Don’t Paint Him an Underdog : Council Winner Rudy Svorinich, Like Truman, Could Only See Himself as a Winner

Hours after celebrating his victory over 12-year incumbent Joan Milke Flores for a seat on the L.A. City Council, Rudy Svorinich lay awake early Wednesday, too excited to sleep.

He opened his copy of “Truman” and read about how conventional wisdom had President Harry S. Truman losing to Thomas Dewey in the 1948 election, and how Truman pulled out a victory anyway.

Svorinich says that, like Truman, he never once considered himself an underdog. That confidence, reflected in his aggressive grass-roots campaign, goes a long way to explain why the 33-year-old paint store owner from San Pedro emerged from Tuesday’s balloting with a surprising 53% to 47% victory over Flores in the 15th Council District.

By Wednesday morning, Svorinich was already plotting his first moves in office: among them, to create locally elected town councils and to call an economic summit for his district, which reaches from Watts to San Pedro.

“I want to bring business leaders and labor leaders and government together here so we can talk about the best way to create jobs,” Svorinich said.

Flores, meanwhile, described the race as the toughest of her career.

“I have nothing to feel bad about, nothing at all,” she said, shortly after conceding the race to Svorinich.

Svorinich attributed his victory to nuts-and-bolts campaigning: repeat telephone calls, mailings, door-knocking and crunching the numbers again and again to gauge support in various communities.

Simply explained, Svorinich said, his volunteers out-hustled the Flores people.

With about $97,000 at his disposal and more than 200 volunteers behind him, Svorinich inundated the district with telephone calls and door-to-door visits.

After the April 20 primary, three shifts of eight volunteers worked from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., every day, calling voters. Svorinich, his wife, Deann, and family and friends went knocking on doors.

The calls and door-knocking helped him identify 4,000 people who supported him in the primary. For the general election, he targeted another 10,000 registered voters and called, visited and sent mail to every one of them.

“Basically, we knew we had to win Wilmington and San Pedro by more than 50%, hold our own in Harbor City--where Joan is strong--and split Watts,” he said. “I haven’t seen any results yet, but I’m pretty sure that’s how things fell out.”

And in the last two days before the election, his friends and family took vacation days from work and campaigned around the clock, making phone calls and hanging Svorinich’s literature on doors.

“Many of them didn’t sleep or even go home,” Svorinich said. “I know I wouldn’t be here right now giving interviews if it weren’t for my volunteers.”

While Svorinich won San Pedro in the primary, he did not do well in either Watts or Wilmington. Results from those communities are not in yet, but Svorinich is sure his victory means he did much better in both places in Tuesday’s runoff.

Ironically, when election returns on the night of April 20 showed that Svorinich had placed second in the primary, Flores’ people gave a cheer. They talked about how he could not possibly take the north end of the district.

“This is just great for us,” Flores said at the time.

But strategically, the north end of the district probably did not matter as much as the southern part--which went for Svorinich before and did not abandon him Tuesday.

Flores’ runoff defeat was her third; she lost races for secretary of state in 1990 and Congress last year. Of all her six campaigns, the race against Svorinich was the most grueling and unpleasant, she said. Clearly not happy about losing, Flores nonetheless was openly relieved that the campaign was over, bringing an end to the incumbent-bashing she received.

“I think it was a tough year to be an incumbent; I do think that was part of it,” she said. “Every time I would try to talk about the issues, he would talk about me. But what is meant to be will be,” she said.

Though Flores accurately assessed Svorinich’s weakness in Watts at primary time, he countered by capturing endorsements by high-powered local Democrats such as state Sen. Diane Watson and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters.

He credits former candidate Janice K. Hahn’s endorsement of Flores with helping him win votes in Wilmington. Hahn, daughter of former county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, won both Wilmington and Watts in the primary. Both Svorinich and Flores had courted Hahn’s endorsement, but Hahn said Flores’ experience was needed in the district and threw her backing and that of her family’s behind Flores at a rally in Watts.

“I didn’t have Janice Hahn’s endorsement, but I had the support of her Wilmington people,” Svorinich said. “I think the voters in Wilmington felt betrayed by her because they were supporting change when they voted for her, and then she went and embraced the status quo.”

Indeed, Svorinich’s celebration party Tuesday was packed with Wilmington community activists who had originally supported Hahn. Joanne Wysocki, president of Wilmington Home Owners, Gertrude and Bill Schwab of the Wilmington North Neighborhood Assn., and former Hahn Wilmington campaign coordinator Joe Mendez all waited for election returns at Svorinich’s party.

Svorinich said the first clear evidence he would do well came at 8:45 p.m., when the count of absentee ballots showed him trailing Flores by just 68 votes, out of about 5,400 ballots cast.

“That was a big sign because she did a very heavy absentee ballot campaign--she sent out three pieces of mail, while we sent just one,” he said. “For us to be only 68 votes behind was a very good sign.”

Wednesday, Svorinich was a picture of contained delight. Television cameras and notebook-bearing reporters descended on his store, the Industrial Paint Co. in Wilmington, and he took calls of congratulations from friends while juggling interviews with the media.

Sitting in the spacious office in the basement of his paint store, Svorinich said his first move would be to appoint district deputies and staff, most of whom would be drawn from his campaign volunteers.

Svorinich said he is consulting with the City Ethics Commission about what to do with his business before he assumes office, pointing out that city regulations prohibit council members from having an outside income.

After he takes office, Svorinich said, he will convene a 15th District economic summit, similar to the one President Bill Clinton held on a national scale. Fighting crime, creating jobs and youth programs, and being accessible to voters remain his first priorities, he said.

Another campaign promise, to create locally elected town councils, also will be at the top of his list, he said.

“Of course, we will need to research the City Charter to see if we can hold them, and, if we can’t, then I will write legislation and present it to the council,” Svorinich said.

City of Los Angeles District 15

99% Precincts Reporting: votes (%)

Rudy Svorinich: 15,768 (53%)

Joan Milke Flores*: 14,011 (47%)