons included) that this trigger-happy Republitard knows and sics on his enemies.
@ Proud, I’m thinking that Blodgett’s local thugs were overworked, so he imported this one.
My 2 cent’s here, only met Mr Blodgett one time this was 6, 7 years ago up to the OP. At the bar. My friend I was with, he did not agree with Todd’s politics, he says are you a drug addict. Todd says yes. My friend goes, did you own a racist record company. Todd says yes I use to not any more. My friend, he goes, did you use to get kicked out of every school you went to here, been locked up lot’s of times. Todd admits to that to. Blodgett, he made two friends that day not like he got us to agree with him that will not happen. But he was honest like, alot of people are not. Then he says have a drink with me, he paid. Todd if your reading this, hope things go good for you. The Globb, they f-cked you.
Ok you on here says Todd did wrong, how many of you has the guts to speak out on what happen to Mr Kuhn. He got bullied to death, the powers to be, they covered it up. The Globe, they put out that fake story, said Alex was mental. I say bull, he shot him self on count of they was hating on him. Somebody had to call out the shit heads for what they done, this was Mr Blodgett, good on him yes. If it would not of been for Todd we would not know how bad they are. Yes. I do not like Republitard’s but I do like Todd, he is not like the bad one’s. He is honest this does count with me. You people on here likes Booky and them, you need to STFU move away eat shit and die. Your fools.
Tammy, by your pathetic sentence structure & grammar, I am going to venture that you dropped out of school somewhere around the second or third grade.
LOL, Biff, you’re right! It has not escaped my notice over the years that nearly all of Toddy boy’s fans are expressively challenged. Based on their comments, I don’t think Blodgett has a single supporter who completed ninth grade. Bottom feeders, all. Todd’s fans are, for the most part, rednecks and white trash.
Just because you are a RETIRED RT Teacher doesn’t mean you are a Rocket Scientist. You are a left wing, big mouth P.O.S.
Grow up LVS, you are embarrassing your family
You think you can delete what you really are. You are a big mouth, liberal, retired ART teacher whose opinion doesn’t mean jack shit. Get used to it.
Aw look here, the Retired NIACC Lefty Art Teacher thinks his opinion mean anything. He is just another big mouth lefty trying to stiffel people’s thoughts.
LVS do you ever get tired of being an asshole?
It comes as no surprise that a Retired Art Teacher who lived off the public dollar all his life would belittle someone for their grammar and pay no attention to her message. What a small minded individual that is.
Basu only got half of the story on the bullying. there was plenty of bullying coming from the opposition to the issue, i.e. people vs. prestage group. would have been a more complete report if she would have identified those in that group that bullied Kuhn
How typical of you lefties to try to tear someone down because of the way they spell. It just shows how small and scared you really are Tammy was giving her opinion and it is the thinking that counts. Not the way she talks.
How typical, LVS can bash away but god forbid anyone calls him out he will just delete because he has no guts. You are a pussy LVS
Why use that picture of the Globe Gazette? You lose journalistic integrity when using a photo like that with no signage or anything identifying the Globe. Is your target audience 7th graders?
@ Barbara: What? The photo clearly was identified as being the Globe-Gazette building. It was very specifically named as such. Did you not read the disclaimer directly beneath the photo?
Todd has always been a stand up guy, him and me go back to about 3rd grade. I do not usually agree with his politics but he is honest. You people on here going after him, are you are as up-front as Todd.
I would bet no. Even when he knows people might not like what he says. North Iowa has alot of liar’s, Blodgett is not one of them.
Really, this Mayberry he wants to act big, kicking Blodgett out. WTF until I seen this, I never even heard of him. He is not even from here, I hear he lives in Minnesota has a house north of Northwood. This is bullying, I have looked at the Globb sight, when they run a Todd column it always goes to #1. I mean every time. Payback. This Mayberry MF he has a right, to do this but we can him pay.
I thought that Mayberry article was refreshing and truthful – sorry you kool aiders see it otherwise.
It is truthful, about what Mayberry did. He kicked Mr. Blodgett off the Globb. Why do you call us Kool aiders? Do you know something we don’t?
