Kenders' Musings

I just had the honor of sitting down with Armineh Chelebian for what was supposed to be a short interview. It turned into almost two hours of discussion on what is wrong in the country, and how we can go about fixing it. In fact it wasn't simply how we can fix it but WHY Armineh's ideas are the only sensible solutions to the problems we are facing.

First off, Armineh came here, legally, at the age of 16 with her parents, uprooted from her home, leaving behind her friends and all she knew, she moved here to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave and as she said "I was sad to leave my friends but I was very happy I was here."

I started out by asking her about Props 98 and 99. Prop 98 stops government from taking private property to give to developers and non-profits and ends rent control by phasing it out while prop. 99 is there to defeat prop 98 and leave government the ability to take our private property for developers. I asked her specifically is she believed government was going too far in taking private property and handing it over to private developers.

Her answer?

We live in the United States of America, we don't live in a socialist country. But you, taking one private citizens property so you can turn a profit and give it to another citizen, private business, private entity is wrong....so I'm for 98."

Clearly one can see that Armineh Chelebian stands strong on private property rights.

Now onto illegal immigration;

On RedCounty dot com is a post, more of a notice actually, about this very race. In the comments of this post is a comment by one Sean Fudge outright lying about Armineh's immigration stance. The fact that Sean Fudge failed to disclose his capacity as Ken Sherman's campaign manager is an ethical lapse of somewhat serious proportions. These are the types of people we are dealing with here, and if these are the types of people that are running for Republican seats we are in more trouble as a party than I thought.

Honestly we don't need the kind of people in office in our name that Ken Sherman and his crew have shown themselves to be. If we wanted to have anti-semitic supporters of move on dot org lying about their opponents we'd be democrats, but we're not, are we? We are CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS, and we are trying to take back our party from the wasteful slugs that have made it to Washington D.C. in our name and acted like drunken sailors on leave when it comes to spending money. The way to do that is to support True Conservatives such as Armineh Chelebian. Build from the bottom up. As Armineh said several times during our interview, if you don't have a good foundation, I don't care how many levels you build on, it's going to collapse.

Now Ken Sherman is saying he is the only candidate standing up against illegal immigration, which is patently false. I have asked Ken Sherman if he would answer some questions but as of this writing he hasn't replied.

Another great thing is that Armineh is staunchly in the English first camp. When she came here at 16 English was her third language, and she would sit and do her homework with a dictionary next to her so she could translate it, but she did and she made A's. If she had her way in Sacramento she'd save money by switching the phone systems to say "Press one to speak English, otherwise hang up and call back when you learn the language."

BRAVO!

Finally someone running for office that says "We speak English here."

Now this in no way makes Armineh racist or hateful of immigrants. Armineh IS an immigrant, and a legal one, and a very successful business owner, mother, wife and daughter. Armineh Chelebian is the very essence of what this country is about. But she understands that there are laws to be followed and those that come here by skirting those laws are being vastly unfair to those that wait in line, sometimes for years, and THAT, my friends, is extremely Un-American. We are all about fairness and equality here. Everyone remembers the picture of President Clinton standing in line waiting his turn at McDonald's. Here in the United States of America even the President stands in line. We are all equal under the law.

Now, speaking of foundations, I have an 8 year old son, and am extremely concerned with the education system. Knowing that Armineh has raised children (I saw pics and she has very beautiful children that are going places in life) and has sat on several PTA's I had an inkling that she'd have some great ideas in that area, and I was not disappointed. I have read her website (Armineh Chelebian dot com) and she has been extremely involved with her children's education their entire life, and it shows by the fact that her oldest is off to college and her son will be there next year.

Armineh understands the problems facing our education system and has a great plan for turning it around, but of course it will be an uphill battle against the teachers unions and the administrators that are entrenched in the upper echelons of the LAUSD. They certainly won't want anything to destroy their little fiefdom. Never mind the fact that we are running something like a 24 to 50% drop out rate, depending on whose study one goes by, the fact is that the LAUSD is an imponderable mess, full of complacent administrators that continue to stay the course with a failed system year after year.

Armineh would like to see the school district broken up, have more charter schools and put the control in local hands, empowering parents and local administrators with a sense of ownership and control, bringing back accountability and efficiency. The LAUSD is like a black hole, and tossing money into it is just like tossing money into an actual blackhole, to paraphrase Armineh. AS she pointed out to me, we are conservatives, and we believe in smaller government because it's more efficient, so why do we not demand smaller school districts? They'd be more efficient. Not only would they be more efficient but if the LAUSD was carved up into smaller fiefdoms it would be much easier to find the wasteful parts of it and repair it. Right now we are looking for a tick on a brontosaurus, instead of a mole on a mouse.

Armineh then said something that I absolutely loved to hear. She said, when asked by someone how she, being one single person, was going to make a difference, that most things in Sacramento are made or broken in committee, and she will be able to help make or break those motions. Secondly she is going "to be a pebble in anybody else's shoe who's going to try to do it their way" when she doesn't agree with them. Believe me this woman has the courage and convictions of her ideals to go to Sacramento and be that pebble.

When I asked Armineh how the state could retain business and attract new business she had a grasp on that as well, saying that over regulation and increasing taxes drives business out of the state. We spend our days pushing our children to do well in school and then chase the very businesses that would hire them out of the state by regulating them to a point that causes them to decide that moving to another state is simply a matter of survival. As a business owner Armineh understands the burdens placed on our small businesses, and will work tirelessly to make California a more business friendly place.

Armineh has worked for years in the business end of healthcare, and understands that a free market will work better for fixing our healthcare problems. A single payer system is not what we need. Having Armineh in Sacramento would give us one more voice against the madness of a single payer system that would push this state that much faster into bankruptcy.

Armineh has a great grasp on the problems facing our state. From healthcare to schools to businesses to immigration, and would be a fine representative in the 40th District here. Now on June 3rd only registered Republicans and Decline to States can vote for Armineh or Ken, and my hope is that you will cast your vote for Armineh. If she gets through next week she is going to need your help to get to November. The 40th District is a Democrat district, but I think in the coming months we can show the democrats in the 40th district that Armineh Chelebian has their values, for they are the values of Americans everywhere.

Better Schools.

Less Taxes.

Less Government.

More Freedom.

Isn't that what we all want?

Vote Armineh Chelebian For Assembly.