ROTHENBURGER: Three ways RHJ confounds his critics and wins hearts and minds

The first thing they’ve gotten wrong — and seem incapable of getting on track with — is the oft-cited reason RHJ was elected in the first place: social disorder. If Hamer-Jackson isn’t hitting any home runs on that score it’s because his council is blocking home plate.

His election should have been like a billboard directing councillors on where they need to put their priorities. Instead, when it comes to crime on the streets, homelessness and addictions, they’re stuck in neutral.

They quarrel with the way he words notices of motion so — rather than focusing on the issues themselves and working with the mayor to move forward — they shut him down. They dismiss out of hand his proposal to hire more outreach workers. They water down his suggestion that the City investigate alternative locations for trouble-plagued 48 Victoria Street West. His concept for a treatment facility was rejected even before he became mayor.

But when it comes to their own stuff — such as the drugs-in-parks bylaw borrowed from other councils — no problem. And they don’t mind indignantly lecturing BC Housing and Interior Health once in a while.

At the same time, though, they’re fixated on putting forward an image of themselves working as a team toward solutions for everything. In so doing, they downplay the mayor’s emphasis on social disorder, leaving the impression they aren’t as concerned about it as they should be.

In their determination to bring him in line, they’ve vacated the field and left the mayor as the one who’s speaking to what people care about. He sticks to his message. Everybody knows what he’s about; what the council is about isn’t at all clear.

They’ve gone way past criticizing him for decisions they don’t like, and now insist on wading into petty territory to lambaste him over a fart joke he didn’t make, or him not telling a public event why he attended and they didn’t. It smacks of looking for things to complain about.

Another area in which Hamer-Jackson is eating his critics’ lunch is transparency and public involvement. He consistently argues in favour of open government and public participation, and is routinely rebuffed by the councillors.

Whether it be steadfastly shutting down free flow of discussion under the public inquiries section of the council agenda, rejecting public membership on council committees, calling closed-door meetings, or nixing the mayor’s proposal for a town hall meeting because they’d rather do it themselves (eventually), councillors don’t look as if they like transparency.

And the mayor wins again.

The third reason Hamer-Jackson is defeating the councillors at their own agenda is that he has the hide of an elephant. When I was at a public event recently, the mayor and I exchanged pleasantries and he was his usual cheerful self. Later, the person beside me remarked about him being so upbeat given all the pressure he’s under.

The guy is perpetually cheerful. There are times I think he should get a little madder than he does. He certainly stands up for himself but watch him at council meetings when one of the councillors goes after him. He will disagree but he doesn’t push it; he moves on.

How disheartening it must be for a councillor to work up a perfectly good rant and have it wasted. Councillors get snarky; Hamer-Jackson is the picture of calm. Even when he filed a defamation claim he didn’t make any big announcements; it was the media that went viral with it.

There’s a bit of the playful prankster in him, too. He knows how to get the councillors’ goat. When they complain that his mayor’s reports during council meetings aren’t detailed enough, he comes back with one that’s so long and detailed they probably wish they’d never mentioned it.

When one of them feels it necessary to lecture him on procedure, he apologizes, innocently noting that he’s a rookie. He admits to being imperfect.

He may be a rookie but his critics greatly under-estimate him. If Reid Hamer-Jackson is crazy, he’s crazy like a fox.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

by Mel Rothenburger

ROTHENBURGER: Three ways RHJ confounds his critics and wins hearts and minds

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