Voice From Abroad

THOUSAND OAKS —  Locally, he is a successful businessman best known for the luxury cars he sells.

But in his native Slovakia, Paul Rusnak said, he is a household name.

In fact, during a recent trip there, Rusnak was stopped by a traffic policeman who, after recognizing him, apologized profusely, Rusnak said. “Oh, Mr. President, forgive me for stopping you,” Rusnak recalled the policeman saying.

He is not Slovakia’s president, of course, but Rusnak said his influence there matches that of his country’s official leader.

As president of the Slovak World Congress, a worldwide group of Slovak emigres whose membership exceeds 1 million, Rusnak commands respect in Slovakia.

Part government watchdog, part advocate for the fledgling Eastern European democracy that gained independence in 1993, the organization serves as an umbrella group for the 2.5 million Slovaks, including more than 100,000 in California, who live outside Slovakia, Rusnak said.

And for the owner of Rusnak-Westlake--a Porsche, Audi and BMW dealership in the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall--that means a busy schedule that includes frequent trips to Slovakia and other parts of the world, as well as meetings with top industry and government leaders in the U.S.

In the last year alone, Rusnak met with Slovakia’s president and prime minister, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Chrysler Chairman Robert Eaton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

“My dream is to have Slovakia recognized as the Switzerland of Central Europe,” Rusnak said. “I want to make sure it becomes a really strong democracy where the employment opportunities are on a par with the rest of Europe.”

That is an arduous task in a country where the average worker earns about $120 a month, he said. But Rusnak, who plans to forge business ties with his homeland, said the Slovak World Congress also hopes to foster economic growth through a Slovakia investment fund.

Investment and private enterprise can also help strengthen democratic institutions, Rusnak said.

“A great percentage of Slovaks live outside the country,” Rusnak said. “Because of that, it is even more important for an emerging democracy to have a watchdog group to ensure that the democratic process takes hold.”

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Rusnak also wants to showcase his little-known country in the West. Slovakia became independent in 1993 when Czechoslovakia split in two. While the larger Czech Republic has received a lot of attention in the U.S. media, Slovakia has mostly remained in the shadows.

Now 62, Rusnak fled the totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and came to the U.S. with his parents. He was educated at private schools in New York, Chicago and eventually in California.

He began buying and selling cars while a student at USC in the late 1950s. In 1959, he opened his first car dealership in Culver City.

Rusnak now owns 12 automotive franchises and eight dealerships in Thousand Oaks and Pasadena. He also has holdings in Castle Hill retirement home in Thousand Oaks, as well as in land development, real estate financing, construction and other companies. He has homes in Pasadena, Thousand Oaks and Lake Arrowhead.

In 1992, Rusnak considered the possibility of running for president of the soon-to-become-independent Slovakia, but he opted instead to tend to his many businesses in the U.S.

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But last year, when asked about becoming president of the Slovak World Congress, Rusnak felt the timing was right. He was elected by the group’s delegates in September.

Rusnak, a naturalized American citizen, hopes that as a prominent businessman, he will be able to bring more recognition to his country and its leaders.

And he has already done so.

Earlier this year, he took a Slovak World Congress delegation to Slovakia to meet with top officials.

“We discussed several issues of importance to Slovaks abroad, particularly the issue of dual citizenship,” Rusnak said. As a result, a law that prohibited dual citizenship since 1928 was repealed in December.

Last year, while Slovakia’s president toured the United States, Rusnak accompanied him and introduced him to several industry leaders.

Now, Rusnak and the Slovak World Congress are lobbying for something that may turn out to be more difficult than promoting investment or strengthening democratic institutions in his native country: Slovakia’s admission into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Rusnak has written to President Clinton and other NATO leaders urging Slovakia’s admission into the alliance. But so far, Slovakia has not made the short list of former Soviet bloc countries that are in line for NATO membership.

In the meantime, keeping an eye on the leaders of the emerging democracy, many of whom are former Communists, is enough of a challenge for the Slovak World Congress.

“You don’t just say you are democratic and become democratic,” Rusnak said.