FLIPPY FLOPPY… Ten tentacles aside, Squid’s good at staying focused. Unlike District 5 Supervisor candidate Marc Del Piero, who’s playing multiple identities to different constituencies


While incumbent Dave Potter has certainly alienated some fellow dems and lately found support in suspect corners, like ag interests and Fort Ord developers, Del Piero’s been pandering too.


One letter, sent to environmentalists, sticks to his pro-open space platform: “The bottom line is that the 5th District and Monterey County at large desperately need a Supervisor to be a true ally of Jane Parker.” No explicit mention of any political party or persuasion, but Squid interprets “Jane Parker” to mean “leftie.”


Funny, another letter, to “Dear Fellow Republicans,” and signed by Republicans (former California Real Estate Commissioner Jeff Davi, former Salinas Mayor Russ Jeffries – Del Piero’s uncle – and former Monterey County Republican Party Chair Mali Cuda) asked for donations “to put an honest, pro-business, anti-crime Republican on the Board of Supervisors.” 


To be fair, the county GOP itself is being a little schizo. The former party chair lists the Republican Central Committee as an endorsement on his website, but spokesman Paul Bruno says, “[We] have not endorsed Marc Del Piero for supervisor.” Yes, his campaign propaganda’s up at the GOP HQ, but that’s not the same thing as a formal endorsement; it’s pro forma, tacit support. 


At least Bruno, if disloyal to his own party, is consistent: There’s a Potter yard sign up on his Pasadera lawn. 


[S]QUID PRO QUO… Even if Marc Del Piero’s campaign lit speaks many languages, Squid’s got to admit, the guy’s been consistent with his principles. 


The water rights attorney and Ag Land Trust board member says he’d defend the county’s ordinance requiring public ownership of a desal plant, which is a rule he helped write as a supe back in the ’80s. Now he criticizes the county for capitulating and going all cephalopod-soft defending its own ordinance against Cal Am. 


He suspects the county is trying to trade reimbursement for Regional Desal Project costs in exchange for backing off an aggressive defense of the public ownership rule. “Quid pro quo is what you’ve got,” Del Piero says.


Nader Agha adviser and People’s Project partner George Schroeder likes Del Piero’s pro-public position – it would give the proposal a leg up over its competitors. Squid’s not sure which letter Schroeder got, but he’s donated at least $3,500 (and counting) to Del Piero’s campaign.