HEAT IN MARINA… Squid frequents farmers markets for fresh persimmons and succulent eggplant. But from what Squid hears, this cephalopod needs to stop in Marina for political beef. Mayor Gary Wilmot allegedly bruised some peaches recently when he confronted Luana Conley, campaign manager for Wilmot’s opponent, Bruce Delgado, at the Marina Certified Farmers’ Market. Wilmot ridiculed Conley for “running a campaign of lies,” referring to Delgado’s stance that the city is deficit spending. He then took a dig at Conley’s resignation from the Marina Chamber of Commerce and wondered how long she will last at her current CSUMB gig. Conley says she felt threatened because John McCutchon, a big Wilmot cheerleader, is chief of staff to the president at CSUMB.

The political drama continued when McCutchon accused Marina Campaign for Change volunteer Jan Shriner of representing Marina in Motion during phone banking. In a voicemail McCutchon reportedly said: “Hey Jan, You’re busted. You represented yourself as Marina in Motion in advocating for your slate. Sorry about that. Not a good thing to do. You’ll hear about it.” Shriner went to the cops about McCutchon’s voicemail. Squid thinks everybody involved needs to grill their beef and share a peach smoothie.

YES, HE CAN’T… Some people just can’t take “yes’’ for an answer. The Weekly endorsed Jeff Haferman in his re-election bid to the Monterey City Council, but noted that the decision came with a “big caveat’’ in view of Haferman’s handling of his traffic ticket in the city, his role in the controversy surrounding the dismissal of former police officer Steve McMahon and questions about whether he could be a team player. After Haferman read the editorial, he flamed Weekly staffers with an indignant e-mail.

“My intent was never to make a big deal out of the ticket,’’ he wrote (gee, he could have fooled Squid), then ranted: “I could argue that the Weekly wastes city hall’s time and money every time you do a public records request. Every time you ask for records, are you wasting city hall’s time and the public’s money? I’m all for freedom of the press, I hope you support the concept of due process, even for elected officials.’’

He also defended his involvement in the McMahon matter, insisting that he had not only been “vocal about some of the things that went on outside the view of most of the public… I can only assume that you are smoking something much more potent than what I am smoking.’’ Squid has no idea what Haferman is smoking, but hope, whatever it is has the ability to quiet him down.