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.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.