Alix Dolson wrote an interesting piece for CFJC Today’s Sound Off entitled The Mayor’s misleading misogyny dated December 17, 2024. As the Executive Director of the Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre, Alix should be quite adept at identifying a misogynist. But is she right in this case?
Dolson takes offense at the Mayor’s former counsel referring to Councillor Neustaeter as “young, attractive looking”. It’s now common knowledge that David McMilan’s statement was taken out of context, and he was simply pointing out that the somewhat vague March 17, 2023 City Council statement could be interpreted differently depending on who made the statement. If anything, he used rather kind words to describe Neustaeter.
Dolson attempts to link McMillans’s comments to sexual violence. Quite a stretch if you ask me. One might even say…”misleading”. One might think that the overly aggressive attitude she has taken towards Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and his former counsel David McMillan are symptoms of a more personal issue.
One thing I do agree with in Dolson’s rant, is that “Councillor Neustaeter deserves to be judged by her merits…”. With a background in communications, Neustaeter reasonably ought to know that the choice in the presenter of a message has a significant impact on how a message is received. She also reasonably ought to know that an intentionally vague statement could easily be misinterpreted. I fully support the idea that she knew exactly what she was doing and saying, when she and her colleagues carefully crafted their statement.
Dolson claims that sexual impropriety was on no one else’s mind other than the Mayor’s. I and several other Facebook members refute that claim. Here’s the results of a poll:
I think it’s safe to say that Neustaeter is very capable of holding her own in the game of politics. Her age, gender, and level of attractiveness has in no way lessened her ability to bully and harass the mayor as effectively as any other councillor in the ring.
Neustaeter has an impressive vocabulary, is very articulate, and seems to be quite intelligent. She has shown herself to be more competent in those areas than her fellow colleagues, whether male or female, and whether councillor or mayor.
In my opinion, Councillor Neustaeter is not a victim, and it seems an injustice to real victims to treat her as such. I will never vote for Neustaeter, but neither will I vote for any other individual currently occupying a council seat.
In terms of Dolson’s comments regarding the “concerned citizens”, I consider myself to be one of them. As such, I assure you I don’t agree with all the Mayor’s actions, but I do believe he is the only one consistently demonstrating that he is willing to fight for and put his neck on the line for this community.
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