Parties and politics

American Medical Response, which has lucrative paramedic and ambulance contracts with the cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, National City, and a host of other local government agencies, gave $2000 to the county Democratic Party on November 6. … In days of yore, it was illegal for political parties to get financially involved in city politics. Not anymore, as demonstrated by the cool $10,000 the county Republican Party sank into a so-called member communications effort on October 31 to oppose the recall campaign against Oceanside city councilman Jerry Kern. Big labor, in the form of the firefighters’ union, has spent about $81,000 on the effort to oust Kern in the recall election set for December 8. A pro-Kern group reported collecting $82,400. The GOP money is in addition to that; it funds mailings targeted to Republicans, as permitted under state law. According to the party’s recent filing, contributors to its campaign kitty have included San Francisco–based landfill developer Gregory Canyon, Ltd. ($2500); Herzog Contracting Corporation of Saint Joseph, Missouri ($5000); and the state GOP, with a total of $45,700.