MASSIVE Voter Fraud Alleged In Los Angeles Council Race

As Glendale Councilmember Laura Friedman and Tropico Station Blogger Scott Lowe both recently learned, cries of "racism" are often the last bastion of argument for someone who is cornered and has nothing else to argue.  As we recently saw there, the supporters of a councilman who posted horrific comments online tried to turn the tables, calling his accusers (Lowe, Friedman, and others) racist, and only later did that councilman admit he made the postings.

The Burbank Blog even re-reporting on a story broken by the Los Angeles Times about massive voter fraud in Los Angeles' Little Armenia is sure to garner the same cries.  Although, in that instance, you have walkers of Armenian heritage versus walkers of Armenian heritage, one side accusing the other of rather extreme voter fraud.

As the Times reported, walkers for candidate John Choi went to house after house only to find that walkers for rival Mitch O'Farrell had allegedly already been there and physically taken and voted the absentee ballots, in many cases of elderly people.  Several people alleged that the O'Farrell walkers told the voters they were voting for Sam Kbushyan, an also-ran in the first round of balloting.  Kbushyan, allegedly, is part of the shenanigans.

Then there's this: as others have reported, at least in one instance, walkers for Kbushyan brandished a gun at Choi walkers.

The ridiculous figures surrounding Kbushyan's showing in the primary, and now this, virtually beg for an investigation.  Kbushyan got something like 72 votes at the polls but thousands by absentee, allegedly harvested by these methods.

Before any extremist out there cries ethnic profiling, we remind all of you that the people making these allegations are walkers of Armenian heritage themselves along with voters of Armenian heritage.  The people who would do this type of thing, especially to their own people, are birds of prey, and one wonders if there is also an elder abuse conviction in the cards here.

You can read the full story by clicking here.

Mixed Messages from Glendale

Our neighbor to the east has a bit of a governance crisis.  No, not just Zareh Sinanyan.  Although he finally came clean, and calls for him to resign have not abated.

We're talking the rest of city government.  Four stories this week create quite the mixed message.

The first was that Glendale expects to have a budget surplus this next year.  OK, great!  Part of the overall recovery of the overall market and we're very happy for Glendale and its residents who have needed a headline like this for so long and some good news.

However, the next headline was a little weird because it stood for the completely opposite message.  It was that Glendale was suffering because its leaders had spent money poorly on redevelopment and now needed to try to get as much back from that program from the state.  That doesn't jibe.

The next story continued the ping pong match.  It said that several Glendale high management employees have seen huge raises and huge benefits packages and that many make many hundreds of thousands a year.  Vanguardians?  Helloooo???

But in the continuing whiplash, the next story said how Glendale leaders voted to give pay cuts to rank and file blue collar workers. 

Can anyone explain these four stories to us?  Does anyone understand how these stories can be weaved together to actually make sense?

Is Anthony Portantino Masterminding the Coverup for Racist Zareh Sinanyan?

As the story of Zareh Sinanyan's racist and homophobic comments spread, one by one, the elected officials who had endorsed him publicly disavowed Sinanyan and his statements.  And one by one, they publicly pulled their endorsements.  Adam Schiff did this. Eric Garcetti did this.  Wendy Greuel did this.  Paul Krekorian did this.

There was no published public remonstration from one (former) official however: Mr. Anthony Portantino.  For a guy who claims to hate the attitudes that Sinanyan expressed, his silence was deafening.

Now additional details are emerging that seem to indicate that Portantino could be advising Sinanyan on how to sweep this under the rug.  First was the extraordinary nature by which Sinanyan finally came clean.  We all know he expressed "regret" on the busiest news day of 2013, the day the Boston bombing suspects were captured.  We know the GNP obliged, running a Sunday columnist on a Friday.

It was to whom that made it extraordinary.  Did Sinanyan come clean in Asbarez, the mouthpiece of his biggest supporters, the ANC?  Did he come clean to the reporters at the GNP who covered the story? To blogger Scott Lowe, who broke the story?  No.

He came clean to Ron Kaye, someone who Sinanyan must have known, without a doubt, would cover it with a nice spin.  Think about that for a minute.  Rather extraordinary to call a columnist out of the blue who had never reported on the issue(!) and who doesn't even usually write stories on the day you are coming clean(!)

Several progressive bloggers have noted how biased Kaye appears, almost as if he was being operated by someone.  We've been sent on 4 separate occasions from 4 different sources, searing refutations of entire Kaye articles.

Who is Kaye close with?  Anthony Portantino.  The two have met recently, according to sources.  The two have been at events, together.  Of all the elected officials in the universe, who Kaye normally trashes (he's an anti-establishment guy), he has written absolute panegyrics on Portantino.  Clearly, there is something to their relationship.  Some have speculated a financial one, but we do not have evidence for that.   We just have the evidence of a close relationship as shown above.