I see a lot of cowards hiding like demons, that must be what Mason City is actually like then, backstabbing old church hens?
@ Troy, Mason has always had some backstabbing old church hens. Thanks be to God there are people who call them out and tell the truth. I never thought I would be defending Todd Blodgett, I am a Democrat all my life, do not agree with what he writes in his column. But he is honest and he told the truth to the Register on what happened. Our mayor is a Republican, so is Blodgett. Kuhn was a Democrat. It took guts for Todd to defend Alex who can not defend himself any more. David Mayberry got revenge on Mr. Blodgett and he did it a like a bully. This I do not like or respect.
Who cares, Todd’s brain is distorted from all the illegal drugs he’s taken throughout his life. his opinions that promote violence and crime shouldn’t be idolized by publication in a news article.
We have lived here in Mason City since 2010 and until today, we had never heard of David Mayberry. But we had heard of, and read about, Todd Blodgett, from our first weeks in town. We some times agree with his columns. Other times, we certainly do not! Based on this article and these comments, Mayberry is a very vanilla kind of man who can be described with adjectives like: regular, plain, boring.
Nobody would use those words to describe Mr. Blodgett. It might be his past drug use affected his mind, I do not know. He might have a violent side, do not know about that, either. These things do not make any difference to me. I like to read things that make me think and make me laugh. And that is what we liked about Todd Blodgett’s columns.
I do think he did a good service to Mason City by sharing what he knows about what happened to Alex Kuhn. Honesty is important and this does include calling out people who do not play fair. Mr. Mayberry does not sound like a very fair man. And this is why we will not renew the Globe Gazette when our subscription runs out next month.
Okay, my two cents. Have a happy Easter weekend everybody.
@ reader, my neighbor works up to the Globe, she says Mayberry is just like how you say, oh yes. He is dull as they come rules by fear. She told me John Skipper is boring too. He rambles and rambles on and on like he is some really smart senior citizen that has lots of good wisdom you need. But really, he’s more like the old neighbor from across the street that you hope leaves your house before he craps his pants.
I feel sorry for the ladies who work at the front desk at the Globe having to deal with irate customers that the Globe is trying to screw over while management hides in the back room. Last year the Globe shorted our 52 week subscription by almost 2 mouths due to the “special” issues. This year they did it again by shorting it 1 month. Explained to the lady that even with the price difference between the regular issues and “special” issues our subscription should have been shorted a week, 2 at the most. You could almost see the despair in her eyes as she tied to figure out how to credit our subscription for the full amount.
The “special” issues are 3/4 ads so you would think the subscriber would be given a discount instead of being charged a premium for these papers.
Boo hoo. Start a blog, as many hard-core conservatives do. The GG stopped running Kaul, now they stopped running Blodgett. Sounds about right. Both were the fringe.
First things first, Todd Blodgett is an extremely accomplished writer. He has a degree in journalism and a reputation for telling the truth. As far as Mayberry goes he was sent here to breathe life into a corpse. It’s just not gonna work. The globe at one time was a community paper, it has long since lost that classification. The paper has had a bais a slant to it for several years and that attitude has only increased under Bookmeyer’s tenure.
.
Most journalist, especially those working for a newspaper, knows that the most damning part of a story is not what you write…..but more pertinent are the facts that you leave out of the story. John
he has made no secret that he’s in Bookmeyer’s camp. If he’s ever been critical of the mayor it must’ve been while I was out of the city. So now lets understand something; a staff writer in the newspaper writes in the direction management didicates them to write, they’re not allowed to have their own opinion and if they write in such a manner it’s because the management has shown to favor that direction.
Just as a matter fact understand this; more lies are printed on newsprint then any other kind of paper in the journalistic world.
In Mason city and throughout North Iowa the Globe-Gazette has lost all credibility when it comes to telling both sides of the story. If you are a public official and you make an ass of yourself in public, then it should be reported because more often than not the office you hold carries with it the public trust. So when our mayor Eric Bookmeyer is carried out of bars and restaurants by other people because he can no longer stand erect it’s an abomination on his part and an insult to the citizens who put their trust in him. That is something you never read in the Globe Gazette. There are dozens of other incidents that displayed his exploits under the influence of alcohol but there are too many to chronicle here.
