Ramani attended Hoover High School and Glendale Community College. He has served as president of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce and a board member of area community and educational foundations.
But he has been a longtime resident of La Cañada, where he serves as a member of the city’s public safety commission. La Cañada is in the 44th Assembly District.
Ramani rented an apartment at the end of 2009 on Alameda Avenue in Burbank to qualify for the election, Ramani said.
His decision was inspired by community civic leaders, he said.
“People have always asked me to step up, and it’s not because of where I live, it’s because of what I’ve done for the community,” Ramani said.
Other candidates in what is so far a five-person race appeared indifferent about Ramani’s decision.
“If he feels that he has invested in the community and he wants to see the fulfillment of the services that he has provided, and he has committed to provide for their services, then I personally don’t see any problem with it,” said Chahe Keuroghelian, Democratic candidate and former Glendale Police Department public information officer.
Attorney Mike Gatto, also a Democratic candidate, said he was generally opposed to relocating for election purposes.
“Personally, I don’t like to see people move to qualify to run for office because I think it indicates more about their ambition than anything else, but I also realize that the district lines are so artificially drawn anyway that they can pose a problem for candidates like Mr. Ramani,” Gatto said.
Similar moves before elections are commonplace, but have become more acceptable in California, where districts have become increasingly drawn to support dominant political parties, said Gautam Dutta, deputy director for political reform for the New America Foundation.
“I think the bottom line is whether a candidate has ties to the community,” Dutta said. “Because we all know that, because of gerrymandering, the lines shift a lot, and sometimes the district, if you look at a map, it looks like modern art.”
The registration deadline for the April special primary election is March 1.
Any candidate who wins more than 50% of votes in that race would win the seat outright, but observers consider that scenario unlikely.
The race would then proceed to a runoff election between the top vote-getters of each political party June 8, which will also be the same day as a primary for an election in November for the same Assembly seat.
Registration for the November election will be open from Monday to March 12.
