Taking a Stand

TAKING A STAND… Having no legs, Squid cannot literally stand on anything, but Squid does have opinions. Usually members of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors do too. But during a discussion on Oct. 20 about endorsements in California state propositions, their opinions on some things were about as firm as an anemone body.

Supervisors Kate Daniels and Wendy Root Askew wanted to put a discussion on the Oct. 27 agenda to consider endorsing Prop. 40, aka the billionaire’s tax. Supervisor Glenn Church, who said he doesn’t believe the elected board should tell voters how to vote, abstained. (Supervisors Luis Alejo and Chris Lopez also abstained, but didn’t explain why.)

Squid can think of many things billionaires have to do with Monterey County. Monaco developer has been trying to develop in Carmel and Big Sur, even as the local krill try to run him out. CEO of OpenAI (and billionaire) Greg Brockman donated to a PAC that supported U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s reelection campaign this year. Even if Brockman is based in the Bay Area, his money is still tied up in local politics.

Squid knows it’s hardly the end of the world if the supes can’t agree to talk about the billionaire tax, but it would be wrong to believe billionaires don’t touch Monterey County.

TAKE THE HINT… Squid’s neighborhood is currently besieged by a convention of sharks so Squid oozed onto land in Pacific Grove, only to find the tenor of the town’s campaign season to bear a resemblance to what Squid left behind. The race between Pacific Grove Mayor Nick Smith and former councilmember Luke Coletti features biting remarks between supporters. Coletti himself is known for arguing online with detractors then blocking them.

A video provided to the Weekly by Colleen Ingram of the group P.G. Progressives captures Coletti stopping his car to approach an elderly woman who had just placed a Smith For Mayor sign in front of her house with Ingram’s help.

Before the camera starts rolling, it appears the woman had called Coletti “pugnacious” in explaining why she was supporting Smith instead, not realizing that she was talking to Coletti himself.

“What do you mean by pugnacious?” Coletti asks.

“He argued and fought and spoke improperly,” she responds. (Coletti declined to comment.)

In the video, Coletti seems to think she’s talking about Smith, but the woman corrects him: “I’m talking about Coletti.”

Talk about awkward. It’s like that time Shiloh the Shrimp told a color-camouflaged Cruz the Cuttlefish about a lifelong fear of cephalopods. Shiloh, perhaps needless to say, was eaten.