WHAT A RIDE III- GLENDALE & SPECIAL & BURBANK
By Garen Yegparian
a-ride-iii-glendale-special-burbank/
Jun 5, 2009
Not only was the election with me as a candidate very illuminating
(see What a Ride II), but Glendale’s April 7th and California’s May
19th Special elections must also serve as eye-openers.
Let’s start with California. As you’ll remember, the big issues
were fours propositions, placed on the ballot by the legislature
as part of the solution to a large budget deficit. All but one of
the six measures failed. The one penalizing legislators is the only
one that passed. That’s odd, because voters are part of the problem,
having tied the hands of the legislature through various initiative
ballot propositions (i.e. those put their through petitions). Now,
the State Senate and Assembly are in a situation similar to having
an over-constrained set of equations in math.
Both ends of the political spectrum voted against these ballot
measures, though obviously for different reasons. The Democratic end
because of limitations placed on future ability to expand expenditures
in better times, the Republican end because of opposition to taxes. But
the latter side’s legislators have been doing that since these problems
began. At this point, they’re simply being obstructionists, not
governing but grandstanding. Had a reasonable action, the RESTORATION
of the highest tax bracket- eliminated in better financial days-
been taken when first necessary six or seven years ago this whole mess
might have been avoided. So now, the Republicans, and obviously their
constituents who keep electing them and therefore must agree with
this approach, should bear the brunt of the budget pain. I say let
the cuts being made fall largely on their districts. Since they’re
so convinced the state government "wastes" money, they should have
no problem living without the benefit of those expenditures.
On my other electoral recommendations: It looks like Paul Koretz
(for whom I recommended a vote) will win a very close race for LA
Council District 5, though the count is not yet final. In the LA City
Attorney race, Carmen Trutanich has won. You’ll remember I recommended
a coin-flip-hold-your-nose-vote on this one. For the LA Community
College Board, one of my endorsees won- Nancy Pearlman, but not the
other, Angela Reddock. Finally, in the 32nd Congressional District, my
candidate Judy Chu emerged as the Democratic candidate with the most
votes in that special election. It is a heavily Democratic district,
so she’ll win in the runoff.
Let’s move on to Glendale. As you know, the results are perceived as
a disaster from an Armenian perspective. This was due to internal
divisions and personal vendettas on the one hand and external
manipulation n the other. Armenian turnout was in the vicinity of
42%, certainly higher than the overall average, and something to be
proud of.
Internally, a small segment in our community with business,
specifically building/development related, felt outright wronged by the
incumbent Armenian City Council members and took it upon themselves
to seek the former’s defeat. They succeeded in knocking one of them
out. How? By supporting other candidates and, more importantly,
scattering the Armenian vote by fielding more Armenian candidates. In
this, they were aided and abetted by other candidates and political
operatives. Three of the seven Armenian candidates who ran stood
NO CHANCE WHATSOEVER of wining. Unsurprisingly, they placed ninth,
eleventh, and twelfth, out of the twelve candidates. These people
should be shunned in the community.
Another bellwether race was that for Glendale City Treasurer. Rafi
Manoukian, challenging the incumbent, got 10,449 votes. But by my count
(possibly by no more than 25 due to misspelled names, by the County),
10820 Armenians voted, just over 42% of the total 25,651 turnout. You
figure out what this means. Here again, internal rivalries and
antipathies cost votes.
The school board election results, while not positive, were at least
not disastrous. The Armenian incumbent and a non-Armenian ANC endorsee
won. However, the two know-nothing Armenian women, who have run before
and are huge spoilers, did their job again. Somehow these two fear- and
hate-mongers who are an embarrassment to our community must be removed
from their cable TV perches whence they spew their inanity and win over
the ill-informed newcomers to this society. But for them, another well
qualified Armenian would likely have gotten elected. The city clerk
(uncontested) and college board (four candidates vying for three seats)
results were unsurprising and positive for the Armenian community.
Two important issues must be addressed. When personal interests and
community needs conflict, a mechanism for constructively addressing
such clashes must be instituted. Otherwise, we’ll forever be bewailing
our losses, as we’ve done for the same reasons over the last three
Glendale elections. The other, who has a rightful claim to Armenians’
votes? Any i/yan?
Finally, Burbank, home sweet home. I’ve received compliments for
a well run campaign. There were some early stumbles, but in the
General Election, those were remedied. Armenian turnout approached
38%, here again well above the overall average. What’s really a
mystery is how the person who finished fourth in the primary was
able to more than double her vote count in the General election,
coming about 200 votes shying of toppling an incumbent. Scuttlebutt
has it that a serious effort was made by Republican Party operatives,
though I have difficulty believing that was sufficient. Partly, it may
have resulted from voters who wanted to throw out one or the other
of the incumbents jumping on her bandwagon because she was closest
to the top three votegetters in the primary, which included the two
incumbents. Another explanation floating around in the community is
her parents’ long-time ownership of a restaurant and the familiarity
that engenders. Likely, it is a combination of these factors.
The anti-Armenian sentiment in Burbank is also stronger than I
thought. Not necessarily in terms of the number of people who bear such
ill-will, but the depth of it among those who do. Hopefully, within
few years will clear this up as the familiarization and integration
processes progress, outreach and education efforts expand, and the
older generations pass.
But the most amusing incident came the weekend after the election. For
this, you’ll have to watch this or other newspapers of the Garen for
Council website. It should be up within two weeks. Enjoy it.
http://www.asbarez.com/2009/06/05/what-