ELECTION TIME… Late summer in an even year means local politicians ramping up their fall election bids. And the recent do-goodery of two campaigning Seaside councilmen reminds Squid of the Stevie Wonder lyric: “I live in the ghetto/ You just come to visit me ’round election time.” Dennis Alexander called Squid to plug his work building a house for wheelchair-bound children with local nonprofit Rebuilding Together. Squid also recently spotted Alexander manning the Dumpster near Seaside’s funky Otis Park on a neighborhood cleanup day.

Councilman Tom Mancini, meanwhile, is hyping his involvement with local substance-abuse nonprofit Sun Street Centers, where he helped coordinate the new coalition, Preventing Alcohol-Related Trauma on the Peninsula, and was also on hand at last month’s Taste of Seaside event, where he enthused about the business-boosting fundraiser for the Seaside Police Activities League. Honorable causes all. Maybe they do it all year. But Squid would like to hear about it from our public servants outside of election season.

And what of Mayor Ralph Rubio, whose seat is also open in November? Squid hasn’t heard from him for awhile. But his hecklers with Citizens for Transparency in Government are still at it. The latest glossy mailer alleges Rubio and the City Council have allowed City Manager Ray Corpuz to mismanage the city’s resources, and urges voters to kick the bums out. “It is widely known that Mayor Rubio has aspirations of becoming a County Supervisor,” it reads. “If he failed to provide adequate answers to the citizens of Seaside during his administration, how can he be TRUSTED to do so at the County level?” Ralph, might be time to pose with a Dumpster.

BROWNIE POINTS… A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. But if that medicine is cannabis, a little sugar would make it twice as illegal, at least, if Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s S. 258, “Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act,” becomes law. DiFi has been ranting about “candy-flavored meth,” but Squid agrees with critics who think this is really about pot brownies. The bill, which doubles federal penalties for making or distributing edible drugs, passed the Senate unanimously and is headed for the House. Bloggers speculate Feinstein’s real motivation is her opposition to California’s Prop. 19, which would legalize recreational pot use. S. 258 would not only dampen the floundering ballot initiative; it would needlessly boost the prison population and screw over medical marijuana patients who prefer to eat their weed. With Pacific Grove last month joining the list of local cities banning dispensaries, Squid thinks Monterey County’s pot patients have already taken enough hits.