Q&A; : Candidates For The 15th City Council District : Svorinich Says He’ll Take an Active Leadership Style

Rudy Svorinich, 33, hopes to make good on his first run for public office when he takes on Joan Milke Flores in Tuesday’s runoff for the Los Angeles City Council’s 15th District seat.

Svorinich, a lifelong resident of San Pedro and the owner of Industrial Paint Co. in Wilmington, is a graduate of Cal State Dominguez Hills and a former chief deputy for former Assemblyman Gerald N. Felando (R-San Pedro).

An extensive network of friends and family in San Pedro helped him win in that community in the April primary; overall, he placed second, five percentage points behind Flores. But he fared poorly in the other parts of the district. While Svorinich is targeting what he calls Flores’ overlong career at City Hall, the incumbent has criticized him as inexperienced.

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Q: You and Joan Milke Flores are the two most conservative of the seven candidates who ran during the primary. Nine times out of 10 the two of you agree on the issues. So what is the difference between the two of you?

A: I’d say seven out of 10 times we agree. But I think the difference between myself and Joan Milke Flores is my leadership style. She’s been passive, while I favor a more proactive approach. Joan Milke Flores feels that if a community group does not approach her with a specific problem or request then there’s no problem.

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Q: You say you are a moderate while Flores is a conservative. In what ways do you believe yourself to be moderate?

A: On social and labor issues. Her favorite expression is, ‘Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a person to fish and you feed him for life.’ My counter to that is, what about the person who doesn’t have bait or a rod or isn’t near water? What do we do for them?

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Q: What about Flores’ contention that the problems of the district need the expertise of someone with council experience? After all, experience on the job is usually considered important.

A: I offer the experience of being a volunteer community leader, experience in business and my experience in working in a state legislative office. My experience is more dimensional than Joan Milke Flores’. We have seen the experience of a one-dimensional professional politician and bureaucrat over the last 12 years.

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Q: While campaigning, you blame Flores for the crime rate, the economy, unemployment and other problems in the district. But can one person, one of 15 on the City Council, really be blamed for problems that in many cases are statewide and national in scope?

A: The bottom line is that Joan Milke Flores has chosen to be passive. She has chosen to further her political ambitions rather than minding the store. You can’t tell me that things would’ve been this bad if she had been minding the district. But the bottom line is the person who is ultimately responsible for improving the quality of life is the elected representative.

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Q: Let’s talk about crime. Both you and Joan Flores favor more police on the street, but you both opposed raising property taxes to hire more police officers. What do you suggest to fight crime?

A: Putting additional police on the street is only part of the answer. The other part is to create jobs within each of our communities so individuals are able to support themselves and their family at decent wages and have self-esteem. We need to look at the social problem of what is causing the crime: the lack of jobs and the lack of an adequate education. People usually turn to criminal activity because (there are) not legitimate ways to make a living and support oneself. Yes, the law needs to be enforced and criminals should be cracked down on--hard. But the best way to eliminate crime is with quality, union wage-scale jobs. We should fully fund our Gang Alternative Program and recreation programs for our youth.

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Q: Solving crime, creating jobs and recreational programs for youth all take money. But the city is facing a massive budget shortfall that could reach $500 million. Where would the money come from?

A: We need to expand on public-private relationships. Yes the city is in a budget crisis. But I think that’s when my job really begins. If there is not public money available to institute programs and improve the quality of life, then I should go out and seek private funds.

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Q: And job creation?

A: Take a look at the record down here in the harbor. We’ve allowed Todd Shipyard to close, which employed thousands in the harbor. Joan Milke Flore stabbed 317 longshore workers in the back when Southern Pacific, one of her largest campaign contributors, came in and displaced them all. When you see union wage jobs leaving that geographic area, the quality of life declines. People cannot support their families on three- and four-dollar-an-hour jobs.

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Q: Specifically, what areas of the budget would you target for cuts if you were to be elected?

A: You’re trying to pin me down.

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Q: Yes, I am. It’s a massive deficit projection and if you already have ideas for departments or programs you would cut, people will want to know now, rather than being surprised if you are elected.

A: Everything is on the table except police, fire and emergency services. I’ve proposed, through my campaign, a nonpartisan citizens committee to look at spending at City Hall. Let ordinary citizens with expertise look at the budget.

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Q: But if you were elected, wouldn’t that be your job? Isn’t it the council’s job to make those tough budget decisions?

A: Yes, but first we need to set priorities. We should go into the communities, go into the city and say, what are your priorities what do you want to be fully funded, and then go from there.

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Q: What about mayoral candidate Richard Riordan’s proposal to lease Los Angeles International Airport?

A: I don’t have a stand either way on it. The concept sounds good, but reports are indicating that it’s not what it’s cracked up to be. A lot of times you’ll see getting your best bang for your buck from city departments rather than a private firm.

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Q: What about the privatization of garbage collection?

A: I’d consider it. As I said, everything’s on the table except for emergency services.

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Q: How close is this race?

A: It’s very, very close. It’s too close to call. Frankly, you can tell it’s a close race because of all the rhetoric in it. Joan Milke Flores’ literature says she’s in the race of her life. And she is. We both are.