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THE HOPEFUL CANDIDATES
By Zain Shauk
Burbank Leader
http://www.burbankleader.com/articles/2010/03/24/ politics/blr-candidates032410.txt
March 24 2010
CA
Business owner, TV host, educator and attorney vie for seat.
Candidates in the April 13 special primary election to fill a
vacancy in the 43rd Assembly District will head to Burbank City
Hall at 7 tonight for a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters
of Glendale/Burbank.
The following are brief descriptions of each of the four candidates,
three of whom have never served in public office.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of votes, the election will
proceed to a runoff contest June 8 between the top vote-getters from
each party.
The winning candidate will serve in the Assembly seat until the end
of the current legislative session Nov. 30.
Another election Nov. 2 will determine who will fill the seat for
the following two-year term.
Sunder Ramani is a small-business owner and former president of the
Burbank Chamber of Commerce.
He has been actively involved in various community organizations in
the last 25 years, including YMCAs, educational foundations, Kiwanis
clubs and the Salvation Army in Glendale and Burbank.
He is a Republican, but has cast himself as an "independent thinker"
who has supported Democratic candidates in the past.
Ramani has pushed for deregulation for businesses, schools and other
services, and for reining in the size of government bureaucracies.
He has opposed new taxes and has spoken out against the array of new
laws proposed each year, many of which he says have made operations
complicated for business owners.
Chahe Keuroghelian is an Armenian-language television host and formerly
served as spokesman for the Glendale Police Department.
He started his career as a reporter at a newspaper in Lebanon and
eventually became a journalism and political science instructor at
Mesrobian Armenian High School in Montebello, where he taught for
four years.
He was convicted in 2001 of brandishing a firearm and served 90 days
on house arrest for what he later described as a mistake that broke
his family apart.
He is a Democrat.
Keuroghelian has advocated for eliminating the two-thirds requirement
for passing a budget plan and has called for "creative solutions"
for creating more state revenues, including seeking foreign investment
from oil-rich Middle Eastern countries.
He has also pushed for more classroom funding by reducing spending
on educational administration.
Nayiri Nahabedian is a member of the Glendale Unified School District
Board of Education and of the field faculty in the College of Health
and Human Services at Cal State Los Angeles.
The Democrat was previously a social worker for Los Angeles County and,
in 2008, taught a seminar on racial sensitivity at the Burbank Police
Department, where she offered a critical assessment to officials in
advance of several officers filing civil rights lawsuits.
Nahabedian has advocated for removing the Legislature's two-thirds
majority vote requirement for passing a budget plan and has called for
taxes on oil companies that drill in California in order to provide
another revenue source.
She has committed to fighting for more state resources for public
education.
Democrat Mike Gatto is an attorney and former district director for
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks).
He teaches weekly language classes for English learners at Huntington
Career College.
Gatto has argued that the state's deficit problems are a result of
the limited amount of budget safeguards in place and has advocated
for creating a "rainy day fund" that could be used in years when tax
revenues fall.
He is also pushing for other state revenue sources and has supported
Democratic efforts to tax oil companies who drill in California.
Gatto has also called for creating a new government task force to
analyze opportunities for savings within the state budget.
By Zain Shauk
Burbank Leader
http://www.burbankleader.com/articles/2010/03/24/ politics/blr-candidates032410.txt
March 24 2010
CA
Business owner, TV host, educator and attorney vie for seat.
Candidates in the April 13 special primary election to fill a
vacancy in the 43rd Assembly District will head to Burbank City
Hall at 7 tonight for a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters
of Glendale/Burbank.
The following are brief descriptions of each of the four candidates,
three of whom have never served in public office.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of votes, the election will
proceed to a runoff contest June 8 between the top vote-getters from
each party.
The winning candidate will serve in the Assembly seat until the end
of the current legislative session Nov. 30.
Another election Nov. 2 will determine who will fill the seat for
the following two-year term.
Sunder Ramani is a small-business owner and former president of the
Burbank Chamber of Commerce.
He has been actively involved in various community organizations in
the last 25 years, including YMCAs, educational foundations, Kiwanis
clubs and the Salvation Army in Glendale and Burbank.
He is a Republican, but has cast himself as an "independent thinker"
who has supported Democratic candidates in the past.
Ramani has pushed for deregulation for businesses, schools and other
services, and for reining in the size of government bureaucracies.
He has opposed new taxes and has spoken out against the array of new
laws proposed each year, many of which he says have made operations
complicated for business owners.
Chahe Keuroghelian is an Armenian-language television host and formerly
served as spokesman for the Glendale Police Department.
He started his career as a reporter at a newspaper in Lebanon and
eventually became a journalism and political science instructor at
Mesrobian Armenian High School in Montebello, where he taught for
four years.
He was convicted in 2001 of brandishing a firearm and served 90 days
on house arrest for what he later described as a mistake that broke
his family apart.
He is a Democrat.
Keuroghelian has advocated for eliminating the two-thirds requirement
for passing a budget plan and has called for "creative solutions"
for creating more state revenues, including seeking foreign investment
from oil-rich Middle Eastern countries.
He has also pushed for more classroom funding by reducing spending
on educational administration.
Nayiri Nahabedian is a member of the Glendale Unified School District
Board of Education and of the field faculty in the College of Health
and Human Services at Cal State Los Angeles.
The Democrat was previously a social worker for Los Angeles County and,
in 2008, taught a seminar on racial sensitivity at the Burbank Police
Department, where she offered a critical assessment to officials in
advance of several officers filing civil rights lawsuits.
Nahabedian has advocated for removing the Legislature's two-thirds
majority vote requirement for passing a budget plan and has called for
taxes on oil companies that drill in California in order to provide
another revenue source.
She has committed to fighting for more state resources for public
education.
Democrat Mike Gatto is an attorney and former district director for
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks).
He teaches weekly language classes for English learners at Huntington
Career College.
Gatto has argued that the state's deficit problems are a result of
the limited amount of budget safeguards in place and has advocated
for creating a "rainy day fund" that could be used in years when tax
revenues fall.
He is also pushing for other state revenue sources and has supported
Democratic efforts to tax oil companies who drill in California.
Gatto has also called for creating a new government task force to
analyze opportunities for savings within the state budget.