REID ALL ABOUT IT – Neustaeter hopes her legal victory ‘will protect others’

An occasional glimpse into the mayoral life of Reid Hamer-Jackson.

KATIE NEUSTAETER is taking a victory lap on her campaign Facebook page today (Oct. 2 2026) over a decision by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Hughes ordering Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson to pay $5,000 in damages plus “full-indemnity costs” for his libel lawsuit against her. She had sought $10,000.

She began her post with, “The answer is no: Taxpayers will not be paying for the legal fees associated with my defence against Reid Hamer-Jackson’s meritless lawsuit.” According to Neusaeter, “… The court found that the lawsuit against me was brought in bad faith and for an improper purpose, and recognized the significant harm caused by Reid’s attempts to use my family to his benefit in his lawsuit. I want to be very clear about this — I filed for damages to make an undeniable statement: the family members of elected officials should never be leveraged or manipulated for political benefit. In my case, this is a very vulnerable family member who is also a senior.”

She is, of course, talking about her father Kevin. Hamer-Jackson has noted many times that it was Kevin Krueger who made contact with him (when the former MLA was still living on his own) to offer political help, not the other way around. But Neustaeter hopes her experience “will protect others.” She included a photo of herself and her dad taken when she was just a toddler.

Hamer-Jackson has filed an appeal of Hughes’ earlier decision to dismiss his lawsuit against Neustaeter, which evolved from a statement she read publicly on behalf of council accusing him of “crossing personal and professional boundaries.”…

Meanwhile, the Tyee has done another hatchet job on the mayor with a story headlined ‘After City Hall Chaos, Kamloops Prepares to Vote’ with a subhed, ‘BC’s most controversial mayor is seeking re-election. Is anyone still on his side?’ The article reviews the litany of legal issues the mayor has faced, and quotes former City councillor Arjun Singh extensively. “The biggest thing that I’ve detected so far is just a desire to return to council not being in the news for fighting all the time,” Singh told The Tyee….

Hamer-Jackson continues his flurry of emails to various council and media members on everything from closed meetings to his pay cuts to demands that incumbent councillors all resign before the election. He seems to be rankling the incumbents, a couple of whom have fired back. One is Dale Bass, who urged him to “get help” in one reply, in another writing, “Love seeing your signs out there. Oh, wait. Right.” An apparent reference to the fact Hamer-Jackson hasn’t erected any campaign signs.