Who are we to challenge the career trajectory of a devoted family man, vocal community activist, celebrated columnist, and the founder of the popular Beyond the Valleycliffe of the Dolls mountain bike event?
Whether Bryan Raiser genuinely wants to see the Shining Valley move in the right direction is certainly not in doubt. His dedication to this town is beyond reproach.
What is being questioned here is his performance in the hardscrabble world of municipal politics where he now resides. Raiser seems to be having difficulties making the transition from the freewheeling world of opinion column writing to the more constrained and demanding terrain he faces as a councillor.
His term in office is becoming decidedly "curiouser and curiouser," a phrase coined by Alice during her magical trip to Wonderland.
After more than a year and a half on the job some observers have come to the notion that Councillor Raiser is either not fully clued in to the rules of the game, or he knows the rules but can't figure out how to play the game.
Neither option seems to work. That same group of political pundits are convinced he is still punching well below his weight class at muni hall and at times appears to have only a superficial understanding of the issues faced by council.
As well, the "I'm your guy inside council" slant pitched in his breezy email newsletter is starting to wear thin.
Back in March he pleaded with residents to attend a caf茅 style budget meeting at the 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 Senior Centre.
"We're talking millions of tax dollars here," he said, "so pretty please with a cherry on top take a moment so that mayor, council and staff are aware of where you want that money spent."
According to a subsequent report in The Chief, Raiser failed to attend the meeting. At the same time he was the most vocal advocate of a pay hike because he discovered that being a councillor was the equivalent of a full time job.
In another edition of the newsletter he claimed kinship with one of his favourite sticky-footed comic strip heroes: "Sometime this year I discovered I have spidey-sense... it's just the feeling I get when I'm really excited about something big."
In a subsequent email communiqu茅 we were informed that he's been "working really hard to figure out how to 'let er rip' in a productive way." He added that "I'm happy to say I've been making great strides."
In reality some of the strides he's taken have stretched his credibility, in particular the fuss about his "frustrations" regarding closed door council discussions related to the destiny of Sam the Axe Man who at one time graced the front of the Adventure Center.
Then again, Raiser is a competitor who has learned a lot about the nasty underbelly of muni politics and is capable of turning things around. But unless he gets fully engaged in a hurry he will be headed rapidly into one-term-wonder territory.
Spidey-sense better kick in soon, or edgy local voters won't stick with his shtick much past November 2011.
