It was former speaker of the House, Eugene (“Tip”) O’Neill, who once said all politics is local. The former speaker knew what he was talking about because in Oceanside, California when it comes to politics, it is very local and very bloody. The five member City Council of Oceanside historically passes legislation by a vote of 3 to 2. There are very few points that the current council or the past six councils have agreed on unanimously or even 4-1. The point of contention always seem to be always the same: pro growth versus slow growth.
In the 2006 election, City Councilwoman Shari Mackin, who had been supported by the firefighters union and police association and was part of a 3 to 2 voting bloc, was defeated for reelection by candidate, Jerome Kern, who was pro growth. With his election, the balance of power in Oceanside shifted to being pro growth and pro business.
Today, Councilman Kern is the subject of a special recall election that will cost this cash strapped city $500,000 – money it doesn’t have. What did Kern do to be the subject of the recall? Well, as near as I can make out, Kern was part of a meeting, with other council members and the city fire chief present, to discuss the possibility of privatizing the city’s ambulance service. This meeting did not result in any changes in services because the city has mutual aid agreements with the surrounding cities of Carlsbad and Vista and privatization could affect those packs. Then Kern, along with two other council members, voted to cut unfilled billets from the fire department rolls. The firefighter’s union offered more than $400,000 in cuts to reverse the removal of these vacant billets, but the council voted 3 to 2 to reject that. As nears I can tell, these two actions incurred the wrath of the firefighters union, who has contributed more than half the money collected for the recall. Not surprisingly, the two members on the minority end of the 3-2 votes, Council woman, Esther Sanchez and Mayor Jim Woods have come out in support of the recall.
Let me be clear about this. I voted for Kern, which was really a vote against the incumbent, Shari Mackin, who had real problems with her ability to use a city provided credit card. If Kern’s name is on the November 2010 ballot, assuming he survives the recall, I will probably support him again. Kern is not accused of malfeasance in office. Even Jim Sullivan, a spokesman for the recall conceded that point this past August. But if the only of reason that this city needs to spend 1/2 million dollars is to determine whether or not Mr. Kern is “suited to be a politician” as Mr. Sullivan stated; then that’s an abuse of the recall system. But that is the way politics is played in Oceanside, it is a rough game that requires bandages – lots of bandages.