EDITORIAL — A prediction about the mayor’s ‘resignation consideration’

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

WHAT WILL HE D0? Will Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson pull the plug on Monday at 10 a.m.? That’s the appointed day and hour for a press conference he’s called at the Columbia Street lookout for an announcement about “resignation consideration.”

The mayor hasn’t told me what he’s going to do; I have no insider information. But I’ll wager that expectations of a resignation will be dashed and that he has something else in mind, which I’ll get to in a moment.

Since Hamer-Jackson sent out notices Friday of his press conference, the media have been inflating their stories with accounts of his many controversies and clashes with the eight councillors, who called for his resignation a few weeks ago.

But the term “consideration” is key to understanding what the mayor is up to. If he was planning to just quit, he more likely would have used words such as, “resignation announcement.” Which, of course, would have been a dead giveaway.

But I think he’ll have something quite different to say. In the past, I’ve outlined his options. He could resign, forcing a byelection for mayor, and go back to running his business, free of all the hassles he faces currently.

That seems unlikely. He could also resign and run again in the resulting byelection, which would clear things up with where things stand as far as the public goes, especially if he defeated one or two incumbent councillors who would almost certainly run against him. Since they’d have to resign as councillors to run, their departure could make way for some fresh faces to take their place, changing the council dynamic.

Or, he might simply announce that he intends to carry on, and issue a renewed call for cooperation with council. But he’s done that several times before. Why call a press conference for that?

No, there’s another option. I predict the mayor will offer to resign on the condition that all eight councillors also quit, which would force a byelection for a whole new council. That would probably clean things up a whole lot at City Hall, whether or not the mayor is victorious, and whether or not the incumbents all ran again.

It would be a throwing down of the gauntlet, which is more his style. I heartily doubt the councillors would have the political courage or inclination to accept the challenge, but it would certainly put a muzzle on their calls for him to resign — if they ever bring it up again, Hamer-Jackson would simply have to renew his nuclear-option, mutual-destruction offer.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. 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.