MEAN STREETS… The clowns ruled the streets at Good Old Days last weekend in Pacific Grove – and not just in the parade or at the face painting booth.


There they gathered, Squid’s colleagues from the Weekly, hoisting the trophy as champions in the Media Challenge basketball tournament. The victory over KSBW in the championship game was impressive mostly for the tenacity displayed as the muckrakers came back from a 13-7 lag to beat the beautiful people from TV land 15-13.


The sad sacks from the Herald raised the white flag in the form of an email 12 hours in advance, writing, “The Herald needs to forfeit.” These days the b-ball team from Ryan Ranch is resembling the rest of that enterprise more and more.


Meanwhile, smack dab in the midst of the of all the hoopla – and the falafel, mango and bratwurst vendors – was Paul Bruno, manning the booth for the Monterey County Republicans. Actually, to be precise, the fellow was standing in traffic, waving a placard and yelling for folks to come by and pick up their red, white and blue “OMG” stickers – you know, short for “Obama Must Go.”


The friendly little Pagrovianne in the booth next door had no chance of being heard over Bruno’s booming voice and snake-oil-salesman antics. “He’s like a carnival barker,” she noted when he took a breath. “It’s embarrassing.” 


LOU WHO… What do the former prime minister of the Ukraine, former San Francisco Giants’ slugger Barry Bonds and Monterey County Supervisor Lou Calcagno have in common? They’ve all done business with Berkeley-based super-lawyer Ted Cassman. But while the former Ukrainian P.M. retained Cassman to defend him in a money-laundering case, and Bonds to defend him against a federal obstruction-of-justice charge, Calcagno isn’t sure if he hired Cassman at all. And if he did, he’s not quite sure why. 


Rumors have been swirling around the county courthouse for days now that Calcagno brought in Cassman to keep him off the stand in the now-postponed preliminary hearing of former county Water Resources Agency board member Steve Collins. A handful of attorneys involved in the case say they’ve heard Cassman’s the chosen one. But Calcagno, who says he has absolutely nothing to hide, says he’s interviewed a number of attorneys to potentially protect him in the case, but can’t remember who he hired. “I think (Cassman) is right. That’s possibly who I hired,” Calcagno says. “I looked to hire an attorney only because I was subpoenaed. I wanted to be prepared… I don’t know where Steve’s going or what he plans.”


Squid’s got no crystal ball, but he’s pretty sure what Collins has planned: If he’s falling, he isn’t falling alone..