Several potential candidates are quietly preparing or exploring campaigns for the 2015 race for Burbank City Council. This is the way it has worked in the past. Gear up discreetly behind the scenes in the spring and summer. Then usually, council candidates announce in the fall. Well, this time around not all of the candidates are playing by the old rules.
Two have announced that they are already off and running; Burbank Planning Board member/realtor, Chris Rizzotti, last March and freelance writer/journalist, Will Rogers last Friday, August 22. Both Rizzotti’s and Rogers’ announcements were covered first on the MyBurbank website.
Rogers’ campaign website went up over the weekend as well. Rogers claims he has been asked by supporters to run for city council before and rejected the idea. However now, he says the time is right: “Scandals of the Bell city council exemplified the danger of electing council members not skilled in everything from reviewing budget line items, to being able to distinguish between staff’s best technical advice, and staff engaging in cheerleading and advocacy,” Rogers said in a news release. “I don’t imply any association to the corruption and self-enrichment seen in Bell, and strongly reject any hint of those in Burbank. But that city’s debacles demonstrate what can happen with council members not up to the task.”
Rogers’ campaign site is quite extensive, from his views on the issues he deems important to his bio to skeletons in his closet, among them, an arrest in 1980. Rogers explains in detail about his skeletons. Rather than waiting for someone to reveal those skeletons during the campaign, Rogers has chosen to get them out front and put his own spin on them.
Council candidates are required to file nomination papers at the city clerk’s office between November 3 and December 1, 2014. If an incumbent does not file, the period will be extended until December 8. City council member Gary Bric’s seat is up for re-election. Bric has been dropping hints that 2014 will be his last full year on the council. Council member Emily Gabel-Luddy’s seat is also up for re-election.
The Burbank Primary Election is February 24, 2015. The Burbank General Election is April 14, 2015. Both elections are vote-by-mail-in-ballots only.