Today the Globe-Gazette has shrunken a little more than a local shopper. North Iowa Today ate their lunch…..
@ Peter, your right, it would of been real easy for Todd to not of talked to this lady, the one who did the story. He had to of known some of what he said was not going to go good for him. He did tell the truth, this is what got him kicked out of the Globe. Mr. B, he did right.
As a member of the opposition, I am feeling waves of relief knowing that the Globe Gazette discontinued Blodgett screeds. We had to fire a cleaning lady over an argument she had with my husband over a column Mr. Blodgett wrote about the horrid creature whose presence now besmirches the oval office. Yes, Peter, Todd is honest, and a very good writer. This is what makes him dangerous to a civil society. Alex Kuhn is gone and there was no need to dredge up the muck, as the Register did. I have met Todd several times. In person, he is polite and charming. Each time I would read his columns, I had difficulty reconciling how such a bright man could write such filth in his usual, redneck style. Mr. Blodgett is mesmeric, but so was Adolf Hitler. I will categorically state that I am pleased the Globe showed him the door.
That’s your opinion. The rest of us agree with what he wrights. That is why you lost and the Republican’s won. We are right and you are wrong. You do have a big mouth though.
Yes, if the comment made is completely asinine and ignorant, it is guaranteed that it came from the idiotic old geezer.
Old geezer as in Larry VS?
Ain’t no FOOL like a TROLL FOOL who is gone again.
who cares
I bet Todd does. I would bet he is pissed off like hell at Mayberry. It wasn’t about money, but he likes spreading his Republitard propaganda. Now Mayberry has cut him off. Yes, I do think Mayberrry is stupid to do this. The Globe will not be able to find another writer that draws readers in like Blodgett. Its about time somebody put the spoiled, entitled, rich man-child in his place. Overall, a good thing for Mason City.
nd this from someone who taught art for a living. You were worthless then and still are.
We got over the departure of Donald Kaul, somehow we will survive without the wisdom of Blodgett. And there will even be life after Marquardt and Mayberry. Opinions come opinions go. Maybe we can squeeze a few more years out of Peter Children.
@ Clark, wisdom of Blodgett? Blodgett and wisdom do not go together, sorry. The man is a trigger-happy crypto-fascist. I did read his columns – but only for laughs. Todd is at his most amusing when he is being serious.
Apologies to HP, my attempted sarcasm. Lot’s of folks seeking some gain out of the tragic death of Alex. Most are self serving.
Some probably were self serving, Blodgett was not. I do know, he was not the one contact the Register this was Pete Children, Max Weaver told me. This was a good thing, I mean Pete, am glad somebody called down to Des Moines for this. All Todd did, he answers the questions. For this, he gets booted off the Globb. That is wrong. Mayberry better watch out.
I can see why the globe is failing. My delivery of the paper in right below, terrible. my paper comes late, doesn’t come at all, is thrown at my door from 20 feet away and where ever it lands is where its at. Had wet papers numerous times. I can remember when it was placed inside my door and in talking to some big lanky dude at the glob I was told that they are contract carriers and can not tell them where to put the paper. The glob is on a slow downhill slide that isn’t gunna stop til it hits bottom. I know that when my subscriptioin runs out I will not be renewing. Have talked to the glob numerous times, in person and on the phone and no one seems to care.
Define irony: complaining about old-school paper delivery on a competing online resource. The Globe does offer online subscriptions too ‘ya know.
Todd is nothing but a spoiled child given everything,and still thinks he is top shelf.Nothing but a grown up punk.This type of person is what is wrong with this area.Todd go sit in your shitty all connected cabins on soutshore what an eyesore that place is.Todd what do you do but boat rock.You can think whatever you want in your own mind ,but a lot of people could care less.You don’t spread much but hate.You are nothing more then gum stuck too bottom of my shoes.Republicans,party of nothing but whining with no good outcome.Example Trump!