So did Portantino advise Sinanyan to call his buddy Kaye for the old whitewash?  It's surely possible.

What else?  Allegedly, the kid who "convinced" Zareh to come clean is the child of a prominent Portantino supporter and fundraiser.  If this connection is true, wow, just wow.

Recapping: we have Portantino strongly pushing the Sinanyan candidacy, appearing at just about every event with him.  We have no public statement by Portantino about Sinanyan's horrific statements.  We have Sinanyan mysteriously coming clean to the obliging and slavish Portantino spinster, Ron Kaye.  And we have an individual with possible connections to Portantino supporters and donors offering up statements on Sinanyan coming clean, and Sinanyan claiming, that it was all due to that individual.

No, Zareh, it was all due to you trying to cling to office, and not get recalled, and bury the story.  You finally came clean because good people like "grayrot" wouldn't let the story die.  You finally came clean because the ANC was getting a rep as a racist organization. You finally came clean because your denials and conspiracy theories were convincing no one.

The lies around this story continue to be troubling.  They continue to make no sense.  And ditto for the connections of one Mr. Anthony Portantino.

Zareh Sinanyan Lied; Glendale News Press Acts As Apologist

On the busiest Friday news cycle in recent memory, Zareh Sinanyan chose to come clean to, of all people, Ron Kaye.  Kaye dutifully published a "Sunday" column on Friday, and chose to begin his column not with a factual exposition of Sinanyan's racist vitriol, but instead a beautiful story of Sinanyan's wonderful (not) feelings.  (We're used to think that the people who thought Kaye had an improper financial relationship with certain elements were crazy.  Now we're not so sure).

So let's recap: the News Press refused to even publish the story until courageous folks like Scott Lowe and Laura Friedman raised the issue.  Apparently, it was too much for the GNP to use Google Cache, common sense, and tough questioning to get to the truth.

Then Zareh Sinanyan apologists, led by the ANC, blamed this on, in order, Mike Gatto, then Turkish Intelligence, then Laura Friedman, alleging they had each, in turn, created five years of hate-speech as a vast conspiracy to frame the goodhearted Sinanyan.

Then the GNP let coverage fade.  They chose to resurrect coverage, oddly enough, after the election, and the very same reporters who failed to cover the issue promptly or with even proper terminology, got some choice LA Times bylines from it.

Now Zareh admits that he posted this stuff.  IE, he admits that he called women "cunts," men "faggots."  That he threatened to rape someone with a tennis racket.  That he called African Muslims "monkey boy," and Asian Muslims "Mongol Tatars." That he told Muslims that their culture and religion consisted of washing a camel's ass.

And Ron Kaye publishes this apology of a column???  Ron Kaye Shills for a Racist

Does anyone ask where Sinanyan's apology to Laura Friedman is?  Anyone ask the ANC how and why they mobilized folks to come to council and trash Friedman publicly, calling her in essence, a racist?

The GNP owns this.  From top to bottom, they own this election of a racist.  Their coverage (or lack thereof) has been an embarrassment from start to finish. 

Burbank City Council Analysis, Commentary

After the smashing victory of Bob Frutos in the Primary, the theme of the Burbank City Council runoff was "three incumbents, two seats."  Well, the music has stopped, and David Golonski doesn't have a chair anymore.

Here's the analysis, and we apologize for the delay (Convention):

The word around town is: that David Golonski has his backers, and that David Gordon has his backers.  The difference between the two, is that Golonski appears not to have realized that Burbank is no longer a small town.

Several times, Golonski has run for council, and several times he has won.  He has won based on one thing really: his relationships in town, something that is possible in a small town.  Here was the Golonski strategy: you forge friendships, your friends put up lawn signs and tell their friends, and you walk door-to-door.  This was how Golonski ran his campaign in 1993, and this was how Golonski ran his campaign in 2013.

The problem is that times have changed, the city has grown.  Voters expect some mail pieces, and it is impossible to reach them all by word of mouth.  Burbank simply isn't the homogenous network of old. 

Even Jess Talamantes got mail pieces that significantly boosted his name ID, even if they were the so-called "hit pieces" by UFCW.  (And by the way, we still are pissed by all the local pols who endorsed Talamantes despite his open pro-Walmart stance: we're talking you Carol Liu, Mike Gatto, Adam Schiff, Brad Sherman, Marsha Ramos, etc.)

But we digress.  Golonski did no mail to speak of.  Just a lame postcard.  He had no web presence whatsoever, no engagement with the 10% of voters who are "young."  And thus he lost, by 700 votes.  Would a mail program, a website, and some additional engagement have given him a victory?  Probably.  So the city loses his expertise and clear time commitment. 

