Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
Dec 11 2004

Then there were three
Ropfogel joins City Clerk race; says he’ll drop out if candidate
emerges within clerk’s office.

By Josh Kleinbaum, News-Press and Leader

GLENDALE – Glendale businessman and community activist Steve Ropfogel
took a cautious step into uncharted waters on Friday, announcing that
he will run for Glendale city clerk in April. But Ropfogel said he
will drop out of the race if a candidate with experience working in a
city clerk’s office decided to run.

“It’s no secret that city government is really a passion of mine,”
Ropfogel said. “With my experience, not only with the organizations
that I’m involved with, but with my involvement with so many
departments and things in the city, I think I’m the best person for
the job.

“But if (Asst. City Clerk) Rita (Buchanan) or some other qualified
person from within our City Clerk’s office, or from a city that was
similar in size, if somebody came along that was going to run and was
a professional in the field, I would back out.”

For the first time in 75 years, the election for City Clerk is an
open race. In the past, the position has been handed down, with
clerks retiring mid-term and the City Council appointing a
replacement. The appointed clerk would then run as an incumbent, and
an incumbent hasn’t lost a city clerk election in Glendale during
that 75-year span.

City Clerk Doris Twedt chose to retire at the end of her term,
leaving an open race for her successor. Ardashes Kassakhian,
executive director of the Armenian National Committee’s Western
Region, and Lorna Vartanian, office manager for a law firm, are also
running for the position.

“I’m in this race because I know I can do the job and I can represent
all of the people of Glendale,” Kassakhian said.

Vartanian does not think experience inside a city clerk’s office
would make a candidate more qualified for the position.

“It is an administrative position, and I think that a candidate with
a strong administrative background could go in there and run the
office,” Vartanian said. “It really boils down to a matter of
experience, and I don’t think that one would necessarily have to have
worked in a clerk’s office to be able to properly manage an office.”