City Clerk

Application issue merits closer look I have been following the debate and discussions on the absentee ballot application issue, and it seems the parties involved are so entrenched in their viewpoint that they have forgotten what the issue is truly about (“Absentee issue remains divisive,” Wednesday). Let me first explain how my campaigns used the absentee voting process to encourage more Armenian Americans to vote. The work starts with the mailing of the absentee ballot applications, and for two weeks after the mailing, phone calls are made to encourage voters to sign and return the applications.

CITY CLERK TELLS WOMEN?S CIVIC LEAGUE ABOUT DUTIES The Women?s Civic League of Glendale will have City Clerk Ardashes ?Ardy? Kassakhian speak at the next meeting beginning at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Glendale Elks Lodge, 120 E. Colorado St., Glendale. Kassakhian?s topic is ?City duty in the 21st Century.? For reservations, send a check for $13 to Chick Benveniste , 409 Meadows Drive, Glendale, CA 91202, by Wednesday. ? AREA REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLY SPONSORS CANDIDATE FORUM The Glendale-Burbank Republican Assembly will be hosting a candidate forum at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Clancy?

AT ISSUE: Should Paulette Mardikian drop out of the city clerk race over the alleged misuse of the city seal? Following the rules, attention to detail and taking responsibility are the all important parts of the job description for city clerk. City clerk candidate Paulette Mardikian unfortunately failed this critical test. In reading your article ("Candidate asked to drop out," March 17), I was most interested in who caught Mardikian's infraction and filed the report.

I have enjoyed the Montrose Shopping Park since I moved to Southern California in the early 1990s. What a calm and relaxing environment in which to shop and stroll around! Apparently, there is a turbulent undercurrent of strife that rumbles beneath the streets and behind the storefronts that we normal citizens cannot perceive. I'm trying my best to understand the volatile reaction demonstrated recently by the Montrose merchants. Let me see if I have this straight.

This issue of absentee ballot applications has become divided between the proposed ordinance that council members are scheduled to vote on Tuesday and the ongoing debate about it, which has strayed from the topic. But which came first, the chicken or the egg? Council members need to vote on whether to change the absentee ballot application process so that applications go straight to the city clerk without 72-hour stopovers at various campaign offices. But the issue has become one of race and ethnicity, pitting neighbors against one another.

What do you consider the role of the city clerk? The primary role of the city clerk is keeping government open and fair. The two key responsibilities of the office are holding fair elections and ensuring that the Brown Act is followed when holding city meetings. Election laws must be held to a high standard for all candidates and rules enforced evenly. Similarly, city meetings must be held openly, and the public must be given the opportunity to research information before counsel hearings.

It has been 20 years since voters chose a city treasurer. It has been 75 years since voters decided who would fill the city clerk spot. Since 1929, the city clerk position has been handed down, with incumbents retiring mid-term and the City Council choosing a replacement. In those 75 years, the incumbent never lost, and there hasn't been an open election, with no incumbent running, in that time. Betty Evans was elected city treasurer in 1985. She served in that role unopposed until she retired mid-term in 1999.

Reader: Vartanian is best-qualified for clerk This past week, my family received several promotional fliers for city clerk and City Council candidates. Seeing as the elections are fast approaching, we decided now would be a good time to start researching for ourselves just who is running for the highly coveted city clerk position. Because we are all being bombarded by biased election brochures, we feel it is important to do our own independent homework.