ROAD TO NOVEMBER


California used the same kind of primary ballot in 1998 and 2000 (“First open primary doesn’t change the liberal composition of Monterey County reps,” June 7-14). All candidates from all parties appeared on the primary ballot, and all voters used that primary ballot. Even the presidential primary in 2000 used that kind of primary ballot, in which any primary voter could vote for any presidential candidate from any party. So the story should not say 2012 is the “first time.” - Richard Winger | via Web


Dave Potter’s statements this week exemplify just how loathsome his conduct as a public official has become (“Squid Fry, June 7-14). Go look at FPPC Regulation 18360(f)(4). The FPPC is required to “send notification of a potential staff-initiated investigation to the subject of the potential investigation.” 


More importantly, the FPPC can’t disclose anything about a self-initiated investigation to anyone other than their own staff until “at least five business days have passed from the time the subject of the investigation is informed.” That means the FPPC couldn’t have confirmed for the Weekly that Potter was under investigation unless Dave Potter himself had been notified at least a week beforehand.


Translated into plain English: Dave Potter’s statement that he’s “unaware he’s the subject of any investigation” is a lie. Not a half-truth. Not spin. A bold-faced lie. What makes this situation even more disgusting is that Potter has the brass to spread his whopper in the newspaper, where he knew voters would read and believe it. Conduct like this undermines the very foundation of our democracy and must be stopped.


My only question now is: Will the Weekly stand by its endorsement of a man so morally bankrupt that he lies about his own ethics investigation? And if so, why? - Ruby_Flores | via Web


The caption under the photo of Jane Parker at her election victory party described her sensibility as “sometimes controversial.” More and more, communities are being plagued by reactionaries who create controversy about the sensibility and genuine civic-mindedness of progressives like Parker. It may not be apparent to the obtuse, but we all benefit exponentially from Parker’s courage to change “the way business gets done in Monterey County.” If only President Obama could muster the same courage to make good on his yet-to-be-fulfilled promise of change we can believe in. - Sean Gallagher | Salinas


If Squid doth speaketh, then Potter doth protest too much (“Squid Fry,” June 7-13). When is everyone going to wake up to Potter’s M.O.? When the manure piles up too heavily on him, he likes to take it and throw it on to someone else to make himself look better. Who wants to do the horse-track development? Who was backed by the realtors and construction unions? Who is currently under investigation for his dealings with Collins? Who flip flops on his votes when he knows there is a majority vote, just to make himself look good (think Whispering Oaks, Corral de Tierra and the Jacks Peak Zip Line)?


Mr. Potter, there is a huge difference between a signature on the bottom of a political financial disclosure 24 years ago (which in political years is the fossil age) and the backroom political wheeling and dealings you have done within your tenure as supervisor. - Katherine Lauritsen | via web


CARMEL LATTE


I was through with a mocha and a coffee before getting to the end of the story (“The Carmel River is a wisp of its former self, but hope is around the bend,” May 31-June 6), but it was just the level of detail I was looking for as a newcomer here – at least compared to [Ray] March. I did attend his talk at Sunset Center in recent weeks, but it turned out to be little more than folksy tales from his Carmel youth.


I have been a print journalist on several occasions in a wide-ranging career and truly know the difference – what it takes to start and finish a story the way you did this one. Your reporting clearly took you a good deal of time and I appreciate the work. - Brian Coughlan | Carmel


The recent article on the Carmel River, expanding on Ray March’s book and bringing issues up-to-date, was splendid! I had just read River In Ruin when the Weekly came along with your reference to it and so much more. Excellent research and doubtless a lot of work. - Dennis Renault | Monterey


TAPS


We have twin boys, 24. One was in the Navy, a corpsman. Did a couple of tours over there as a medic on the front lines with the Marines. The other is still in the Army. Scary stuff.


I can’t imagine what this family is going through (“Photographs: Funeral for Army Spc. Vilmar Galarza Hernandez,” posted June 8). My heart and prayers are with them. - Joe Doudna | via Facebook


Outstanding tribute to a fallen brother-in-arms. Thanks. - Chief Warrant Officer 3 Vincent Esponilla | via Web


What beautiful and tragic photographs these are. Thank you for capturing this moment in a way that both honors and salutes our military families who sacrifice so much. Civilian America should be confronted more often with photographs like these so that the harsh reality of these wars is never allowed to fade too far from our country’s consciousness. We should institute rations again, as a constant reminder to those who might forget that what is happening just across the water is devastating for our young men and women in uniform, their families and the innocent people of Iraq and Afghanistan. - Sarah McNary | via Facebook


WATER, RIGHT?


It pains me to see such a disingenuous opinion piece from a representative of an organization I greatly admire (“Fee critical to meet state requirements for new water sources and to avoid rationing,” June 7-14). The Monterey County Association of Realtors (with which I have no association) is right to oppose the ridiculous fee structure proposed. None of its innumerable categories of user bear any relation to the amount of water being consumed. The fee for residential water supply, for example, is based on the size of the house served, not consumption. The proposed fee structure is logically equivalent to the price you pay for gas being determined by the sort of vehicle it’s put into!


The MPWMD needs to find, and pay for, sources of water to replace the illegal over-drafting of the Carmel River. Surely it’s obvious that the required fee should be applied to water consumption, not how or where it’s consumed! - Andrew Allison | Carmel