Why you say Blodgett spreads hate? No. Ya he does rock the boat a bit. I say the boat needs rocking. How is it a bad thing if what he writes makes people think? Your very bitter you know that?
Bitter?that’s funny thats the best you have.Doesn’t surprise me this area is full of idiots,it is why it is real hard to get real jobs here.ALOT of corp.say we don’t need that type of enviroment and people to work with Think about instead of only yourself. JJH.
Most people feel the same way about you. You are a waste of time, space, skin and effort.
Another pretty purple post by LVS the north end coot
Todd Blodgett needs to find someone to run for Mayor of Mason City, and also to do some digging into the Mayor and Chief’s coverup of leads in the Jodi Huisentruit case. Todd seems to have the skills to help bring justice to a situation that has been covered up for many years.
http://northiowatoday.com/2016/12/30/retiring-state-representative-says-bookmeyer-other-mason-city-officials-stonewalled-him-in-huisentruit-investigation/
@ concern, I know Todd does have those kind of skills. Think lot’s of people were kinda surprised when they seen Todd say what he did to the Register on this Alex story. Nothing he said did surprise me tho, have known him a very very long time. Even tho TB is Republican, if he thinks somebody did wrong he will call him out like he did on this story that the Register put out.
The whole Alex Kuhn suicide thing shows why no human being should take social pressures as seriously as some apparently do. Reputations mean nothing. They are constructs of hierarchical, socially controlled humans who observe a fake non-existent pecking order. The greatest thing you can do for your children is teach them to shit their pants. Get it over with. Acknowledge your fallibility. Acknowledge the true conditions we all share as human beings, then move on. You will weak Kevlar skin, and nothing will affect you again. Then, and only then, can you begin to enjoy life and know what life is all about.
Stupid move by Mayberry. I like Todd’s articles, most all I agree with. No doubt he is controversial but he makes you take a step back and think. Todd has more experience Federal matters than anyone else about Washington than anyone else here in north Iowa, I appreciate his perspective.
@ John, your right, he does. I do not know of anybody else around here has worked for presidents like Todd, then the FBI to. My mom and me, we got to talk to Grassley one time, this was about five years ago down to Des Moines. I told him I went to MCHS with Todd and Troy, he goes, oh, the Blodgetts, yes there my good friends, for 50 years. I think Todd has some good ideas yes, not everybody says so, but he writes funny I like that about him.
Blah,Blah.This must make you fell so good to know bootlickers who kiss ass to get to the top.You must not have much going on in life to gravitate toward humans such as Todd.Big deal worked for Pres. and FBI,but now just big whining north iowa LOSER whiny little bitch.One on one he is nothing but a punk.JJH.Oh by the way his DAD had a good practice,what does he do for a living?What we all like to know why he thinks he is so important in North Iowa is it because people tired of him elsewhere.
Wrong, wrong. There are not any boot lickers named Blodgett. Not a one. They speak their mind, always have. I know Dr. Blodgett and Sandy, and all three of their children. Great family, they all are. Todd did not need to kiss any asses to get where he got, he was already there on count of his family. Jealous much, are you? Sure sounds like it.
@ JD, I am compelled to concur with you. I do not know if Mr. Blodgett is bipolar, but my one experience with him would lead me to arrive at this conclusion. My husband and I met him about eight years ago at the home of mutual friends. He was absolutely charming, and we enjoyed chatting with him. As we spoke, a gentleman walked up and joined our conversation. This man said something to Mr. Blodgett which caused him to take great offense. Blodgett tossed his drink in the man’s face and shoved him to the ground. He nearly knocked my husband over in the process. This cocktail party was outside, on the host couple’s back lawn. He pummeled him with his fists like I could scarcely fathom. I have never seen anything like this in my entire life, and I am not young. Mr. Blodgett slugged away on this man, who was completely shocked to find himself under such vicious physical attack. It took three men to pull him off, and the other guest and his wife left immediately. They never filed any charges. The host couple apologized to everyone, but neither of them dared ask Mr. Blodgett to leave. He helped himself to another drink, and proceeded to enjoy himself as nothing had even happened. Aye-yi-yi, is what my husband said, as we drove home.
