Jerry Kern recall, Oceanside, California, 2009
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A vote about whether to recall Oceanside, California City Councilman Jerry Kern will take place on December 8, 2009.[1] Kern, who was elected to a four-year term on the city council in 2006, is serving his first term.
Kern's supporters say the recall is a sham recall run by aggressive labor unions who are opposed to Kern's belt-tightening moves in the city that are needed because of the city's falling tax revenues. Kern supporters point to the fact that key public employee union contracts are up for re-negotiation during Kern's term in office as the reason why local labor unions are trying to prematurely remove Kern, a fiscal conservative, from office.[2]
The union-funded recall effort has made a number of charges, including that Kern favors heavy industry.[3]
Divided city council
Oceanside has a 5-member city council whose members tend to vote in a 3-2 voting pattern with Jerry Kern, Rocky Chavez and Jack Feller against Mayor Jim Wood and Councilwoman Esther Sanchez.[4]
The balance-of-power on the city council is up for grabs regardless of what happens in the Kern recall election because Rocky Chavez is resigning his seat on the council at the end of November 2009 to move to Sacramento and take a job with the state government as undersecretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs.[5]
Firetruck at soccer game
On November 14, a fire crew drove their ladder truck to a youth soccer game at Mance Buchanon Park. The emergency vehicle was located at the park for about four hours. The daughter of the fire crew's captain was playing in the game.
Photos of the fire truck parked at the game circulated through the community and became the subject of lengthy articles in the local press.
Opponents of the Kern recall said the event was important because it calls into question whether the fire department really is suffering from a staff shortage. The Oceanside City Council eliminated a battalion chief and two captains from the fire department earlier this year to help address the problem of the city's $10 million budget shortfall. The local firefighter's union has led the Kern recall effort, saying that Kern's votes have led to a shortage of critical fire personnel.[6][7]
Cost of recall election
The cost of holding the special recall election will be about $500,000.[8] The election will be conducted by election officials for San Diego County. Since Oceanside is strapped for cash, the cost of the recall election has become an issue in the election by those who oppose the recall effort.[2]
Candidates
Rick Kratcoski, Charles (Chuck) Lowery and Rex Martin are running for the seat on the council that will become vacant should Kern be recalled. Kratcoski, Lowery and Martin each ran for the city council, unsuccessfully, in 2008.[9][10]
- Rick Kratcocski is a grounds supervisor at Palomar College. He wrote in "The North County Times" on September 6, "Felien, the city treasurer (who should be independent and nonpartisan in local politics), is also the treasurer of the Kern anti-recall group. If the readers don't smell a stinking rat or rats perhaps you should have your noses checked. For all you recall skeptics who will vote to keep Kern in office because who don't think the city should be spending money on a recall in tough economic times, think again. The special election will occur; 11,300 of your fellow residents think something stinketh in Oceanside and feel that Kern and his Repub Club "team players" have something to do with the odor. Can you smell it too? I can."[11]
- Charles Lowery owns a bakery. He says that he is supported by Mayor Jim Wood and Esther Sanchez; Wood and Sanchez are the 2-person voting bloc on the city council who typically vote against the 3-person voting bloc that includes Kern.[4]
- Rex Martin is a former emergency call system manager. At a candidate forum, Martin said the city can cope with its $10 million two-year budget deficit through cost-cutting measures such as turning to its commissions and committees for volunteers instead of hiring expensive consultants.[4]
For the recall
Unions
The primary momentum behind the recall effort is led by the Oceanside firefighters and police unions. They collected $46,625 in the first six months of 2009 to pay for circulators to collect the 11,389 signatures needed to force the recall vote.[1]
The official name of the committee the unions are supporting is Citizens to Recall Kern for Fair and Balanced Government. This union-backed group spent more than $114,000 in cash contributions or services through October 24, 2009. $81,016, or 72% of that total, came from the Oceanside Firefighters Association.[12]
The firefighters union is antagonistic to Kern because he and fellow councilmen Rocky Chavez met with fire officials to suggest that the city's ambulance service be privatized.[1][13]
A New York labor union, Unite Here International, has provided services worth about $4,000 to the recall effort. The San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council contributed about $2,000.[12]
Wood/Sanchez
Oceanside Mayor Jim Wood formally announced his support of the recall in early November. He said he supports the recall because after City Manager Peter Weiss made some recommendations to cut spending in the city's police and fire departments as part of a plan to cut into the city's 2-year, $10 million budget gap, Kern supported the recommendations of Weiss.[14] [15]
City council member Sanchez has supported the recall by representing the recall committee in two appearances on KOCT-TV.[14]
Against the recall
Kern supporters
- "Citizens Against the Recall Effort" is leading the charge against the recall effort. Attorney David Shore is a leader of the anti-recall group. Shore is also a former president of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce.[16] Shore has written, "Kern is a good and decent man who has acted conscientiously in his position as a member of the Oceanside City Council. Under the leadership of Kern and the council majority, we have more police officers on the streets than at any time in memory. Oceanside now boasts the lowest crime rate in San Diego County. Following through on their commitment to public safety, Kern and the council majority have opened a new fire station in the past year and have another station set to come on line."[17]
- Ten past presidents of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce signed an opinion piece in a local newspaper opposing the recall.[2]
- The Republican Club of North County.[11]
- State legislators Mark Wyland, Diane Harkey, Joel Anderson and Martin Garrick.
