Rudy Svorinich Jr. (born 1960) is an American politician who served on the Los Angeles City Council for the 15th district. He was elected to the council in 1993, defeating three-term incumbent Joan Milke Flores, and served two full terms until 2001.
Rudy Svorinich | |
|---|---|
 Svorinich in 2023 | |
| Member of the Los Angeles City Council from the 15th district | |
| In office July 1, 1993 – June 30, 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Joan Milke Flores |
| Succeeded by | Janice Hahn |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rudy Svorinich Jr. 1960 (age 63–64) San Pedro, Los Angeles |
| Political party | Republican |
| Residence | San Pedro, Los Angeles |
| Alma mater | California State University Dominguez Hills |
Personal life
editSvorinich was born in 1960 in San Pedro, Los Angeles to Rudy Svorinich Sr. and Winifred Svorinich. He attended San Pedro High School and graduated from California State University Dominguez Hills with bachelor's degree in business administration.
Political career
editIn 1992, Svorinich ran for the Los Angeles City Council's 15th district against incumbent Joan Milke Flores. He placed second in the primary, and in the general election ousted Flores in the election by a five-point margin.[1][2] During his first term, five of his aides quit, to which Svorinich portrayed as a reorganization of the office.[3] Many other aides were also fired, which prompted allegations of misconduct, but an ethics panel found no campaign violations.[4][5]
In 1997, he was opposed for re-election by three candidates who tried to force Svorinich into a runoff by having different candidates prevent Svorinich from having 50% of the vote.[6] In the primary, he was elected 60% of the vote. In 1998, he ran for the Republican nomination for the California's 36th congressional district, but lost to Steven T. Kuykendall.
Post-Council
editIn 2000, as he was term limited for the City Council, Svorinich made an unsuccessful bid for California's 54th State Assembly district, being defeated by Democrat Alan Lowenthal by a double-digit margin.[7][8] Svorinich ran for his old seat in the 2011 special election after Hahn was elected to the United States House of Representatives, but lost the primary placing fourth overall.[9]
In 2001, he founded Svorinich & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm. He is currently President of Svorinich Companies, Inc. a government-affairs firm in San Pedro, as well as the president of Svorinich Political Services, a political consulting and campaign-management company.
Electoral history
edit1993
edit| Primary election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | ||
| Joan Milke Flores (incumbent) | 7,468 | 28.51 | ||
| Rudy Svorinich | 6,012 | 22.95 | ||
| Janice Hahn | 4,855 | 18.54 | ||
| Diana Middleton | 3,432 | 13.10 | ||
| Warren Furutani | 2,875 | 10.98 | ||
| Louis Dominguez | 1,070 | 4.09 | ||
| James P. Thompson | 482 | 1.84 | ||
| Total votes | 26,194 | 100.00 | ||
| General election | ||||
| Rudy Svorinich | 16,285 | 52.73 | ||
| Joan Milke Flores (incumbent) | 14,597 | 47.27 | ||
| Total votes | 30,882 | 100.00 | ||
1997
edit| Primary election | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Rudy Svorinich (incumbent) | 13,741 | 60.73 | |
| Diana Elizabeth Contreras | 6,375 | 28.17 | |
| Dennis Kortheuer | 2,510 | 11.09 | |
| Total votes | 22,626 | 100.00 | |
References
edit- ^ Krikorian, Greg (June 6, 1993). "WATTS Flores, Svorinich Wind Up Race". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Richardson, Lisa (June 13, 1993). "Rudy Svorinich Always Painted Himself a Winner: Politics: The challenger never considered himself an underdog in the race for the . ..-to-San Pedro district". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 1851925854.
- ^ "LOS ANGELES 5 Aides to Councilman Svorinich Call It Quits". Los Angeles Times. January 29, 1994.
- ^ Krikorian, Greg (June 7, 1994). "Ethics Panel Finds No Evidence of Svorinich Campaign Violations". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Krikorian, Greg (March 15, 1994). "Ex-Staffers Allege Abuses by Svorinich and an Aide: Government: They say work related to the councilman's paint store was done during city time. He denies the accusations". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 1973896223.
- ^ Krikorian, Greg (February 18, 1997). "3 Candidates Ally in Unusual Bid to Force Svorinich Into Runoff; Politics: Coalition's strategy is to ultimately unseat the city councilman. Challengers are from different communities but share same platform". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 421127194.
- ^ Arthur R. Vinsel (November 23, 2000). "Lowenthal Wins! Svorinich Loses By Double-Digit Margin". Random Lengths. ProQuest 363237157.
- ^ Kuchler, Marilyn (December 7, 2000). "How Did Svorinich Lose? Voters Express Reasons". Random Lengths. ProQuest 363281402.
- ^ William-Ross, Lindsay (November 8, 2011). "Election to Fill Hahn's CD 15 Seat Ends In Runoff Between Buscaino and Furutani". LAist.