Yousefian leading in money race in Glendale election
Los Angeles Daily News
Saturday, February 26, 2005
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
GLENDALE – Mayor Bob Yousefian has raised nearly twice the amount of
campaign money as his closest competition in the City Council race,
with more than $101,000 in his coffers, new campaign reports show.
Incumbents Yousefian and Councilmen Dave Weaver and Frank Quintero
have been raising money for their re-election campaigns since last
year. Quintero has raised about $42,000 and Weaver $33,500.
Yousefian said he plans to raise more money – his goal is $150,000 –
because he will be spending more on campaigning. So far he’s spent
about $49,000.
“Everything has gotten more expensive. What I have left is not enough
to do the campaign we’re running,” he said.
The April 5 election has drawn the most number of candidates in the
city’s history for both positions, with 19 vying for four council
seats and nine for the city clerk position.
A typical Glendale election draws 20 percent to 30 percent of
registered voters. Glendale now has about 90,000 registered voters.
Campaign finance reports filed Thursday showed that of the
nonincumbents, the top fund-raisers so far are Glendale Community
College board member Ara Najarian with about $53,500; Vrej Agajanian
with about $53,000; attorney Anahid Oshagan with nearly $42,000; and
prosecutor Glynda Gomez with $30,601.
John Drayman, Garry Sinanian and John Stevenson did not reveal the
information on their campaign financial statements, but the remaining
nine candidates have so far raised less than $16,000.
The city clerk race is in full swing with Paulette Mardikian leading
the money count with about $65,500 – $50,000 of which is a loan from
her husband – and about $13,500 in expenditures.
Ardashes Kassakhian follows her with nearly $45,000, all from
fund-raising events, and has spent nearly $20,000.
Stephen Ropfogel trails with about $10,500; Lorna Vartanian with about
$8,700; George McCullough with $8,000; Stephanie Landregan with about
$7,800; Kathryn Van Houten with $6,206; and Narineh Barzegar with
$3,210.
City Clerk candidate Gary Sysock did not raise any money and plans to
spend less than $1,000 of his own money.
City Manager Jim Starbird said the number of people running for the
city clerk position surprises him, especially when the city hasn’t had
an open city clerk race for 75 years.
The position pays a yearly salary between $103,764 and $107,400,
depending on experience.
“Given the nature of the position, why is so much money being spent
for people to run? And it surprises me that they are able to raise
amounts like $40,000,” he said. “It’s unique for a city clerk race to
have campaigns in the $40,000 range. I think it’s the nature of
campaigning today.”
Naush Boghossian,
(818) 546-3306
[email protected]
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