The Horse Pucky's Gettin' Deep It comes as no surprise to Squid that the first shots of what promises to be an action-packed campaign season are being fired from the 28th state Assembly district. How naive I was to assume that, with former Assemblymember Peter "Cowboy in the Capitol" Frusetta retiring his 10-gallon hat this year, things would quiet down over there.

For those of you with short memories, Frusetta''s victorious 1998 campaign strategy included overblowing an offhand joke contender Alan Styles made about his horse Billy. Frusetta even refused to attend debates due, so he claimed, to the insult to his pony.

Some things never change. A press release faxed to the Weekly from 28th district candidate Jeff Denham accuses 28th district candidate Simon Salinas of--horrors!--falsely claiming to be endorsed by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which had not yet announced its endorsement.

Well, thank goodness Denham found him out. I mean, in Salinas'' list of 95 endorsers and supporters--including law enforcement groups, teachers'' associations, labor unions, and Governor Gray Davis himself--it''s that one from the correctional officers that would have pushed Squid and all the other fence-sitters into his camp.

In his release, Denham graciously offers: "I hope this is just an inadvertent error by the Salinas campaign." Indeed it was, says the Salinas camp, and the mistake has been corrected on campaign literature.

"However," Denham scolds, "they do seem to be engaging in the same type of dirty tricks campaigning that backfired against the Alan Styles campaign in 1998."

Attaboy, Denham. If you want to win in November, make sure you take advantage of all those little slip-ups. And buy yourself a horse.

The Goodness of Their Hearts

The Pebble Beach Company has magnanimously announced that the U.S. Open "merchandise pavilion" will be open to the public June 9-11, so even those without tickets can shop there.

Squid''s translation: Even if you are too much of a loser to actually possess an Open ticket, you still can be part of the experience. And it could be worth it some day. You''ll get to lay down 20-some bucks for a golf cap commemorating the 100th U.S. Open. That souvenir lid may be worth hundreds in a few years... maybe even thousands, the way the economy''s going. So don''t buy just one. Put hats on the entire family! Nobody will know you weren''t even there.

You''ve Got to Be Kidding

Squid wonders why anyone would complain about people playing basketball in the streets, but complain they have, about a hoop and court set up in front of Andrew and Kathy Runnoe''s house in Monterey. Apparently "ball playing in the streets" merits its own article of the city code, and a couple of weeks ago the outlaw Runnoes got a letter from Debra Wright, the city''s code enforcement officer, informing them that their illegal activity had not gone unnoticed. The hoop set up in the right-of-way and the court painted on the street were not to be borne!

"It is a violation of City Code to play ball in the street," Wright writes of the wrong. "Additionally, the painting of City property is considered vandalism and is a citeable offense."

The letter warns the couple that if they don''t remove the hoop and paint immediately, they''ll have to pay for the city to do it (the painted court is gone now). Because you know, it''s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

Go one-on-one with Squid: squid@coastweekly.com.