CANDIDATES COMPETE TO FILL ASSEMBLY SEAT VACATED BY PAUL KREKORIAN

Los Angeles Times
March 30 2010

In a contentious race, three Democrats and one Republican will be
on a special election ballot April 13 for the district representing
Burbank, Glendale and parts of Los Angeles.

CALIFORNIA ELECTIONSMarch 29, 2010|By Jean MerlIn Burbank, Glendale
and parts of Los Angeles, four candidates want the state Assembly
seat vacated after Paul Krekorian was elected to the Los Angeles
City Council.

Three Democrats and one Republican are on the April 13 special
election ballot for the unexpired term that will last only a few
months. Candidates hoping to also win a full two-year term in November
must run in two elections at once.

Democratic candidates are Mike Gatto, a lawyer and part-time night
school teacher who once worked for an area congressman; Chahe
Keuroghelian, a small-business owner and former spokesman for the
Glendale Police Department; and Nayiri Nahabedian, a board member of
the Glendale Unified School District. The Republican is small-business
owner Sunder Ramani.

In the special primary, voters will choose among all the candidates,
regardless of party affiliation. If, as expected, no one wins a
majority April 13, the Democrat with the most votes will face Ramani
in a June 8 runoff. That is the same date as the statewide primary
election, and all four candidates will be on their party’s ballot then,
regardless of the April outcome.

The race has been contentious in the 43rd Assembly District. Teachers
aligned with Nahabedian, for example, publicized a letter they sent
to Gatto objecting to his description of himself on the ballot as an
"educator" (along with "attorney") because his teaching is limited.

His primary occupation is as a lawyer.

Someone else filed a complaint with the state Fair Political Practices
Commission contending Gatto violated election laws by allegedly mixing
campaign accounts. The Gatto campaign called the filing "a total red
herring" and said it has done nothing wrong. The commission does not
comment on possible investigations.

During a candidates forum in which contenders were allowed to question
each other, Gatto asked Keuroghelian whether anyone had asked him to
get out of the race. In the exchange, posted on YouTube, Keuroghelian
said officials including Krekorian and representatives of the Armenian
National Committee had met with him and urged him to drop out so
he wouldn’t harm Nahabedian’s chances by diluting the district’s
substantial Armenian vote.

A spokesman for Krekorian, who has endorsed Nahabedian, vehemently
denied Keuroghelian’s account, saying the councilman had met with
Keuroghelian "a couple of times" at the candidate’s request.