Reasons for support
Those who support Kern say:
- "From our perspective, this whole recall is a sham effort".[16]
- The recall effort is "a public-safety-union-driven attempt" to take control of the City Council.[16]
- Recall opponents are unhappy "with the idea that the city is forced to spend a half-million dollars (on a special election) when Councilman Kern is up for re-election" in November 2009.
- "This recall effort was prompted by two public safety unions because Councilmember Jerry Kern questioned a pension system that is unsustainable. The San Diego County Taxpayers Association, the City Managers Association, and the chief actuary of the California Publics Employees Retirement System have substantiated this fact. In spite of this, these unions bankrolled the recall effort to the tune of $46,000 and continue to pour tens of thousands of dollars into this upcoming election in order to dictate the terms of their contract." [18]
About Jerry Kern
Kern's biography includes:
- Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from San Diego State University.
- Social Science and Business teaching credential from Chapman University.
- Associate of Arts degree in English and History from the University of Maryland
- Service overseas in the United States Air Force.
- Co-founder, Pacific View, the first charter school in Oceanside.
- Former president, Oceanside Chamber of Commerce[2]
About Oceanside
Oceanside is the third-largest city in San Diego County, with a population nearing 180,000.
Path to the ballot
The City Clerk approved the recall petition in early February 2009. Proponents needed signatures from more than 11,389 registered Oceanside voters by July 23, 2009 to force the election.[19]
See also
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 San Diego Union-Tribune, "Oceanside councilman's recall vote is scheduled for Dec. 8", August 13, 2009
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 North County Times, "Shameful tactics dominate Kern recall effort", November 15, 2009
- ↑ North County Times: "OCEANSIDE: Kern answers recall proponents," Jan. 22, 2009
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 North County Times, "Three candidates in recall election sound off", October 15, 2009
- ↑ San Diego Union Tribune, "Sea change in city politics may be on horizon", November 15, 2009
- ↑ San Diego Union Tribune, "Firetruck at game becomes issue", November 22, 2009
- ↑ North County Times, "Firefighters presence at park sparks complaints", November 23, 2009
- ↑ North County Times, "$500,000 a bargain for recall of Kern"
- ↑ North County Times, "Three candidates likely to appear on recall ballot", September 22, 2009
- ↑ Candidate list
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 North County Times, "Face Facts"
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 North County Times, "Reports show thousands spent on Kern recall campaign", October 30, 2009
- ↑ San Diego Union Tribune, "Fire Dept. cuts seen as a step backward", October 18, 2009
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 North County Times, "Mayor makes public his support of recall drive", November 6, 2009
- ↑ The San Diego Union-Tribune,"Mayor backs Kern recall, cites public safety votes," November 15, 2009
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 San Diego Union-Tribune, "Supporters defend Kern against recall", August 9, 2009
- ↑ San Diego Union Tribune, "Public employee unions behind wasteful campaign", November 20, 2009
- ↑ North County Times, "FORUM: Labor contract behind recall effort", October 28, 2009
- ↑ NCTimes.com: "Kern foes can start circulating recall petition," February 16, 2009
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