Kamloops Mayor Hamer-Jackson 'never really' considered resigning

Kamloops Mayor Reid-Hamer Jackson has no intention of resigning and told reporters and supporters at a news conference today, he never had any intention of calling it quits. Hamer-Jackson has faced a call to resign from council, multiple code of conduct and human resources investigations, a temporary cut to his salary and multiple sanctions the restrict his role at city hall. In front of reporters and dozens of supporters today, July 15, he announced he would not only stay on as the mayor, but he also intends on running in the next election, which will be more than two years from now. On Friday, July 12, he told Kamloops reporters about the news conference. In a text message to iNFOnews.ca he said it was about "resignation/consideration." He briefly mentioned in his address to the crowd that he considered resigning, but changed his tune when asked about when and for how long he thought on the matter. "I was back and forth... You know, I've never really — I guess I never really considered it." He reiterated much of his same message during his campaign, intending to improve public safety and promote "accountability" at city hall, while lamenting that he doesn't have the support of council.  His supporters were cheering him on during the announcement and while reporters tried to ask questions following his speech. Several reporters surrounded Hamer-Jackson in a media scrum, a normal and regular activity during a news conference, but only one was singled out by name and asked to move out of the way of the mayor's supporters. Hamer-Jackson told Kamloops radio show host Brett Mineer to back up and continued to single out Mineer as the crowd joined in. "Brett go home," the crowd chanted as Mineer and other reporters tried to ask questions. Asked later about encouraging the crowd to shout down a reporter, Hamer-Jackson went after Mineer's work as "negative and misleading." iNFOnews.ca and multiple other reporters were surrounding the mayor just as Mineer was, but no one else was told to leave. "That's fine," the mayor said. "These are all respectable citizens of the community. I do not, I'm sorry, I do not consider Brett a respectable citizen of our community," Hamer-Jackson said when asked about whether there was a safety risk for Mineer. Mineer, however, did fear for his safety. “To say it wasn’t frightening and intimidating would be a lie. It was. I observed the mayor making sure to tell people in the crowd who I was before the event started. It was clear he wanted the crowd to give me a hard time," Mineer said in a written statement sent to iNFOnews.ca. He said when he left the news conference, a car was parked so closely to his own that it was almost impossible to open the driver's side door. Mineer suspects it was intentional to restrict his access to his own car. "I expect the Mayors supporters don’t like the show I do, but what none of us should expect or accept is a mayor who attempts to use a mob to intimidate critics. I’m of the opinion this is not the kind of thing most people in Kamloops would be OK with, and to the degree that some are, I’d suggest they do some reflection," he wrote To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry mailto:llandry@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .