Ex-Staffers Allege Abuses by Svorinich, Aide : Government: They say work related to the councilman’s paint store was done during city time. He denies the accusations.

For months after he took office last year, Los Angeles Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr. and an aide engaged in phone calls and other business related to his Wilmington paint store despite a ban on such activity on city time, several former aides to Svorinich have told The Times.

One former aide, John Barbieri, alleged that Svorinich would routinely visit his Industrial Paint Co. on Mondays--one of two days each week the council does not meet. Other former aides allege that Svorinich aide Irene Mendoza often fielded phone calls from the store at the councilman’s San Pedro office. That activity, they say, continued even after Svorinich’s former chief deputy, John Vidovich, wrote a memo warning Mendoza that she would be put on leave if she continued to work on store business.

Both Svorinich and Mendoza deny the allegations by the former aides, who are among six whose recent departures--voluntary or otherwise--have left the councilman’s office in turmoil.

“The charges and allegations (the former aides) are making are preposterous,” Svorinich said. “If they have any allegations, they should contact the authorities and stop using the media as a bully pulpit. What is the next step . . . go on the Oprah (Winfrey) show?”

In fact, the former aides have aired their allegations in recent weeks to the city’s Ethics Commission and the district attorney’s office. The former aides also have alleged that campaign contributions were brought to Svorinich’s San Pedro office despite a ban on such political activity in city offices. Svorinich also has denied that allegation.

Mendoza, who worked for Svorinich’s paint store before she took a job with his council office, said she went to the store only during her lunch hour or before work. She added that those visits occurred only during Svorinich’s first few weeks in office last summer, when the store was hiring new employees.

After that period, she said: “The store people would call me but I would just take messages for the councilman. . . . But I wasn’t conducting business.”

For his part, Svorinich said he did not recall receiving any messages from the store, which he has owned since December, 1990.

Paul Solnic, the store’s floor manager, said Svorinich has been too busy as a councilman to visit the store on weekdays, except for a brief stop on occasion. “The last time I saw him here was three Saturdays ago,” Solnic said Saturday. “If he had a meeting in the area, he might stop in for a few minutes, but gosh, that was rare.”

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But in recent interviews with The Times, five former aides tell a different story, one that alleges instances of private business done on city time--a potential violation of ethics laws because city resources are not to be used for private enterprise.

Former chief deputy Vidovich, for example, became so concerned about work related to the paint store being done at the San Pedro office that he told Mendoza in an Oct. 18 memo that she risked being put on leave because of such activity. “It has come to my attention . . . that there are a lot of phone calls still coming into the office regarding paint store business,” Vidovich wrote.

Referring to an August discussion on the topic with Mendoza and Svorinich, Vidovich’s memo reiterates that Mendoza should not be doing anything relating to Industrial Paint on city time.

“Working on IPC business on city time is not acceptable and definitely a violation of some type in regards to city ethics. Therefore, if in fact you are required to work on paint store business, I must put you off on leave (with) no pay for that period,” Vidovich wrote.

“I know that this may upset you, but I have an obligation to protect Rudy here.”

While refusing to discuss the memo, Vidovich confirmed in an interview that he was told Mendoza was working on company business for months after Svorinich took office.

“I was aware of Irene doing some paint store business and I talked to her about my concerns and I talked to Rudy,” he said, explaining that he wrote the memo on the matter because former aide Kate Acuna told him “a lot of calls” were still coming to the office.

Acuna, who worked in the San Pedro office, confirmed that she went to Vidovich because of Mendoza’s alleged actions.

“Oh, there were many calls from the paint store right up until” she left her job in January, Acuna said. “There were calls (from the paint store) all the time. Calling for Irene or Rudy. If they were there, I would connect them, if they were not, I would just take a message.”

On other occasions, Acuna claimed, Mendoza was at Industrial Paint when she was scheduled to begin her workday. “I know (Mendoza) was at the paint store because she would say so,” Acuna said. “And when I told her this could bring . . . problems, (she said), ‘Well, Rudy wants me to go over there,’ ” Acuna said.

Mendoza denied making the remark and Svorinich denied asking Mendoza to do store work on city time. Both also said they never saw Vidovich’s memo.

Meanwhile, former aide Barbieri claimed that Svorinich himself was often at the store.

Noting that the council does not meet on Mondays or Thursdays, Barbieri said Svorinich was “routinely” at the paint store on Mondays during his first three months in office. “And it probably continued on for the first seven months. I just lost track,” Barbieri said.

“During that period and after that . . . when Rudy was at the paint store, he would call and I would say, ‘Where are you?’ And he would say, ‘I’m at the store,’ ” Barbieri claimed.

“I would comment to him . . . about the example he was setting. (Vidovich) and I would tell (Mendoza) and others this is not the way things are done,” Barbieri said. “And it became clear to me that this was being done at the direction of Rudy.”

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Moreover, Barbieri claimed, Mendoza told him on at least two occasions--late last year and again in mid-January--that she was doing paint store work on city time.

Although recalling both meetings, Mendoza said she never told Barbieri she was doing store work on city time. “He (Barbieri) told me, ‘You better be careful about what you are doing.’ And I said, ‘John, I’m not doing anything illegal.’ And he said, ‘Rudy better be careful.’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t know what he’s doing. But I’m not doing anything illegal.’ ”

Lilia Hernandez, another former aide who worked in the San Pedro office, also remembered calls from Svorinich’s paint store routinely coming to the office.

“I know calls came in because I answered the phones,” Hernandez said. “They would call from the store and ask for (Mendoza).” Hernandez said “that happened pretty much throughout” the seven months she worked for Svorinich.

And Brian Hannon, a former aide based in Harbor City/Harbor Gateway, said he knew of paint store calls coming to the San Pedro office when he would visit there. “It was pretty much continuous. People from the paint store were calling,” Hannon said.

He added: “It was well known in the office that (Mendoza) was going to the paint store during the day.”