Rudy Svorinich goes negative on Joe Buscaino in CD 15

We have on good source today, that the first negative hit piece of the CD 15 Special Election proceedings targeted Joe Buscaino's alleged lack of voting in previous elections. The Busicaino Campaign was quick to answer this attack with the facts.Meanwhile, Buscaino picked up the endorsement today of United Teachers of Los Angeles. 

The source of the hit on Buscaino is Rudy Svorinich, who needs desperately somehow to blunt the momentum of Buscaino if he is to entertain a chance of a third term at City Hall. 

But the risk to Svorinich in going negative is to reopen wounds of political associates like Tom Shortridge, who's "pleading no contest to charges that he knowingly took semi-nude photographs of two under-aged girls" some years back may attract unwanted attention.

Your thoughts..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14

CD 15 City Council Candidate Rudy Svorinich's Campaign Associate Tom Shortridge "past issues" with teenage girls

Svorinich Government Affairs and Campaign Consultant Tom Shortridge

Memo to politicos and associates of, "life's skeletons" do rattle in the vastness of the cybersphere.

With the upcoming race to replace Janice Hahn in CD 15 taking shape, any past questionable conduct by the likes of the big three candidates Pat McOsker, Assemblyman Warren Furutani and former CD 15 Councilman Rudy Svorinich, will become fair game for the opposition consultants.

But what happens if the consultant himself becomes the issue? Meet Tom Shortridge.  

Longtime CD 15 City Council Candidate Rudy Svorinich employee and now rumored campaign consultant Tom Shortridge had some past issues with teenage girls according to documents found online.

It seems that during the 2004 Presidential Elections, "A concern Republican" felt that Shortridge's "pleading no contest to charges that he knowingly took semi-nude photographs of two under-aged girls" in 2001, would discredit the Republican Party if Shortridge was associated with its efforts to re-elect President George W. Bush.

The documents which include arrest documents, along with victim statements, show how close Shortridge came to being the "first campaign consultant listed on the Megan Law webpage". But with the help of noted Attorney Tony Capozzola, Shortridge was able to dodge felony convictions and a life as an "register sex offender".

We should note that Shortridge has had no other issues with teenage girls since his 2001 arrest and has enjoyed the loyalty of his employer Svorinich, but Shortridge as an consultant should take note how easy it was for an citizen blogger/journalist to find this past "lapse of character". Imagine what skeletons the likes of John Shallman and Parke Skelton can find rattling in the vastness of the cybersphere.

Your thoughts..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14 

Former Councilman Rudy Svorinich seeks return to the Horseshoe at City Hall

 

Blogger notes: With the soon to be Congresswoman Janice Hahn heading off Washington D.C.  in near time, the stampede is on to replace her within the horseshoe at 200 North Spring Street. The Los Angeles Times reports that in addition to Firefighter Union President Pat McOsker and Assemblyman Warren Furutani, former CD 15 City Councilman Rudy Svorinich is seeking to represent the South LA council district once again. Svorinich's press release is cut and pasted below for your review. Any of the other candidates is welcome to submit pertinent material via email at redspotincd14@yahoo.com--Scott Johnson

San Pedro - Former 15^th District Councilman Rudy Svorinich, Jr. has announced that he will be a candidate to replace his successor, Councilwoman and Congresswoman-elect Janice K. Hahn on the Los Angeles City Council. Now that Hahn has become successful in her bid for the United States Congress, she will more than likely  vacate the council seat in the next few days. Her last council term would have expired on July 1, 2013. Once Hahn makes her resignation official, the City Council will then declare the seat vacant and schedule a special election for the remainder of her term sometime later in the Fall or early next Winter.  

Svorinich, 51, served two terms as Councilman from 1993 to 2001 when he retired due to the two-term limit that was passed by Los Angeles City voters in April 1993.  In 2009, Los Angeles voters extended the term to three. Prior to being elected in 1993, Svorinich was a small business owner in Wilmington, CA. Since 2001, he has been the president of the Svorinich Companies, Inc., a government affairs and political consulting firm based in San Pedro. He is a registered public advocate for both the city and county of Los Angeles.

During his first term in office, Svorinich fought for - and received - an un-precedented $1.2 billion in additional public facilities, programs and resources for the communities of San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor City, Harbor Gateway and Watts without tax or fee increase to local residents or business owners.

Svorinich, a 45-year San Pedro resident, has remained active in many local civic and fraternal organizations. He attended local public schools, is a San Pedro High School graduate and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a major in management fromCalifornia State University Dominguez Hills. 

He and his wife, Deann, have been married for twenty years and have two children, Gregory, 15, and Danielle 12. Both children attend local parochial schools. Svorinich's roots run deep in the Harbor Area to where his family immigrated from what is now present day Croatia in 1920. 

Your thoughts..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14