Candidate eyes 29th seat

Ryan Carter

Illegal aliens are costing the state billions of dollars in health

and education costs, and William Bodell wants to do something about

it.

“We need to reform legal and illegal immigration and control the

borders,” he said, sitting in his insurance brokerage office in

Montrose.

Bodell, a La Crescenta resident who recently completed a term as

an alternate member of the Crescenta Valley Town Council, wants to

win the March 2 Republican primary and take on Rep. Adam Schiff

(D-Burbank) in the fall’s general election.

In the primary, he is competing against Harry Scolinos of Arcadia

and Reza Torchizy of Glendale.

Bodell said he is a unique candidate because he is not an attorney

like Schiff.

“I think a person like me is exactly what the forefathers

intended, a citizen with a family running his own business,” Bodell

said.

Bodell has staked his candidacy for the 29th District -- which

spans from Burbank to Temple City -- on a push to restrain

immigration, bolster the nation’s military and put barriers on trade.

He has also said he would move to demand that Turkey apologize for

its role in the Armenian Genocide. An estimated 1.5 million

Armenians were killed between 1915 and 1923 by the Ottoman Turkish

empire.

Though the majority of voters in the district are Democrats,

Bodell said the area -- with its diversity of Armenian, Latino and

Korean populations -- is basically conservative.

“This district is a microcosm of America,” he said.