Barnes, Devine lead campaign fundraising

The two candidates with the most campaign cash so far in the Glendale City Council race have accumulated less than contenders from the previous race despite lending themselves tens of thousands of dollars.

Realtor Rick Barnes raised $43,910 between March 18 and May 15, a combination of $27,100 of his own money and $16,810 in contributions, according to the latest campaign disclosures released last week.

One week away from the June 3 election day for a single seat on the city council, he’s raised a total of $59,279, the most out of the five candidates.

Barnes said postage for distributing campaign mailers ended up being unexpectedly high.

In last April’s race, he raised $12,753 and came in seventh.

Having the most money doesn’t necessarily pan out as an immediate advantage, however, he said.

“I thought I had a reasonably good number of contacts of people in our community, but in the … you still have to work as hard,” Barnes said.

Retired teacher and first-time candidate Paula Devine raised $35,573 in the past two months made up of $14,833 in monetary contributions and $20,000 she loaned herself, according to the disclosures. Since her campaign started, Devine has raised $56,453 overall, the second most out of the candidate pool.

She said she’s been overwhelmed by what she’s received from the public and that throwing in some of her own money was part of the plan.

“We anticipated that,” Devine said. “We had a budget when we started, we’re sticking to that and it’s working out.”

But she trails the three winners of last year’s council race in fundraising during the latter half of their campaigns and Barnes the top two.

In the second half of his campaign, Mayor Zareh Sinanyan amassed $70,482, Councilman Ara Najarian garnered $64,375 and Councilwoman Laura Friedman raised $46,393.

Business owner Vartan Gharpetian, who ran unsuccessfully in 2009, received $16,193 worth of contributions since mid-March and didn’t borrow any money, according to the disclosures. His fundraising total so far is $39,843.

During the first disclosure period, small business owner Chahe Keuroghelian received $2,100 in contributions and has since managed to raise $9,400 in the past two months, bringing his campaign total to $11,600.

Keuroghlian came in fourth in the previous election and raised $17,885.

Retired businessman Mike Mohill earned $4,249 in contributions and has so far put together $12,804 for his campaign. He received a $6,500 loan from his wife earlier in the campaign.

He also ran in last year’s election, coming in eighth.

Whoever wins the sole City Council seat will have it for only 10 months before the April 2015 election for a full four-year term.

The position is in play because former Councilman Rafi Manoukian stepped down to take on the City Treasurer position. Councilman Frank Quintero was appointed to fill the seat until it expires in June.

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Follow Arin Mikailian on Twitter: @ArinMikailian.

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