Election races are finalized

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.