NO
|
11144
|
63.17%
|
YES
|
6498
|
36.83%
|
The question is “shall Jerome Kern be Recalled?” And the early results show an answer of “NO”. These results are mostly absentee results, but it would be staggering for the margin of nearly 2 – 1 to be overcome with precinct results. Oceanside Mayor Jim Wood put himself very publicly out in front of this in support of the recall and in support of organized labor. The repercussions of this attempted recall having failed will be interesting to watch.
Comments 10
Thank you for the good news, Councilman Stocks.
The first batch of election day votes have now been added
(at 8:28 pm). The NO vote percentage went up to 63.3%.
Congratulations to Councilmen Kern on a resounding
and well-deserved victory !
Follow the updated results at the fine SD Registrar
of Voters website:
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/voters/results/special.xml
The phrase “complete repudiation” may be in order here, unless that is somewhat redundant.
Congratulations Jerry. A victory for Oceanside.
As a fellow Councilman it may seem self serving, but it’s gratifying to me that the general public rejected a “recall” of a duly elected person not based in actual malfeasance, but rather, personality / policy bias.
Good for Oceanside, and good for all of us as a region!
It’s a FINAL now !
Complete election results with all 60 precincts reporting:
…….NO on Kern Recall………… 14,803……… (63.22%)
……YES on Kern Recall……………8,611……….(36.78%)
1600 provisionals / late absentees will be added later,
but they will not alter the basic outcome.
This election was probably a good expenditure by Oceanside taxpayers — good for the REST of the county. We needed the union goons to try such a recall so we could kick their asses.
More important, this costly election pissed off voters throughout the county, further reducing public labor union support.
BTW, the election prompted recall opponents to find out how many public safety employees actually LIVE in Oceanside. Turns out that over 80% of the police and ff’s live OUTSIDE Oceanside, but they nevertheless campaign for higher Oceanside taxes that don’t affect them — or their families. Indeed, most ff’s probably live outside the COUNTY, though this was not checked.
This interloper status of public employees is common throughout the county municipalities. They are our employees, but too often not our neighbors.
Mr. Dichiara’s take in Flash:
http://www.flashreport.org/blog0a.php?postID=2009120911084738&authID=2005091915460320
12-9-2009 8:08 am
For the past few years public employee unions have been on the march in San Diego County. In the 2008 elections, these unions rode the Obama wave to crushing victories over center right candidates countywide in cities as diverse as Chula Vista, San Diego, and Escondido.
The tip of the public employee union spear countywide has been the various firefighter unions who, like many of their brethren statewide, have been radicalized by the expectation that the large benefit and salary increases they accumulated during economic good times would get even better in bad times.
Flush with the 1998 victories, these same unions decided to push further. The City of Oceanside had a 3:2 Republican/Labor council, and for the first time in recent memory a Democrat Presidential candidate, Obama, carried the city. The fiscally responsible majority in the city, well aware that city finances were going to be impacted by the recession for years to come, opposed further firefighter benefits and salary increases.
So the fire union, and their labor allies outside Oceanside, decided to teach officials countywide, and really statewide, a lesson by recalling one of the Republican majority: you either do what we say, or we will replace you. After a brutal multi-month campaign, with resources pouring in from the Democrats/Labor on the “Yes” side and from the Republicans/Business on the “No” side the smoke cleared last night around 4am in the morning to a 63% “No” vote.
The Oceanside majority will maintain control of the city, and labor has been dealt a brutal blow. If I were a councilman in another city though, I’d take heed that these unions were willing, honestly, to mount a recall campaign, with money collected by city employees by the city, for the sole purpose of political control to increase salaries and benefits when much of the public is happy to just have a job.
If they did it once, they’ll do it again, until you shut off the taxpayer funded collection of their dues.
I certainly agree with Mr. Rider, it is time that the unions take a thumping. However, having said that; please understand that the thumping comes at a dear price for the Oceanside electorate. My sense is that unless a recall is based upon some serious criminal activity, the proponents of any such recall exercise should put up a bond to cover the cost. Today there is no reluctance on the part of these goons who cannot achieve their goal through the normal elective process. Further, not only are they not held accountable for their idiot actions, but they are not accountable to decent men such as Councilman Kern, who find themselves having to defend their reputations and political lives against the machinations of the morons amongst us.
Good for you, Councilman Kern. Shame on you, union goons.
and, the Party’s press release:
Oceanside Speaks:
Taxpayers 1 – Labor Unions 0
The taxpayer revolt of 2010 kicks off with Oceanside election results
where the arrogant public employee labor union power grab failed by 2-to-1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Diego, December 8th — After all the Tea Parties, tax protests, outrage over government spending, government intrusion in our lives, voters in San Diego county had an election today where they could speak their mind; in Oceanside – and they spoke loud and clear.
“Faced with a costly, unnecessary recall election of councilman and taxpayer advocate Jerry Kern, the residents of Oceanside today strongly rejected the blatant public employee labor union power grab by a 2-to-1 margin. Final results were 14,803 votes (63.22%) NO and 8,611 votes (36.78%) YES,” said local Republican Party chairman Tony Krvaric.
“The battle that is brewing next year is one of taxpayers versus public employee labor unions. The candidates who will stand up for hard working taxpayers will be the ones who will be victorious in 2010. The era of the tail wagging the dog is officially over,” Krvaric continued.
“Jerry Kern has been a tireless advocate for taxpayers in Oceanside, standing up for them and standing up against the insatiable appetite of public employee labor unions. We are proud to have him on the Republican team, as he is an excellent example of a true public servant,” concluded Krvaric.
CONTACT
Barrett Tetlow, Executive Director at tetlow@sandiegorepublicans.org or (714) 614-4455.
###
Paul is quite correct — it was a LOUSY deal for Oceanside.
In essence, the taxpayers there “took one for the team.” Longer term, this election result will probably save other cities similar recall elections — since the unions now know they will be dealt another lopsided loss — and another black eye with the voters.