Brulte’s Girlfriend Quit Post Amid Pay Allegations : Assembly: GOP leader says $12,000 raise in 1992 was proper because of expanded duties. He is trying to become Speaker.

Assembly Republican Leader Jim Brulte on Tuesday confirmed that his girlfriend has resigned from the legislative payroll amid allegations that the Rancho Cucamonga lawmaker helped her win a 42% pay raise.

The departure of Kelli S. Norton last month from the ranks of the Assembly GOP staff was disclosed as Brulte is poised to try to oust Democrat Willie Brown from the powerful post of Assembly Speaker when lawmakers reconvene in the Capitol on Monday.

Norton, 27, who had worked for the Assembly in Southern California even before Brulte was first elected in 1990, received a nearly $12,000-a-year pay raise after the lawmaker became GOP leader in November, 1992. When contacted Tuesday, she declined comment.

A spokesman for Brulte’s office initially said Norton resigned over allegations regarding the raise, but he later deferred to Brulte, who said that Norton had left to pursue other interests.

The assemblyman said “from the beginning, there was nothing improper here.” He said Norton transferred to Sacramento in 1993, and her new job duties eventually were broadened to include coordinating computer contracts for the GOP caucus--an assignment that justified a higher salary.

“When I bring people to Sacramento out of our district operation and expand their responsibilities, they have all been given a pay raise and hers was not inconsistent with what everyone else got,” Brulte said.

He acknowledged that he had approved Norton’s job reclassification, which was forwarded to the Assembly Rules Committee, the lower house’s housekeeping panel. He said the committee approved her new duties and accompanying higher salary.

In response to questions, the committee referred reporters to Assembly salary schedules published in Capitol Weekly, a Sacramento newspaper. Those schedules indicate that Norton’s pay went from $27,912 in May, 1993, to $39,600 in January, 1994.

Her final salary, including a cost of living increase, was reported to be $41,580 when she left the public payroll in October to briefly join the successful reelection campaign of Assemblyman Bruce McPherson (R-Santa Cruz). Norton now works as a private political consultant in Sacramento.

Brulte, a bachelor, said he continues to date Norton. He said she plans to eventually return to college to get a master’s degree.

Three weeks ago, Brulte-led Republicans gained a slim majority in the Assembly for the first time in two decades. Republicans now hold 41 seats to 39 for Democrats, but Brown, who has served as Speaker for 14 years, is not giving up without a fight.

Norton’s pay raise surfaced on the same day that The Times reported that Brown, rushing to hand out lucrative patronage jobs, had appointed a former Alameda County prosecutor who is his frequent companion to a $72,000-a-year job on the California Medical Assistance Commission.

Unsupported allegations that Brulte violated Assembly ethics have circulated in the Capitol since last spring when an anonymous complaint was faxed to news organizations and lawmakers, including Assemblyman Paul Woodruff (R-Moreno Valley), chairman of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee.

After the complaint was faxed again Tuesday, Phil Perry, Brulte’s spokesman, said his boss has been “the target of some malcontent who is not out to solve any sort of problem but just to embarrass Jim Brulte.”

Woodruff, who is leaving the Assembly, said earlier this year that the complaint does not fall within his committee’s jurisdiction. “It’s anonymous and therefore it’s impossible” to pursue, Woodruff said.

Assemblyman John Burton (D-San Francisco), who chairs the Rules Committee, said Woodruff had never asked him to take any action on the issue. In fact, Burton said the matter was not within his panel’s purview as long as Brulte had adequate funds in his Assembly staff budget to pay Norton.

“If it wasn’t his girlfriend, nobody would think . . . about it,” Burton said.