Squidfry 09.01.22: Race Off

RACE OFF… Every November, Squid looks forward to oozing down to the lair’s local polling place, pulling out a quill and casting Squid’s vote (Squid supplies Squid’s own ink). It is a time of year that always fills Squid with excited anticipation often coupled with intense anxiety (2020 was particularly fraught).

But for Seaside residents, this November’s election promises to be a snoozer, because the city won’t even be having an election. That’s because there are only two candidates (Rita Burks and Alex Miller) for two open Seaside City Council seats and just one for mayor – incumbent Ian Oglesby. (Council members Jason Campbell and Jon Wizard, whose terms are expiring, both opted not to run for reelection.) Because all the candidates are running unopposed, and the city doesn’t have any ballot measures, state election code provides that the council has the option to appoint the candidates and cancel the municipal election. At a meeting on Aug. 25, the City Council did just that in a 4-0 vote (Wizard was absent). Per the city’s report on the matter, it’s estimated to save the city about $150,000. Democracy isn’t cheap.

Seaside residents will still be able to vote for several other candidates at both the county, state and federal levels, as well as state ballot measures, but it’s just not the same.

Aside from the fiscal savings, Squid sees just one other silver lining – fewer yard signs.

READY OR NOT… Speaking of elections, there are plenty of upcoming races that are contested. Squid started reading up on all of the candidates to get a sense of who’s who and what they’re about, and Squid came to the website of Amit Pandya, a Salinas businessman who is running for mayor. There, next to his photo and under the first big header, “Putting My Experience to Work,” Pandya promises to… well, actually, the website copy suggests he write something. “Make your company stand out and show your visitors who you are,” it reads.

The whole thing goes on like that. Under “Mission Statement,” the site reads: “I’m a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It’s easy.”

Easy, but not complete. Pandya tells Squid’s colleague he knows pandyaformayor.com went live with dummy text like this. (It does show a bunch of impressive endorsements, including from current Salinas City Council members Carla Viviana Gonzalez, Orlando Osornio, Anthony Rocha and Tony Barrera.) Pandya says it will be populated with information soon about why he is running against incumbent Kimbley Craig.

“I want to help make Salinas a better city for everybody,” Pandya says. “I’m pretty much semi-retired, and I have a unique set of skills, with 30 years of running businesses and turning them around.”

He might start by turning around his website.