Glendale councilman withdraws idea for inviting Kim Kardashian onto Rose Parade float

Glendale Councilman Ara Najarian has pulled his request to invite reality television star Kim Kardashian to ride atop the city’s Rose Parade float given that she’s already booked for a New Year’s Eve event in Las Vegas.

The proposal was to be discussed by the full City Council Tuesday night after Najarian was able to get it onto the agenda last week, contending Kardashian’s appearance would be a public relations boon for Glendale.

“I didn’t want to put her in a position to turn down the city of Glendale due to a conflict,” Najarian said Monday.

Efforts to reach Kardashian’s representatives were unsuccessful Monday.

This isn’t the first attempt by Najarian to capitalize on Kardashian’s fame.

After Kardashian said in an episode of her sister’s reality show, “Khloe and Lamar,” in April that she planned to run for the mayor of Glendale — especially given, she told her sister, that Glendale is “like Armenian town” — Najarian offered to make her his honorary chief of staff so she could learn the ins and outs of City Hall.

Kardashian can’t technically run for mayor since it’s a ceremonial position appointed among elected council members, but the interest she showed in Glendale hasn’t been forgotten.

But not everyone is onboard with pursuing the TV star. Najarian has come under some fire since airing the float riding idea, some residents even heckled him as he marched in the Montrose Christmas Parade.

Most naysayers, he said, didn’t want Kardashian to ride on the float because of what they contended was her questionable morality — recall, sex tape — and the fact that she doesn’t live in Glendale, Najarian said.

“I knew when I raised it, there would be a very remote chance she would be there,” he said.

-- Brittany Levine, Times Community News

Follow Brittany Levine on Google+ and on Twitter: @brittanylevine.