Coalition Bid Fails in Glendale Balloting

A challenger in last week’s Glendale municipal election failed in an effort to create a coalition around his candidacy in the traditionally under-represented south end of the city.

Nearly twice as many people voted as in the previous election. But the increase was higher in the wealthier, less ethnically diverse northern part of the city, the turf of reelected incumbents Carl Raggio and Ginger Bremberg, and newly elected Councilman Dick Jutras. All five present council members live in more affluent north Glendale neighborhoods.

“It takes a lot more time and education than a two-month campaign to get people to feel that they have an interest to protect,” said defeated challenger Berdj Karapetian, who ran an expensive campaign aimed almost exclusively at south Glendale.

Keep Trying

Karapetian said he will keep trying to build a coalition among south Glendale’s Armenian-Americans, ethnic minorities, apartment dwellers and low- to moderate-income homeowners.

Karapetian had outspent every candidate except one when financial statements were filed two weeks before the election and said he expected his final total to be more than $25,000.

He ran 11th in a field of 13 and got only 3.4% of the vote. He finished first in one precinct, around Mann School, the only precinct in which an incumbent didn’t finish first.

A former lobbyist in Washington and legislative aide in Sacramento, Karapetian based his strategy on mailers sent to five groups in south Glendale: Democrats, Republicans, Armenian-Americans, Latinos and renters. He also launched a registration drive that signed up close to 250 new voters in south Glendale.

However, voter turnout in precincts south of the Ventura Freeway averaged just above 14%, while the citywide average was 21.7%. The turnout was more than double that in previous elections in south Glendale, but the difference was offset by an even larger voter increase in city’s northern neighborhoods.

For instance, in the Oakmont Country Club precinct, home of the influential Royal Canyon Homeowners’ Assn., the turnout rose from 24.5% in 1987 to 37.7%.

Larger Turnout

Northern Glendale voters went to the polls in large numbers, Karapetian said, because “they felt they needed to defend what they thought was the right course for the city,” and because the incumbents’ supporters “manipulated the fear that another Armenian would be elected to the City Council” in addition to Councilman Larry Zarian.

An unprecedented three Armenian-American candidates ran for the council with distinctly different campaign platforms, but none finished better than eighth. Karapetian, who was endorsed by the Glendale-based Armenian National Committee, said about 35% of the city’s 2,000 or so registered Armenian-Americans turned out to vote. “I was expecting more like 70%,” he said.

“But I understand the low turnout,” he said. “Most of these people are recent immigrants, and recent immigrants are slow to understand the importance of exercising their right to vote.”

Karapetian said he will continue organizing south Glendale and the Armenian-Americans. “I’m just getting started,” he said.