SQUID FRY 11.01.18: Oh Riley Factor

OH RILEY FACTOR… Squid was considering making a cozybonfire out of all of the campaign mailers Squid’s received in the run-up to Election Day. In the flames produced by the wildly dishonest anti-Jason Campbell for Seaside Council stack (the California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee – California Association of REALTORS paying for those oughta be ashamed) Squid could roast an entire bag of marshmallows. In the George Rileypile… wait, what? There’s a George Riley pile?

There is, and in the stack that came in smearing Riley, co-founder of Public Water Now (the activist group behind Measure J), Squid sees that same REALTOR group behind the Campbell smear is contorting the Weekly’s reporting to slam Riley. “George Riley has criticized efforts to expand and secure our local water,” one flyer reads, with a footnote citing a 2014 Weekly article in which Cal Am alleged Riley violated settlement requirements surrounding the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project. Another flyer states “George Riley’s Water Could Be More Expensive and Lead to Greater Risk of Contamination,” and bizarrely refers to a USA Today story on unsafe drinking water with zero connection to either the Monterey Peninsula or Riley, who is running for the board of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District.

The REALTORS are profligate with their use of “alleged” and “Riley,” so Squid will be profligate in Squid’s use of the word “slimy,” as in, this is one slimy group using slimy tactics in a slimy election to produce some slimy mailers.

NUMBERS GAME… Squid tried playing the mega-millions lottery so Squid could fund signs that say “Stop the negative campaigning,” but didn’t win. So Squid is left with lotto-sized sums going into a proxy war playing out between the California Republican Party and California Democratic Party in the State Senate District 12 race, where Anna Caballero and Rob Poythress are facing off Nov. 6. Caballero, a Democratic assemblymember from Salinas, and Poythress, a Republican Madera County supervisor, are running to replace State Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, who is terming out.

A Caballero victory stands to give the Dems a supermajority in Sacramento, meaning they’re throwing dollars thataway. Poythress has raised about $3 million, with $56,000 from the Los Angeles Republican Committee, $142,000 from the Orange County Republican Committeeand $1.3 million from the state party. Caballero has raised about $3.7 million, including $230,000 from the Fresno County Democratic Committee and more than $2 million from the state Democratic party.

It’s not as big as the lotto, but that much money would be enough for Squid to upgrade the lair and the jalopy – and probably address a California policy challenge or three.