SQUIDFRY 10.20.22: Off Sides…

OFF SIDES… Maybe it’s due to Squid’s large eyes, but Squid understands that oftentimes, optics are nearly as important as substance. Squid cares most how a dish tastes, for example, but Squid can’t ignore how it looks when it arrives at Squid’s table.

Such is the situation the board of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District found itself in on Oct. 10, when a contract with local PR firm WellmanAd came to the board for approval. What didn’t (and still doesn’t) look good about that is that Wellman is owned by Phil Wellman, husband of Public Water Now’s Melodie Chrislock, who has helped lead the effort over the past five years for a public buyout of Cal Am’s water system – she’s the chief antagonist against the region’s current water utility.

It was for that reason that MPWMD board members Amy Anderson and County Supervisor Mary Adams voted against hiring Wellman, for up to $7,875 per month – because, if we’re being honest, at the very least it doesn’t look good. MPWMD is pursuing the buyout, but is also supposed to be the grown-up in the room with an objective view of water issues.

The stakes are high in the water wars right now – Cal Am is angling for approval of its proposed desal plant in Marina – and MPWMD board member George Riley (also a longtime leader of Public Water Now) says time is of the essence. “We know Cal Am is playing hardball, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Riley says. “We need to play hardball too.”

Squid has the shrimp-flavored popcorn ready. Game, on.

CHURCH AND STATE… In the sea, most creatures are pretty straightforward – what you see is what you get. Squid loves how multi-dimensional humans are. In this case, it turns out that Vicki Nohrden, Republican candidate for Assembly District 30, is also a writer. Squid stumbled upon her 2008 book, Breaking the Shield of Minerva, and at first thought it was science fiction.

Then Squid started reading, and it sounds like Nohrden is quite serious about Minerva – who, it turns it, is the goddess stamped on the California seal. What you might not know is that, according to Nohrden, “she’s part of an antichrist system of power heads and needs to be exposed and dealt with corporately. I believe the Lord of Hosts is presently gathering this army of trained warriors in California and through the states to arise.” What??

Maybe Nohrden’s political career (as a repeat candidate for state office, who hasn’t won) is all part of the Lord’s plan, because in her telling, the book is “a prophetic trumpet call to the church to arise, stand up and take your seat of authority.”

Sounds like a fine movie plot, but not a plan for real-life governance.