SQUIDFRY 09.06.18: Promises, Promises

PROMISES, PROMISES… Squid has got Squid’s tentacles full keeping up on elections during this back-to-school season, and there’s drama over at Monterey Peninsula College, where faculty salaries are a bone of contention between the administration, led by President Walt Tribley, and the Monterey Peninsula College Teachers Association. That means they’re also a contention in elections, such as the contest for District 2, between incumbent Margaret-Anne Coppernolland challenger Yuri Anderson. They talked through the issues at Marina Democratic Club’sforum in August, and not surprisingly, salaries came up.

Coppernoll pushed the party line espoused by Tribley: They would love to give the faculty raises, she said, but the budget is just too tight. Then she made a promise: “If I could win the lottery tomorrow, I would give it all to faculty salaries.”

Interestingly, Squid remembers that back in 2012, Coppernoll sued MPC – while she was on the board of trustees – for a slip and fall during a tap dancing class. Through a Public Records Act request, the Weekly found out that Coppernoll and the college settled in 2016 for $45,000. Still not enough for meaningful faculty raises.

Maybe the faculty union should consider a new negotiating tactic and buy some lotto tickets for Coppernoll.

INSTANT RECALL… Squid’s memory is a fickle thing. Sometimes Squid can’t remember what Squid ate for dinner last night (odds are, it was shrimp-flavored popcorn) but Squid remembers in vivid detail elections of years and months past – and it starts to feel like deja vu. Consider the case of Kathryn Ramirez, a Salinas Union High School District board member, and her antagonist, Salinas Planning Commissioner Rick Giffin. Giffin already tried to recall Ramirez once, and failed to get the signatures. Then he tried again, circulating a notice of intention to recall, the first step in getting a recall on the ballot.

Only hitch: That document is invalid. “It does not meet the requirements of Election Code to be deemed a valid notice,” says county election chief Claudio Valenzuela.

Their battle has in many ways been a proxy war between pro-union and anti-union forces, playing out when it comes to labor agreements for new school construction. Now, it goes on to a new stage: Giffin and Ramirez are running against each other – and retired truck driver supervisor Leo De La Rosa – in a three-way contest for a seat on the board of Salinas City Elementary School District. (Ramirez assures Squid’s colleague she would step down from her SUHSD seat if she wins.)

Ramirez says she’s seen kids get to high school in need of basic reading K-3 skills. Squid has an idea for an assignment for the board members: read and verify election-related materials.