USA Armenian Life Magazine Announces Glendale Municipal Election Endorsements

– MARCH 28, 2013
By Appo Jabarian
Executive Publisher / Managing Editor
USA Armenian Life Magazine
MARCH 28, 2013
The editorial board of USA Armenian Life Magazine is guided by mainly five criteria in determining which candidate is worthy of its endorsement.
Below are the criteria.
1) Well-qualified candidate. A candidate needs to be well-qualified for the position in the public office. If an incumbent, he or she must have done a good job during their tenure of that office;
2) Bridge candidate. A candidate seeking election in a culturally and religiously diverse community like Glendale, CA, he or she must NOT be a ghetto individual. A ghetto individual creates unnecessary inter ethnic friction, and polarization. A bridge candidate can serve as a channel of goodwill, cooperation and friendship among all ethnic groups in the city;
3) All-American election platform. A candidate must not be the representative of special interests. He or she must pursue a political agenda that fosters the common good of the people;
4) Open for transformational changes in city government. Voters should shy away from candidates sponsored by the “Old Guard’ that desires to perpetuate the status quo. Glendale is no longer a bedroom community. It’s now a bustling metropolis that thrives on diversity. We as a community need to move forward and get stuck in the past while being wary of the deterioration of quality of life;
5) Commitment to enhancing quality of life. A candidate shall at no time foster projects that can be detrimental to the overall quality of life, such as a) encouragement of over-development that can trigger overpopulation; b) mismanagement of the City’s financial resources and open space.
USA Armenian Life Magazine’s is pleased to announce the endorsement of the following candidates:
- Greg Krikorian, Dr. Armina Gharpetian, and Christine Walters for three (3) seats on the Glendale Unified School District Governing Board.
- Councilman Ara Najarian (incumbent), a very knowledgeable city activist Herbert Molano and well-respected community organizer Zareh Sinanyan for the three seats on the Glendale City Council.
- Ardashes “Ardy” Kassakhian (incumbent) for Glendale City Clerk. It’s noteworthy that Ardy has also been endorsed by The Glendale News press.
- Raffi Manoukian for City Treasurer. Manoukian has served several terms as a Member of Glendale City Council and as Mayor. As a knowledgeable Certified Public Accountant and as someone who has extensive information about the Glendale city government and its finances, he can do good job as its next City Treasurer.
USA Armenian Life editorial board urges voters to elect them on April 2.
As for the three proposed measures A, B, and C, they’re all bad the City. They must be voted down. Among all three the most controversial one is Measure A. The details of this measure should be brought to the forefront of public awareness.
“Glendale has always had an elected treasurer, and twice in the past voters turned down council-driven attempts to gain exclusive control of the city’s chief investment officer. Each time the council attempted to sway voters, their arguments have been the same as today: ‘There is too much at stake to let the voters decide,’ or ‘It shouldn’t be a beauty contest.’ What the supporters of this measure really mean is that we the voters are too stupid, lazy or inattentive to elect someone qualified for the position. Based on the antics of a few of our past (and some might add present) council members, they may be right. Why then would we want to let them decide? The independence of the treasurer (whose charter-defined job is to manage the cash of our city) should be of paramount importance. Why would having council choose the treasurer make it better? Do the five of them have something special that the 98,000-plus city voters don’t? By city charter, the council already has enormous control over the city’s investment policy, and in an era of more transparent democracy, greater separation of powers is in everyone’s interest,” wrote Brian Ellis in Glendale News Press.
It is undemocratic. It takes the electoral rights away from the people in publicly and democratically deciding through election the next and future holders of Glendale City Treasurer’s office.
USA Armenian Life urges voters to decline their approval of Measure A, B and C by voting NO!.