SQUIDFRY 10.01.20: Cops-n-Robbers

COPS-N-ROBBERS… Squid did a brief stint as a reserve police officer assigned to the CephaloSquad of the U.S. Calamarshall’s Service. Squid was mostly assigned to traffic duty, although there was one blissful week where Squid worked the Cold-Water Case Unit.

But then Squid got into a beef with fellow reservist and former bestie Flapjack the Octopus. Flapjack started hanging out with a crowd that espoused whack ideology: Otters as second-class citizens, for example, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium being a portal to the deep state. Flapjack put a Molon Labe sticker on Squid’s jalopy – the public was outraged and an investigation ensued, but Flapjack fessed up and, after an oops, my bad-style apology, faced no consequences.

A similar thing happened in Pacific Grove, where a PGPD officer went through a lengthy process after a citizen’s complaint about him having questionable stickers on his personal vehicle, which he parked in the city lot. Among the stickers: LGBT, or Liberty, Guns, Beer, Trump; The Three Percenters (a far-right, anti-government militia group); and Molon Labe, which means “Come and Take Them.” The city refuses to name the officer, but enlisted an outside investigator (Arizona-based firm Sacks, Ricketts & Case) to determine whether said officer was an anti-government whackjob, or just thought the stickers looked cool.

Determination: He thought the stickers looked cool. Cost of the investigation – which the city refuses to release – $23,605 and zero cents.

Pun intended.

MONEY MATTERS… In election years, Squid’s fancy turns to Form 460s, which report how much moola candidates have taken in and how much they’ve spent. Squid was interested in all the money pouring into the District 4 county supervisor’s race between Steve McShane and Wendy Root Askew. Askew has raised $193,716.93 – a big sum on its own, mostly from individuals plus $10,000 from a PAC called Monterey County New Progressives. McShane’s latest 460, filed Sept. 24, weighs in at 95 pages of donations totaling $506,928.39. There’s lotsa PAC money (Associated Builders & Contractors PAC, $20,000). There’s big Big Ag money (D’Arrigo Bros., $4,375 and Organic Girl, $12,500).

Squid, it turns out, isn’t the only one looking at McShane’s donations – so is the Fair Political Practices Commission. The FPPC opened an investigation based on a complaint that accuses McShane of messy reporting and of comingling funds between different campaigns.

McShane says he hasn’t heard from the FPPC, but the money is still flowing in: On Sept. 28, he filed an addendum reflecting more than $25,000 raised since Sept. 24, including $10K from Taylor Farms.

All those dollar signs make Squid dizzy. At least voting is free.