TIDY UP… Squid was of a mind to straighten out the lair last weekend and maybe even do a little cooking. But when Squid oozed over to the local home improvement store for supplies, the joint was fresh out of Lemon Pledge and garbage bags. Same thing happened at the grocery, where Squid’s dream of tuna noodle casserole went out the window with nary a can of tuna nor a bag of noodles to be found. Mystified, Squid asked the grocer, “What gives?” The answer: “Gannett. Gannett is what gives.”


Seems the folks at the Gannett-owned Salinas Californian have been given a set of marching orders – clean up your cubes and make a covered dish, says the newish General Manager Paula Goudreau – because on Aug. 23, a shadow will cross the sun, the birds will stop chirping and Gannett executives will arrive for a “Town Hall” meeting to be followed by an old-fashioned potluck luncheon. Gannett CEO Gracia Martore and Community Publishing Division President Bob Dickey will arrive to explain why two Gannett executives, who between them took home total compensation packages of $7.3 million last year, couldn’t spring for a couple of dozen sandwiches and a few bags of chips. Or maybe the discussion will focus on why nobody in the still-for-sale Californian building will be getting even cost-of-living increases this year.


Chins up, little Californian staffers, and enjoy that tuna noodle surprise; at this rate, it will all be over soon.


PAC-MAN… Squid’s always had a liking for arcade games, particularly watching wide-mouthed faces gobble up ghosts, which is a little bit like watching giant media enterprises cannibalize themselves. (In not-so-giant media news, The Hometown Bulletin is no more, having been bought out last week by Cedar Street Times.)


If the Pagrovian monopoly sounds practical – Squid wonders if P.G. needs any paper – it’s got nothing on the Karl Rovian rise of local doctors, who now can leverage influence thanks to a new Political Action Committee, the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Physicians PAC. 


The group’s first order of business: stacking the November board election. Their pick, Victor Rey Jr., is running unopposed; in District 3, a contest between mortgage consultant Rafael Garcia and insurance broker Orlando Jimenez is shaping up.


“This is not political,” insists PAC founder Dr. Stuart Paul. Which makes Squid pose the question, in a manner age-appropriate for Pac-Man players: Is it opposite day? 


Squid’s waiting to see if Garcia or Jimenez gets pressured into dropping out of the race; the SVMH tradition, after all, is to keep the politics behind the scenes.