Check out this article by California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring from FlashReport:

Government employee unions in the Southern California city of Oceanside forced a recall election on a Republican member of the city council yesterday for a novel reason: contract negotiations are coming up, and the unions would rather control both sides of the negotiating table instead of just one.

In a crushing defeat that will cause reassessment of labor’s political muscle locally, the union-led recall attempt of Republican Councilman Jerry Kern was overwhelmingly rejected, with a stunning 63% of voters opposed.

Demonstrating just how far union officials would go to put their parochial interests ahead of those of taxpayers, the recall election was forced upon the financially strapped city even though the cost of conducting the election itself would exceed $500,000. In other words, union officials were willing to bet hundreds of thousands of dollars of their members’ money on a recall campaign, plus half a million in taxpayer funds to run the election, all on a gamble to take control of the city council just as contract negotiations were set to begin.

A clearer example of parochial interests crowding out the public interest would be hard to find.

Regrettably, the city cannot recover the half-million dollars it was forced to spend conducting the recall election at the insistence of government employee union officials. Those funds are lost permanently at a time when Oceanside, like virtually every other California city, is struggling to make ends meet.

Councilman Jerry Kern’s victory in the recall election is a major victory for the Republican Party of San Diego County, which together with its ally the San Diego Lincoln Club quickly mobilized a comprehensive voter education and mobilization campaign on Kern’s behalf. Together, the Republican Party under the leadership of Tony Krvaric, together with the Lincoln Club led by Tom Sudberry, brought together the infrastructure, volunteers and funds necessary for victory. Dozens of College Republican leaders poured into the campaign to provide critical ground support to maximize the turnout of Republican voters.

Taxpayers throughout the region will be the ultimate beneficiaries of the Republican campaign to support Councilman Kern and defeat the recall. A union victory would have no doubt produced a much more expensive contract with city employees at a time Oceanside can least afford it.

More importantly, the Republican victory takes a dangerous tool permanently out of the hands of union officials: using the recall process to exercise undue and improper control over both sides of contract negotiations. For this reason above all others the results of the Oceanside Republican victory will be felt, and taxpayers will benefit, for years to come.