BEFORE THE INK’S DRY… Squid is used to politicians inflating their résumés, like Republican governor candidate Steve Poizner branding himself a “barrio teacher” after an over-hyped volunteer stint at an East San Jose high school. Then there’s Monterey County treasurer candidate Ron Holly, who lied about being a lawyer on his voter pamphlet statement. Holly has a mail-in law degree from an unaccredited school and hasn’t passed the bar exam. The political rookie says it was an inadvertent mistake, that he hurriedly wrote up his candidate qualifications and didn’t proofread his statement – sketchy qualities in a contender for top county bean counter. Squid won’t be asking the county’s deputy auditor for legal advice, though Holly may need a real lawyer soon. Mary Zeeb’s campaign consultant Brian Higgins alerted media and the county elections office of Holly’s “fraudulent claims,” and the District Attorney’s Office is now investigating a possible election code violation. This is the same guy who unveiled his campaign with the backing of all five county supervisors. An insider tells Squid the supes backed Holly because they were impressed by his ability to get cheap bond money and because they didn’t know Zeeb, the tax collector’s second-in-command, was running. Aren’t these folks supposed to do their homework – and fact-check résumés?

PRESSED FOR ACCESS… An Oscar-toting, Nobel Prize-winning U.S. vice president isn’t the most accessible of figures – so Squid was deflated, but not shocked, to hear Squid didn’t score an exclusive interview with Al Gore prior to his May 17 Monterey Bay appearances for The Panetta Institute lecture series. (Moderator Frank Sesno of CNN and PBS was happy to chat, which makes him a good fella in Squid’s book, even if he is gung-ho about offshore oil drilling.) But what Squid didn’t expect was the media-unfriendliness of our own hometown instititute, which barred the press from attending Gore’s evening talk at the Golden State. OK, so technically media were invited to some of the 7pm event – from 6:50 to 7:10pm, which would give Squid just enough time to tweet audience fashion trends before the institute’s Men in Black personally shuffled Squid out. Even at Gore’s afternoon talk at CSUMB, media were escorted in, then squeezed into the most remote corner of the auditorium (though the peanut gallery location seemed to work out well for the snoozing Fox News staffer next to Squid). Sylvia, has Leon been sending you self-destructing memos on how to run the institute more like the CIA?