A shame. We'll see if Gordon makes a George Bush-like mistake, and views his victory here as a "mandate," that "allows" him to be even more of a jerk.  Or whether he is smart enough to be conciliatory and gracious.  So far, that doesn't seem to be in his DNA.  Stay tuned...

Tabet Triumphs, Ferguson Fails (Complete Burbank School Board Election Recap, With Commentary)

No one can say that City Clerk Zizette Mullins makes the same mistake twice.  She and her staff were awesome last night, the epitome of efficiency, counting all ballots by 10:30 or so.  Here is what happened:

Charlene Tabet beat Steve Ferguson for the second open seat on the Burbank School Board.  (After Larry Applebaum's showing in the Primary, nobody thought that his seat was seriously in doubt.)  

Ferguson, despite a clear attempt by his campaign and the BTA to tie him to Applebaum's coattails (with several joint mail pieces, a joint call program, etc.), got a whopping 1263 votes less than Applebaum, over 11% less in raw percentage points. 

What made Ferguson do so poorly compared to the guy he was trying to run as a team with?  What made Ferguson lose in his second try for the same office in a short period?  We need not rehash all the factors.  Any visitor of this blog (see posts below) knows.  Suffice to say there was both a credibility and maturity issue.

The most intriguing thing about the Ferguson campaign is that the repercussions for his supporters are not over.  No less than three people alleged to be supporting Ferguson were charged with crimes over the course of the campaign, all petty theft for stealing the signs of his perceived closest competitor, victor Charlene Tabet.  The fascinating aspect will be whether any of the three decide to "talk," and reveal who put them up to their sign-snatching escapades. 

An equally fascinating connection that we will probe later is the connection and role of the Armenian National Committee ("ANC").  One of those charged, Vahe Assarian, was an intern at the ANC as of August 2012.  Funny, but he doesn't mention if he was instructed on how to steal lawn signs.

Another group that must be scratching its heads in the school board race has to be the Burbank Teachers Association.  They apparently made their endorsement decisions, of Ferguson and lowest vote getter Armond Aghakhanian before filing even closed. 

Why the BTA would not back a staunch pro-labor Democrat like David Dobson or a former union teacher Tabet is just mystifying.  Their shut out and high-tenor rhetoric should be causing a little head scratching internally.

Best election coverage goes to MyBurbank.com, formerly know as Burbank and Beyond.  It broke many of the best stories in the election, and with depth.

Worst coverage goes to the Burbank Leader.  First it did a puff piece on Steve Ferguson, and little coverage on any of the other candidates.  The Leader's coverage basically just restated the Ferguson claims about how many "firsts" his victory would entail, with no analysis of qualifications, and no equal time for the other candidates.  I know no one in town who wasn't scratching their heads at that one! 

Then, the Leader endorsed him.  Remember, Ferguson is a part-time campaign worker.  He does not have a college degree and is therefore prohibited by law from teaching at any of the schools he sought to regulate!  There was very little mention of these things: his utter lack of qualifications. 

Even when the Leader covered the aforementioned sign thefts, they featured under the headline a picture of the victim (Tabet) and not Ferguson, a subtle but telling bias.  As one Letter to the Editor summed it up, regarding Ferguson: OK, he's 23 and gay.  What else ya got?  This blog has been a tireless defender of LGBT rights and assuring the LGBT perspective is told.  But if being young and gay qualified one for the school board (despite being uneducated and unemployed), we'd all vote for Jim Parsons, star of the Big Bang Theory.  No wait, he, unlike Ferguson, has a regular job.

We'll return shortly with an analysis and commentary of the City Council results. 

What If They Elected A Monster And No One Cared?

Enlightened local voters and progressive Democrats are mortified that Zareh Sinanyan, accused of posting horrifically racist, sexist, and homophobic comments online, just got elected to the Glendale City Council.  The mood we've heard this morning, after seeking comments from several local elected officials, is outrage at the silence on this issue that led to this outcome.  One prominent local activist in an e-mail cited the Ginetta Sagan quote, "Silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor."

By now, most insiders have read the facts and made their own determinations.  Scott Lowe, a journalist at the Tropico Station, a website focusing on Glendale issues, has covered it very well.  For those that missed the coverage, here are the essential links:
 
The Case Against Sareh Sinanyan 

Zareh Sinanyan Refuses to Deny Racist, Sexist Comments 

Sinanyan Loses Several Endorsements 

Additional Point-By-Point Coverage of Scandal 

We are among those who remain speechless that any group would defend, much less vote for, someone like Sinanyan, accused of making these comments.  The comments call African Muslims "monkey boy[s]," Asian Muslims, "Mongol Tatars," repeatedly call men "faggots" and women "cunts."  (We apologize for the raw language, but there is no way to sugar coat them).

