Squid Speaks on District 5 Supe Race

Monday, November 5, 2012

JUMPING THE AISLE…Squid’s been addicted to a few reality TV shows over the years, but then the Romney-Obama race began, and Squid felt a certain civic-minded smugness about spending hours glued to cable television while chowing down on shrimp-flavored popcorn. Presidential politics are not only more interesting, but more important than Jersey Shore, right?

Then along came a fierce challenger in the District 5 county supervisor race, and Squid’s interest in the presidential hullabaloo waned. Marc Del Piero is giving four-term incumbent Dave Potter a serious run for his money, thanks largely to supporters in strange places; the Republican has drawn over half of his campaign funds from open-space advocates.

Classic conservatives, meanwhile, have done a 180 and are supporting Potter, who was once upon a time viewed as a true progressive and environmentalist. (Those winds started shifting after the erstwhile Coastal Commissioner cast his vote in favor of a larger-than-life buildout on Pebble Beach.)

Now, it’s Republicans—in the businesses of construction and real estate, mostly—who are doting on Potter. A letter headed “Conservative Community Leaders in Support of Dave Potter for Supervisor” recently went out to fellow Republicans, urging rightwingers to vote for the Dem in the race.

The signatories are a veritable who’s who of local Republican power, not to mention construction and hospitality interests: Paul Bruno of the Monterey County Republican Party and principal of Monterey Peninsula Engineering; Don Chapin, president of the conservative Salinas Valley Leadership Group PAC and president of the Don Chapin Company; Realtor and Monterey Mayor Chuck Della Sala; David Bernahl, Coastal Luxury Management founder and former vice-chair of the Northern California Lincoln Club, a GOP stronghold; architect and former Carmel Mayor Jeanne Byrne; Laguna Seca Golf Ranch president and Monterey County Hospitality Association president Gary Cursio. Most of them, or their businesses, have also thrown a few dollars in Potter’s direction.

If that wasn’t enough to suggest developer were trying to buy off Potter, the Building Industry Association of the Bay Area PAC swooped in with a late $10,000 gift after the Weekly last reported on dueling District 5 donors, making the group one of Potter’s five biggest givers.

Potter’s cred in the business community comes partly for his commitment to “recovery and replacement of jobs that were lost when Fort Ord closed,” according to the letter, but funny thing, Squid can’t remember a horse-racing track from those days. But then again memory, when you ask local pols, seems to be a fickle thing.

Squid, we seem to have a slightly different memory of the important role that horses and horse racing have played on our Central Coast. Horses, including horse racing, have a grand history in the area. In 1872, the Sausal Park Race Track (renamed Sherwood Race Track in 1878) was built in Salinas. Today, the California Rodeo is held on these same grounds. In 1896, the Hotel Del Monte constructed a horse track and polo field, holding regular races until the mid-1920s when auto racing took over and Del Monte moved the horse facilities to Pebble Beach, now the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center. In 1919, the 11th Cavalry moved to the Presidio of Monterey, then in 1940 moved to Ft. Ord when stables for 1,400 horses were built on the base.

 Historically speaking, horses have played a vital role in both the United States military and Fort Ord. The annals of history are replete with the interaction of these brave animals and their human counterparts. slenard is indeed correct that Fort Ord has a rich history, I was stationed there and have personal knowledge of some of that history.
 History teaches us that some things are meant to last and enhance tradition and some are meant to change. In my opinion, horse racing falls into the latter category. But that is not even the issue here!!!!!!!
 Monterey Downs is not what it seems, how many examples does the general public and press need to see. Simply go back in the archives of this paper, and others, and you will see the innocent genesis of the horse park and what it has become. Check into the corporate background of Brian Boudreau and you will find his primary corporate backers are Irish gentlemen heavy into the horse racing world and owners of Del Mar racetrack. As a matter of fact, these are the same gentlemen who our esteemed Supervisor, Mr. Potter, went to visit in 2011. We seem to be examining an elephant with a microscope here, we are missing the big picture. The fuctional question, in my mind, is not the factual finding that Mr. Potter paid his own airline ticket or meals in Ireland, but what was he doing there as the invited guests of the prospective owners of Monterey Downs? How can he claim independence in his review process and vote when he has been to their estates and consumed their wine? I do not pretend to understand the byzantine rules of the FPPC, and perhaps this is not a technical violation but it sure as hell stinks from an appearence standpoint.

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Extra Helping of Squid 11.5.12