Judge sides with school board incumbent to have her name on ballot

[UPDATED 2/19 5:23 p.m.] Glendale school board member Nayiri Nahabedian will have her name on the April 7 ballot, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.

Earlier this month, Nahabedian, who has been on the school board since 2007, filed the suit against city election officials who denied her nomination papers, saying she had missed the deadline.

In her lawsuit, Nahabedian argued that based upon an email she received from the City Clerk’s office on Jan. 28, she believed she had until Feb. 3 to turn in the papers.

In court, Judge James C. Chalfant, referred to that email, sent to Nahabedian and three other school board candidates by city employee Lyova Zalyan, as the basis of his ruling.

“The clerk flat out said, with no qualification, you have until Feb. 3,” Chalfant said. “That was his job — to tell the candidates deadlines… and explain to them what the packet means… he did his job, and he told her what the deadline was... Boy, that’s very strong.”

Nahabedian, as well as candidates Jennifer Freemon, Kevin Cordova-Brookey and Vahik Satoorian were told in the email that the filing deadline had been extended to Feb. 3 for Glendale Unified candidates because incumbent Sandy Russell had not filed papers.

The Jan. 28 email stated:

“As of today, Mrs. Sandra Russell, who is the appointed incumbent GUSD Board Member has not pulled and/or filed her candidate papers. According to the Glendale Municipal Code Section 1.08.030, if an incumbent fails to file, the filing period for that office will be extended.

As you are all aware the filing deadline is tomorrow, Jan. 29, 2015. Since Mrs. Russell has not pulled/filed her candidate papers, the filing deadline for GUSD Candidates ONLY has been extended to Feb. 3, 2015.”

While the law states that only non-incumbents qualify for the extended deadline, Chalfant rested his ruling on Zalyan’s message, which made no clear qualification that Nahabedian’s deadline was Jan. 29.

Deputy City Atty. Andrew Rawcliffe asked the judge to consider the intent of the city’s provision. Though Chalfant did not budge, he agreed the law indicated that Nahabedian missed the Jan. 29 deadline.

“They rely heavily on the advice they are given,” Chalfant said of the candidates. “She was negligent in letting the deadline pass… even negligent people are entitled to win lawsuits sometimes.”

Chalfant added later that he shouldn’t use the word “negligent,” to describe Nahabedian.

“She wasn’t prudent,” he said.

Nahabedian said she was pleased with the ruling.

“I’m pleased to see the system upholding my right to be on the ballot,” she said, adding that her campaign has not come to a halt.

“We have continued to get endorsements. We have continued to reach out to voters. It has been truly a humbling experience to see so many people stand by me. I’m eager to move forward and focus on the many issues facing the Glendale Unified School District,” she said.

For his part, City Clerk Ardy Kassakhian said the city’s election law is clear about the deadline, and that his office had no choice but to reject the paperwork.

“For us to take a position to accept the papers as a result of an email or any other communication from this office would have been making a decision that would be perceived as being partial to one or more candidates,” he said. “This was something for the courts to decide and we’ll respect the court’s decision.”