GLENDALE : Winner Left Race but Plans to Serve

Martin Pilgreen did almost no campaigning and eventually dropped out of the race for a seat on the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees.

But he won anyway, by a mere 19 votes. Wednesday the longtime local principal said he fully intends to take office.

Pilgreen said he bowed out of the contest in mid-March to spend time with his wife, who was battling a recurrence of cancer. But his name had already been printed on the election ballot and on the roughly 7,000 absentee ballots that were mailed to voters.

In Tuesday’s election, he garnered 5,137 votes, enough to capture one of two open seats on the board. He barely defeated fellow challenger Victor King, whom Pilgreen had endorsed upon exiting the race.

“This has been a bizarre election. It’s like winning the lottery,” said Pilgreen, 56. “At the time I withdrew, I made it very public that I had to make a choice between my family and public office, and I opted for my family. I felt I could not do an adequate job of campaigning and that it would be impossible for me to serve.”

Pilgreen said his wife, Janice, a teacher at Rosemont Middle School, has been undergoing testing and treatment for about a month. Her prognosis is improving, which will allow him the time to serve on the board.

“There is no legal clause prohibiting me from taking office and unless something earth-shattering happens, I fully intend to accept the position,” he said.

But the race remained in doubt Wednesday because officials in the city clerk’s office had not yet counted an unknown number of votes that are known as provisional ballots, which are cast by voters whose names are inexplicably deleted from the rolls or who fail to turn in their absentee ballots on time.

Because Pilgreen won by so narrow a margin, King said Wednesday he would not concede the election until the final tally. City officials said the outstanding ballots would probably be counted by today.

“Pilgreen ran very hard until recently, and he has been an educator in this community for more than 20 years, so he has built up a lot of goodwill,” said King, 30, adding that he is “very pleased” with his own showing at the polls in his first run for office.

King, who was endorsed by the college’s faculty union and several business groups, said he is awaiting final results before deciding whether to ask for a recount.

Barring any change in the results, Pilgreen will be sworn in during a ceremony at Glendale City Hall on Monday night, along with reelected college Trustee Robert Holmes, incoming school board members Pam Ellis and Lina May Harper and reelected City Council members Eileen Givens and Larry Zarian.

Another surprise election winner was Harper, who pulled in 6,647 votes to win a school board seat. Her total surpassed by more than 2,000 votes that of third-place finisher John Gantus, an attorney with a big campaign war chest who drew criticism for enrolling his children in private Catholic schools.

Harper, a 53-year-old certified public accountant and longtime PTA volunteer, ran a low-key campaign and raised only about $6,000. She also defeated Peter Musurlian, an aide to U.S. Rep. Carlos Moorhead (R-Glendale), who has no children. Harper said her victory shows that voters trust candidates who have “real ties to the schools.”

“The people who have been involved in the schools and who know me through my involvement over the years are the ones who went out and voted,” Harper said. “They made the difference in this race.”