Santa Clara County will ride out the contract with its dysfunctional ambulance service provider before deciding whether to renew it or go out to bid for a replacement.

Santa Clara County wants greater financial control of its embattled EMT service provider, Rural/Metro.

Mike Wasserman’s special brand of milquetoast conservatism has made him the Ray Romano of local politics. He’s beloved for his affable nature, frequent banquet and ribbon-cutting attendance and unwavering commitment to ensuring no boat is rocked unless steady to sleep.

Fly has learned that the FBI has been investigating county ambulance provider Rural/Metro for its creative political activity. The investigation’s scope is not fully known, but sources say investigators have been looking into the ambulance company’s connection to Pacific Printing, a political mail house aligned with local organized labor.

The first political firefight of the San Jose mayor’s race has adopted the adage “everything old is new again.” Two weeks ago, the county Board of Supervisors took a bold vote to withhold $700,000 from the city of San Jose due to its fire department’s slow—and in some cases absent—emergency response times. Contracted by the county to arrive first on the scene for high-priority “lights and sirens” emergencies within eight minutes, 90 percent of the time, SJFD has routinely showed up late and misreported its response times in the last four years.

The Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee is on the fast track to endorse its preferred mayoral hopeful, Dave Cortese. But there are growing concerns that the group’s backing will give that candidate the unfair advantage of bypassing campaign finance laws that apply to individual candidates. Campaign staff of Councilman Sam Liccardo, the fundraising frontrunner in the mayor’s race, challenged the DCC in emails to abide by the same rules governing candidates that prevent unlimited spending in an election.

Despite going bankrupt in August, it looks like Rural Metro will continue providing ambulance services for Santa Clara County residents—at least through 2016. Other items on Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors agenda include a request for $8 million from the department that oversees the child abuse hotline and a discussion on the Santa Jose Sate hate crime allegations.

The company that provides Santa Clara County’s ambulance services is in need of rescue. In December 2010, the Board of Supervisors contracted with Rural Metro, which missed an important bond payment last week, leading industry insiders and county officials to worry that the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company may be headed towards bankruptcy. So what do the elected officials who supported the Rural Metro contract have to say about the current mess? Nothing.

County ambulance provider Rural Metro missed its monthly response times for emergencies in Sunnyvale all but once during a 17-month period ending Novemebr 2012, according to internal documents. This and other system failures have placed the company’s contract in jeopardy.

If you’re interested in making a non-tax deductible contribution to a man who misused thousands of taxpayer dollars, in addition to hiding campaign disclosure forms for years, George Shirakawa would like to speak with you.

Rural/Metro took over Santa Clara County’s ambulance contract last July, and by most accounts the company has done a good job. The company submitted a low bid to replace American Medical Response, and county Supervisors George Shirakawa, Mike Wasserman and Dave Cortese championed Rural/Metro as a low-cost yet responsible replacement. Aside from a rough transition in the first month on the job, response times have been above the required threshold in most cases. However, what isn’t found in the monthly reports that Rural/Metro is required to submit to the county is the number of patient records the company lost in its first two months on the job.