Oh come on. The Globe is a Bookmeyer lover and that’s that.Skipper for sure. Every move made by the Bookmeyer regime is and will be so obvious from here on. Tails are between their legs and desperate after being exposed. So awesome. It’s forever a shameful group.
This Mayberry guy REALLY blasted the Kuhn family and other decent people? D U M B and sad.
For the Globe Gazette
https://youtu.be/MMzd40i8TfA
Wait until some truth is actually published to post your link.
@ “good”, ok so your saying because Todd has friends that has tattoo’s wears harley jackets, smokes what not, thats bad. F–k YOU.
@ Road king. I am one of Todd’s friends that has three tattoos, two Harley jackets, every day I smoke a pack of Marlboro Red’s. If Todd needs me and some others to get the message across to this Mayberry MF we don’t like the shit he is pulled, all he has to do is text me. We will be Mayberry’s worst nightmare. And one of us is a cop.
dude, I think Mayberry could soon find out how thing really work here in River city. Looks like it depends on if Blodgett gives the Ok. Cops should not be doing bad stuff, but it would not be wrong to kick this guy six ways from Sunday. Much as I do not go along with Todd’s Republitard column’s, he is very funny to read its wrong to cut him loose. I do think, if Blodgett gives the thumb’s up, Mayberry he will leave out of Mason. I say this will be a good thing.
Baloney. Talk is cheap. You just admitted you would commit a crime if Blodgett asked you to. Do you think the cop in your group would do the same? Get real.
If you think Mason City doesn’t have crooked cops, you are really out of it. Crooked cops have been a part of Mason City since before my dad was born, and that was in 1925. Our daughter was in the first grade when the Time magazine story came out, the one that called MC the Sin City of America. Do you live in a little glass bowl full of surprises? It sure sounds like you do. Stop being stupid.
Provide proof of your claim that Mason City police are corrupt.
^^ Jodi Huisentruit… that’s enough proof right there ^^
“Blockbuster” LOL
“successful Internet Marketing company” lol (powered by WordPress)
I liked it and thought it was Honest reporting – wish he would do a story on the deaths f Gary and Adam Lack of Mitchell county Ia. Google Adam Lack Iowa cold case files) for some mystery reading – and what some people connected and in power can actually commit murder and not be held responsible.
As usual NIT is making guesses vs. reporting facts. If and when you actually do find out the reason for dropping Blodgett then publish that. This article is just an excuse for Marquart to take another swing at the mayor. Stupid.
I do not ever agree with Mr. Blodgett on anything, and I detest his semi-fascist politics. But when you see how many people always post their comments to his columns every time the Globe runs them, and the rankings on their web site that always show his columns right at the top, it does look fishy for Mayberry to do this. I think NIT got this right. How can you not think so?
I can think this because NIT is indeed guessing as to the reason why Blodgett was dropped. NIT doesn’t really know the reason. They can guess it was due to the article in the DM Register, but I read the article and there is not much in there about Blodgett and nothing that would lead one to contrive that his comments on Kuhn’s suicide were the reason for discontinuing his articles.
But Marquart, who is an avowed hater of the Mayor and city council, has seized on that as the reason and used that to write an article that is a virtual rehash of his previous blaming of the mayor for Alex Kuhn’s suicide.
Only Alex Kuhn is responsible for his suicide. There were two other council members who voted no to Prestage and they did not commit suicide. From the DM Reg. article it sounds like even Kuhn was surprised the issue did not go through. Also from the DM Reg. article Kuhn was concerned his job was in jeopardy as a result of his vote, but his immediate supervisor said nothing was ever said to Kuhn in that regard. Kuhn’s thoughts and reactions were his own.
Certainly no one around Kuhn thought he would take his life, if they had all of them would have taken steps to help him, mayor Bookmeyer included and perhaps him most of all since they were so close.
Kuhn’s suicide was tragic for all involved, but continuing to belabor it helps no one.
Dropping Blodgetts article is between Blodgett and the Globe and may very well have been for budget reasons. NIT should stop guessing and just report facts.
What budget reasons? He wasn’t a paid contributor. Others are, but not him, and his work is better than theirs.
