MEET CRAIG MISSAKIAN

Claudia Peschiutta

BURBANK -- It all started with a trip to the Lincoln Memorial in

Washington, D.C.

Looking up at the words of President Abraham Lincoln’s second

inaugural address etched into one of the cream-colored walls of the

monument, Craig Missakian realized he would one day run for office.

“I wanted to, in a very small way, make the same kind of

contribution,” he said.

After losing his bid for the Republican nomination in the 43rd

Assembly District race in 1996, Missakian is back as the party’s

candidate for that same seat.

His desire to enter politics came as a surprise to his mother, Pat

Missakian.

“I never dreamed he’d run for office,” she said.

Though he was an outgoing boy, Pat said Missakian has always been a

very private person.

“Even today, I don’t find out anything unless I read it in the paper,”

she said.

But Missakian said he has been interested in politics since he was a

child.

“That came out slowly and it was nurtured over time,” he said.

Missakian remembers getting his first copy of Lincoln’s second

inaugural address, his first visit to Sacramento years ago and running

for class president as a sixth-grader at Verdugo Wilson Elementary

School. The “Uncle Craig wants your vote” slogan was not enough to get

him elected.

But Missakian graduated from Glendale High School with no clear idea

of what he wanted to do with his life.

He spent one year at Glendale Community College and one at what is now

known as the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles before going

onto to USC for a bachelor’s degree in political science.

While at Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C., Missakian became

an intern in then-Sen. Pete Wilson’s office.

The experience, he said, strengthened his desire to go into public

service.

“Everyone there was young, committed, idealistic,” he said.

Pat will tell you the turning point for Missakian came during his

three years in the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office, where he spent

a year prosecuting juvenile court cases in South Central L.A.

“It just bothered him that the laws weren’t doing what they should be

doing,” she said.

Missakian said his time in South Central emphasized for him the

importance of such things as jobs and safe schools.

Attorney Jack DiCanio saw how hard it was for Missakian, a longtime

friend, to sometimes try children as adults.

“Craig really feels like people have to take responsibility for their

actions,” DiCanio said. “That’s a tough position,” he said, but to

maintain it also “shows a lot of character and integrity.”

Running for office has also been tough for Missakian.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” he said.

But Missakian believes the effort is worthwhile.

“When my life is said and done, I would like to be remembered as a guy

that when he saw a problem, stopped to help fix it,” he said.

THE MISSAKIAN FILE

* NAME: Craig Missakian.

* AGE: 40.

* RESIDENCE: Glendale.

* FAMILY: Single

* POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Missakian worked as an intern for then-Sen.

Pete Wilson. He ran for the Republican nomination for the 43rd Assembly

District seat in 1996.