Cronyism in Oceanside City Hall

At the Oceanside City Council meeting on October 17, 2012, Councilmember and Mayoral Candidate Jerry Kern raised objections to a proposed contract to handle billing for the city's Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Staff had recommended that the contract be given to Wittman Enterprises, LLC of Sacramento.

One of the firms that had bid on the contract, Xerox lodged complaints based on their assertion that Wittman had been given an unfair advantage in the bidding process. According to City Attorney John Mullen, those complaints were reviewed and deemed by the City's staff to be without merit.

Councilmember Kern raised the issue again at Wednesday's Council Meeting, inviting Richard Hamilton, Xerox's VP of Public Safety Sales to speak. Hamilton is rumored to have recently thrown a fundraiser for Kern's mayoral campaign.

Even if Kern's concerns regarding the bidding process and City staff's evaluation of proposals had merit, they were overshadowed by the specter of political vote-buying and cronyism. This is especially true when Kern's actions are considered in combination with the zeal with which Kern has pursued his goal of ending rent control in Oceanside's manufactured home parks (which not surprisingly coincides with donations from the corporations that own the parks). Kern was aggressive in his backing of Proposition E – the June ballot measure to phase out rent control - which was defeated at the ballot box by a resounding 30-point margin.

The timing of Kern's objections and attempted intervention on behalf of a campaign contributor could also hardly have been worse. Permanent absentee voters have their ballots in their hot little hands, and November 6 is looming, less than 3 weeks away.