Glendale News Press, CA
Jan 30 2009

Election races are finalized

Deadline passes for City Council, school board, treasurer and clerk
candidates.

By Jason Wells
Published: Last Updated Friday, January 30, 2009 10:34 PM PST

CITY HALL ‘ Five citywide electoral races attracted 25 candidates by
Thursday, the deadline to file campaign statements and qualifying
voter signatures with the city clerk.

County elections officials had yet to verify the signatures of
registered voters who had signed the required candidate petitions, but
the final deadline produced the first firm look at the number of
people who were committed to the April 7 election, including 12
candidates in the City Council race.

Four challengers are running against incumbents Greg Krikorian,
Joylene Wagner and Chuck Sambar for seats on the Glendale Unified
School District Board of Education. Only one challenger had filed for
the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees race, which has a
filing deadline of Feb. 3.

In the race for city treasurer, only former Mayor Rafi Manoukian, who
lost his reelection bid in 2007, filed papers to challenge Ron
Borucki.

Only City Clerk Ardy Kassakhian enters the official campaign season
unopposed.

`I would like to think that is a statement of job performance over the
last four years,’ he said, adding that he would continue to expand
accessibility to City Hall and the electoral process.

With just two months to go in the municipal election season,
candidates said the pace of fundraisers, meet-and-greets and public
campaigning was sure to pick up in the coming weeks.

Local city employee and teacher unions already had meetings scheduled
with many of the candidates Friday and into this week, while other
traditional players, such as the Armenian National Committee Glendale
Chapter, had already completed endorsement interviews with several
City Council candidates.

But despite the majority of council candidates waiting until the last
minute to turn in their required forms, the number of those who were
actively campaigning was comparatively small.

Most challengers said they were still finalizing platforms and
campaign strategies. And even among those who had, many had yet to
venture beyond their core group of supporters, especially in terms of
fundraising.

`We expect to hit that wall soon,’ City Council candidate Bruce
Philpott said Friday.

The main contributing factor to the slow unfolding of the campaign
season, candidates said, was the harsh fundraising climate.

Borucki said he was `slowly but surely’ putting his team together for
a campaign that had so far relied on his core supporters, but the
worsening recession has made the cost of running an even more dominant
factor this season.

`Fortunately, people talking to each other is very inexpensive,’ said
Christine Walters, a school board candidate and president of the
Glendale High School PTA.

Laura Friedman, who stepped down as chairwoman of Design Review Board
No. 2 last month to focus on her City Council campaign, has been the
only City Council challenger to mount a major ground offensive,
attending about six in-home meet-and-greets a week for the past two
months.

And last week, Mayor John Drayman introduced her at a fundraiser at
the upscale restaurant Palate.

`My goal is really to get my message and ideas out to the public,’ she
said. `I’m not really thinking about what other people are doing.’

Beyond the revving campaigns of other challengers, Friedman will soon
be contending more directly with the incumbents, who plan to enter the
field armed with campaign offices, media strategies and years of
political experience.

Councilman Bob Yousefian said his newspaper advertisements, mailers
and campaign signs were nearly complete and was planning fundraisers
for later in the election season after holding a town hall-style
meeting with potential voters two weeks ago.

`It’s not my first day on the job,’ he said.

Councilman Ara Najarian planned to open his campaign office later this
week.

February will also bring a bevy of public candidate debates, starting
with a forum hosted by the Unified Young Armenians on Sunday at the
Central Library.

So far, there are five City Council forums scheduled through March,
and many candidates said they would use as many as possible to get
their messages out.

`I’ve got nothing to hide,’ said Michael Teahan, a council candidate
and former president of the Adams Hill Homeowners Assn.

THE CANDIDATES

CITY COUNCIL

Aram Kazazian

Lenore Solis

Laura Friedman

Bruce Philpott

Vartan Gharpetian

Chahe Keuroghelian

Edward Lafian

Aramazd Stepanian

Michael Teahan

Frank Quintero*

Bob Yousefian*

Ara Najarian*?

CITY CLERK

Ardy Kassakhian*

CITY TREASURER

Rafi Manoukian

Ron Borucki*

GUSD BOARD

Hasmig Asianian

Naira Khachatrian

Christine Walters

Eric Sahakian

Joylene Wagner*

Chuck Sambar*

Greg Krikorian*

GCC TRUSTEES

(filing period ends Feb. 3)

Ann Hazel Ransford

Armine Hacopian*

Anita Gabrielian*

?

* denotes an incumbent

Source: City clerk’s office
From: Baghdasarian