As always, we name winners and losers in this sad saga:

Kudos to the elected officials who promptly and publicly pulled their endorsement of Sinanyan, refusing to countenance this type of thing.  We are talking about Adam Schiff, Paul Krekorian, Eric Garcetti, and Wendy Greuel. They showed that they know how to read research reports, that they know how Google works, and that they have backbones.

Shame on the elected officials who endorsed Sinanyan and then did not speak out in the face of the scandal: Anthony Portantino and Adrin Nazarian.

Kudos to the Tropico Station Blog for not only covering the issues, but offering an unbiased, fact-based analysis of them too.  For example, is it credible when a guy's supporters makes wild claims that foreign intelligence posted the comments in his name, five years ago, repeatedly?  Most credible publications would at least subtly pass judgment on the incredulous nature of the denials here.  Many did not.  Which brings us to:

Shame on the Glendale News Press for copping out: merely "covering the coverage," i.e., only covering the story as a "he-said, she-said" and only covering the Council hearing instead of the comments themselves.  Worse still, shame on them for repeatedly calling the comments merely "vulgar."  Sorry GNP, but calling Muslims "fucking cockroaches" is not just "vulgar."  Threatening homosexual rape on someone is not just "vulgar."  Such comments are hate speech, and need to be labeled appropriately.

Shame on the so-called human-rights groups that have yet to do anything on this issue.  We're talking about the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Stonewall Democratic Club, the Courage Campaign, etc.  Because of your inaction, children in Glendale have gotten the message that if they post stuff like this online, it's OK.  You won't suffer any consequences.  In fact, you too, can be elected to public office.

 

Shame on the Armenian National Committee for not only refusing to withdraw their support of Sinanyan, but for shamelessly lashing out at the people who dared to point out an issue with the comments attributed to him.  This spectacle has called their endorsement in question for any candidate who gets it.  In the simplest terms, here they acted as an organization that condones hate.

We only get the government we deserve.  Thanks to low voter turnout, a silent tolerance of "my ethnicity at all costs" attitudes, and the failure of so many to speak out, Glendale now has Zareh Sinanyan on the council for four years.  And that makes the citizens of Glendale the biggest sufferers in this whole mess.

Without an apology from Sinanyan, and an admission that he made these comments but has learned from his mistakes, we don't see how he can govern.  This is not over.  We are counting on the good souls out there to demand more from their government, their NGOs, and their media.  Stay tuned.
 

Steve Ferguson Aide Arrested, Charged [VIDEO]

The repeated thievery by the Steve Ferguson campaign is drawing some heavy consequences, and some heavy coverage.  KNBC-TV has picked up the story of how Ferguson's longtime buddy, campaign aide, and Ferguson operative, Scott Trinidad, was caught on video "allegedly" stealing the campaign signs of one of Ferguson's rivals, Charlene Tabet.

You can watch the KNBC News Video here.


As of today, the Steve Ferguson For School Board web page contradicts his previous lies, er, claims, that Trinidad never had a formal role on the Ferguson campaign.  Several links remain on the interwebz that indicate how Trinidad maintained a key role in the campaign, and even had his own, internal organizational email address (scott@fergusonforschoolboard.com).  Link 1  Link 2

The Ferguson-Trinidad link, and the thievery, appear to be the tip of the iceberg.  Just a few months back, when both were unemployed, they both are on record as donating massive amounts to the failed Torie Osborn for Assembly campaign.  One wonders where these unemployed buddies in their early twenties got the spare cash to donate so much (about $3000) to one campaign. 

Scott Trinidad	Norwalk, CA	N/A	Unemployed	$135	10/23/11	Osborn Assembly 2012, Torie
Scott Trinidad	Norwalk, CA	N/A	Unemployed	$80	12/31/11	Osborn Assembly 2012, Torie
Scott Trinidad	Norwalk, CA	N.a.	Unemployed	$650	05/06/12	Osborn Assembly 2012, Torie
Scott Trinidad	Norwalk, CA	N.a.	Unemployed	$150	05/19/12	Osborn Assembly 2012, Torie

Steve Ferguson

Toluca Lake, CA

$1,500

06/03/12

Osborn Assembly 2012, Torie

(Note too that Steve Ferguson, who bills himself as a lifelong Burbanker, was living in Toluca Lake (under penalty of perjury) less than a year ago.)

Will Trinidad come clean about his myriad dealings with Ferguson, in exchange for a plea?  Stay tuned.