MARINATIONS… Squid can’t help but be sucked into Marina’s constant political bickering, where something as simple as a candidate forum becomes a conspiracy to undermine the Democratic candidate in a non-partisan race. This is what is happening in the Monterey Peninsula College Trustee Area 2 election. Marina in Motion, which is led by once-appointed-then-outvoted councilwoman Nancy Amadeo, was organizing a forum for the Marina candidates Steve Emerson, Margaret-Anne Coppernoll and Kit Elliott on Sept. 28. The only problem is Marina in Motion unilaterally picked the time, date and format without consulting Coppernoll, according to David Brown, the Dem’s campaign manager. Coppernoll supposedly heard of the forum from Emerson, a Republican whom Amadeo supports. The conspiracy thickens. In a letter to Amadeo, Brown says: “Your initial choice of Gordon Nakagawa and Patti Bradshaw, two vocal and outspoken endorsers of Emerson, as moderator and timekeeper, respectively,reeked of impropriety.” At the Sept. 15 City Council meeting Bradshawsaid she wasn’t aware she was timekeeper. Brown also complains that the question-screening process shifted from a balanced panel to one person Amadeo chooses. “Why shouldDr. Coppernoll attend a lopsided forum, presided over by you and others arrayed against her?” Brown writes. He requested an apology and a lengthy list of demands for the forum. Amadeo e-mailed back that her board chose not to respond to his accusations: “Marina in Motion’s record of public service to the community over the past four years of forums and debates speaks for itself,” she writes. Brown then suggested that the League of Women Voters moderate the forum, but Amadeo said the board rejected that, though she invited the league to co-sponsor the forum. Looks like there will be one candidate at this so-called forum. CONE HEADS… Squid was flattered to see a humble Weekly staffer accused of “reverse racism” and “condescension” in the Carmel Pine Cone for pointing out some of the cultural cross-currents in the recent Joe Wilson, Serena Williams and Kanye West flaps. “Excuse us, but in a country where so many African-Americans are showered with riches and public adoration for their achievements in sports, enterntainment (sic) and politics, not to mention business, the law and other fields, do we still have to keep proving we’re not a nation of bigots just because some African-Americans are criticized?” opined the piece, which ran just ran below another piece decrying the cost of health care to illegal immigrants. Oh well, at least it wasn’t yet another reminiscence of Walter Cronkite.