Ever since I was little, I was warned of the dangers of sharing images or photos with other people over the internet or text messages. It doesn’t really matter what the content could be, but there’s always room to be careful. Unfortunately, it seems that a North Dakota mayor’s mother didn’t teach him this, resulting in his sending a video of himself masturbating to the City Attorney. Of course, he didn’t do so intentionally, but intention doesn’t matter when you do something as crude as sending a private video of yourself to a colleague. You might as well just start packing your things to go home and never show your face in public again.
Minot Mayor Tom Ross resigned the same day a report was made public concerning a video he had sent to City Attorney Stefanie Stalheim. The incident happened in January, and Stalheim initially struggled with whether to file a formal report since Ross was her direct supervisor and her annual review was still pending. However, she went through with it and asked for both an apology and a consideration of resignation.
To save himself, Ross was part of an interview where he explained the origins of the video. Apparently, he had taken it on a lunch break and had meant it to be “a sexy video for his girlfriend.” However, when looked into, the message was sent just moments after the two had had a phone conversation concerning the suicide of a police officer. It’s unclear if he actually did record the video while on a lunch break or if it was done immediately after the two had hung up.
Tom Ross officially resigned from office and took complete responsibility for his actions. He even states that he holds the City Attorney “in the utmost regard and respect.” He also mentioned that he hadn’t resigned earlier because he wanted to respect the process. However, we all know that he thought this information wouldn’t see the light of day and was completely set on keeping quiet for the rest of his days, especially since the city only has a population of less than 50,000.
With no mayor, the Minot City Council voted to appoint a new one after 15 days so citizens could petition for a special election. When you search for his information on the City of Minot website, it is no longer available. Ross has held the seat since 2022, and there hadn’t been much thought about who would succeed him.