This is true. I know Todd, he told me years ago he never charges the Globe for what he writes. And I have not known him to ever lie. Budget reasons? Sorry, no way.
A newspaper has only so much room for what they include, they budget the space they use.
Budget, shmudget. Mayberry kicked Mr. Blodget out of the Globb because the same story was critical of the paper he works for. The thing is, it is just dumb to tick off somebody who knows the kind of people Toddy boy knows. I have seen him at the Willow Run and Sporty’s with some really scary looking people. I mean they look like, ex-con’s. Tattoos, Harley jackets, chain smoker kind of people. The former Globe worker told NIT, Mayberry probably will not have a problem with Blodget’s rich friends. It’s the low-lifes Todd knows that can make trouble for him.
Dumb. Never agree much with Blodgett, but he writes well, always entertaining, that is for definitely sure. This Mayberry guy, where is he from? Heard when he fired Tom Thoma, he got a cop to escort him and some other workers that got canned out of the building last month. What a jerk.
@ acres, I went to school with Todd. He is not somebody you want mad at you. He decides to go after this Mayberry guy, my money is on Blodgett.
Doubt Todd will waste any time on this. He told me the Globe don’t pay him, he just does the column to get his opinions out there. Sure he is pissed at Mayberry, I would be to. This guy don’t know how lucky he is that Blodget has other irons in the fire.
Not a big fan of Todd’s political views but this is not the way an ‘objective’ paper should be run. I noticed in addition to telling him they no longer would run his political rants, I see they also removed all trace of Todd’s columns from their web site. Censorship is alive and well in this country.
@ bo, your right. Censorship, yes. I like Todd, like what he says. He is straight up, no BS, he just writes how he thinks. Sad to know he is gone from the Globe, always looked forward to his columns. Can he write now for you Matt.
I think you both need a lesson on what “censorship” is and who you’re protected from censoring your speech. The Constitution guarantees the government will not infringe on your right to speech. Todd is welcome to post his ramblings on his own website or anywhere in the public realm. As much as I don’t like the Globe, it’s a private enterprise and can publish or not publish whatever it chooses (within the law).
@ Kettles, you are correct. You wrote about what is within the law. I don’t know either Mayberry or Blodgett, but friends know them both. Mayberry may have acted impulsively in terminating Todd’s column, but several people have told me that Todd has anger management issues, and I believe them. In my opinion, he might be bipolar. I think that deep down, he is an extremely violent man. I know he has violent associates. A colleague who practices law here in Mason City tangled with Mr. Blodgett several years ago. Or should I say, she tried to. Blodgett had hired some goons to stomp an alleged drug dealer who operated in the north end. The attackers were never charged, and the MCPD would not investigate the crime. This lawyer’s client’s legs and arms were broken, and his jaw, several teeth, and a knee. He spent several weeks in Mercy, and required physical therapy for years. It appears that Mr. Mayberry provided no reason to Todd for terminating his column. If I were him, I would at least extend that courtesy. Not doing so could result in him being sidelined for months. It is a black mark on north Iowa that anyone can suborn such violence and get away with it. But in this case, Mayberry should take note and act with caution.
JD, your right. It was good Todd run that doper out of town, he went back to Chicago after he left out of Mercy. We live down the street from where he was selling crack, meth, ect. Glad hes gone. Me and my BF, we are grateful recovering drug addict, don’t want nobody pushing that shit on our town. Or our kids and there friend’s. Good on Blodgett, he got rid of a bad D-boy, wish more people would do like he done.
I would not want Todd Blodgett mad at me, not ever. Not going to go into it, but the man has a temper like you would not believe. Todd is nice, until he isn’t.
black kettles – I don’t need a lesson in censorship; I know what it is. it is the suppression of free speech for whatever reason. My point was that the Globe is suppressing Blodgett’s speech because of what he said in the Register. And, yes, they are a private enterprise so they have that right but it still is censoring him by refusing to print his articles. Essentially, if he isn’t being paid for them, he is writing a letter to the editor. Censorship by the government is illegal. Censorship by private entities isn’t. That doesn’t mean it isn’t censorship.