Fishing Expedition

Fishing Expedition… When Squid goes fishing, Squid figures out where the spot prawns and midwater shrimp are all hanging out and it doesn’t take long before Squid has a tasty meal. Squid discovered it’s a similar strategy for a national law firm based in Malibu seeking clients ripe for the picking in Salinas.

Specifically, the Clarkson Law Firm is fishing for weary, underpaid adjunct faculty at Hartnell College through an ad suggesting that they may be entitled to compensation: “If you teach part-time at Hartnell College, you may be a victim of illegal wage theft… contact us for a free assessment today.”

That California Community College adjuncts are underpaid is well known. They are paid for classroom time but have typically not been paid for work outside of the classroom, including lesson planning, grading and communicating with students. That may be about to change. In February, Long Beach City College agreed to pay $18 million to its adjuncts in a class-action lawsuit. A second lawsuit filed in Sacramento naming the California Community College as a defendant could lead to standardized pay for adjuncts across the entire system.

Clarkson sees dollar signs, or it wouldn’t be fishing for clients. Squid wants all faculty to be well paid. Lawyers, not so much.

Water Way… Squid’s heard all the sayings – whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting; water flows downhill, except toward money – so Squid is never surprised to see insults hurled in the world of Monterey County water politics. But now the pressure is on for the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency to actually do something, with a clock ticking most immediately toward an April 30 deadline to respond to a displeased State Department of Water Resources, which wants specifics on the plan to slow the problem of seawater intrusion (see news story).

Squid has been following this saga for a while. The hydrological story is less interesting than the political story about who will benefit from new water infrastructure (and who will pay for it).

Attorney Tom Virsik represents southern Salinas Valley agricultural clients, who are not directly impacted by seawater intrusion. In an April 13 letter to the SVBGSA board, Virsik wanted to clear up that DWR might take action on growers pumping from the seawater-intruded area, but not his South County clients. He also suggested an ultimatum for media interviews for SVBGSA staff: “Until educated, staff should cease communication with media so as to prevent additional misinformation.”

Huh. Squid gets that irrigators and property owners will disagree about who should bear the costs, but Squid suggests the opposite: Staff of public agencies should openly talk to the press any time.