Council newcomer outpolls all; Weaver squeaks in
By Naush Boghossian, Staff Writer
Najarian No. 1 in votes
Los Angeles Daily News
Thursday, April 07, 2005
GLENDALE — After ballot-counting that went into the wee hours,
Glendale College trustee Ara Najarian and three incumbents emerged
Wednesday as the winners of four open City Council seats.
Najarian, 44, received more than 10 percent of all votes cast in
the election, which drew higher-than-average turnout — about 26,100
of the city’s 101,200 registered voters. About half the voters used
absentee ballots.
Mayor Bob Yousefian received the second-most votes, followed by
Councilman Frank Quintero. Fourth-place finisher Councilman Dave Weaver
will serve two years, closing out the term of Councilman Gus Gomez,
who left in January after he was elected to the Superior Court bench.
“I never thought I would be the top vote-getter, but the only thing
I can attribute it to is running a positive, clean campaign, just
trying to reach a broad swath across the community,” said Najarian,
an attorney who campaigned on traffic and development issues.
City Clerk candidate Ardashes Kassakhian, who established his lead
during early returns Tuesday night, defeated eight other candidates
to capture a post that has not previously had an open election for
75 years. Current clerk Doris Twedt is retiring.
“The support we’ve gotten has been such a humbling experience,” said
Kassakhian. “There were difficult times and there were good times,
but after today, the real work needs to begin.”
City Treasurer Ron Borucki handily defeated challenger Phillip
Kazanjian.
Voters also approved 21 City Charter amendments that officials said
generally are designed to clean up outdated provisions.
All of the election winners will be sworn in Monday night, when the
council also will elect a new mayor.
In the nine-candidate race for three Glendale Unified School District
board seats, incumbents Greg Krikorian and Chuck Sambar were re-elected
and substitute teacher Joylene Wagner will fill the seat vacated by
Lina Harper.
Glendale Community College trustees Victor King, Armine Hacopian and
Anita Gabrielian all were re-elected, edging out their only competitor,
medical receptionist Linda Sheffield.
This year’s city election distinguished itself from others in city
history with its record number of candidates — 42 — and aggressive
fundraising.
Of the four elected to the council, Najarian and Yousefian were among
the top fundraisers, each collecting more than $100,000.
But money wasn’t the deciding factor for some voters.
Vrej Agajanian, who raised more than $116,000, finished in 10th place.
City clerk candidate Paulette Mardikian, who with the help of a loan
from her husband raised more than $90,000, finished in fourth place.
School board candidate Maria Rochart raised nearly $60,000 — the
most of all the board candidates — and finished sixth.
With the elections, the city of 200,000 residents — about 80,000
of them Armenian — now has a council with three members of Armenian
descent.
“It’s a reflection of the community. It’s no different if there were
80,000 Koreans in Glendale. We’d probably have three Koreans on the
council,” Yousefian said. “But we have to recognize that the ones who
got in were the ones who had votes in all sectors of the community, so
once again it’s been proven that you need the support of all parties,
not just Armenians, to win.”
Naush Boghossian, (818) 546-3306 [email protected]
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