Brulte Resigns as GOP Leader in Assembly : Politics: He says he achieved major goals despite missing out on speakership. Fred Aguiar, Curt Pringle are likely successors.

Republican Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga resigned Friday as his party’s leader in the state Assembly, declaring that he had achieved his major goals even though the Assembly speakership narrowly eluded him this year.

Brulte, 39, who plans to run for the state Senate in 1996, called a caucus of the 40 Assembly Republicans for Monday to pick a successor.

“I’m proud of the progress we’ve made,” Brulte said, noting that Republicans had boosted their numbers in the 80-member Assembly from 32 to 40 during the nearly three years he has served in the post.

Although he does not have to step down now, Brulte said it is an appropriate point to bring in a new leader with time to prepare for the 1996 legislative session and the elections, in which all 80 Assembly seats will be at stake.

Brulte said the leading candidates to succeed him are Fred Aguiar of Chino and Curt Pringle of Garden Grove.

But Brulte said it probably will be late November before GOP legislators have the power to replace maverick Republican Doris Allen of Cypress as Assembly Speaker, a position she holds primarily because of support from Democrats. The GOP margin is now 40-39 with one vacancy, which is expected to be filled by a Republican in a special election Sept. 17.

With momentum gaining in an effort to recall Allen, pressure has begun to mount on the embattled legislator to step down. Earlier this week, two of Allen’s small band of GOP Assembly supporters broached the topic during a meeting with her in Orange County.

Assemblymen Brett Granlund (R-Yucaipa) and Jan Goldsmith (R-Poway) said they told Allen she might be able to avoid being recalled if she resigned the speakership.

“We suggested that she consider stepping aside,” Granlund said. “There wasn’t an ultimatum. We simply had a discussion about some options. Now she can sleep on them.”

Brulte, however, said he was not aware of any arrangement that would avert a recall of Allen. He said Granlund and Goldsmith had told him they thought Allen would lose a recall election and be replaced by another Republican.

Aguiar, 46, is a businessman and former Chino City Council member and mayor. He was first elected in 1992 and reelected last year. He said Friday that he is “closing in on” the votes needed to win Brulte’s post and that he is confident he will.

Pringle, 36, is a businessman who first went to the Assembly after a controversial election in 1988, but was defeated for reelection two years later. He ran again in 1992 and won and was reelected in 1994. He could not be reached for comment.

Generally, the leader seeks to keep members united behind major party initiatives and programs. And, over the past few decades, the leader has taken charge of raising funds to get GOP members reelected and to challenge potentially vulnerable seats held by Democrats.

The role could change if Republicans capture full party control of the Speaker’s job going into next year’s session. Traditionally, the party leader serves as chief lieutenant to a Speaker of the same party.

But the nature of the speakership is changing now because of term limits and other factors that curb the powers of the office. Much may depend on the personalities and abilities of the leaders involved and the strength of support they have from the membership.

In stepping down, Brulte told colleagues in his letter: “Change is never easy and no time for transition is ever ideal. But I am confident that next week’s election will provide our new leader ample time to establish his or her own leadership team to fulfill the mandate that we were elected to carry out.”

Brulte noted that under term limits, he cannot run again for the Assembly. Much of his time next year will be spent campaigning for the state Senate seat of Republican Bill Leonard of San Bernardino. Leonard also must leave the Legislature because of term limits.

During a breakfast meeting with Southern California political writers at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Brulte claimed success for the three major goals he set when he took the post in 1994: to unite the fractious GOP caucus, to boost Republican membership in the Assembly to a near-majority, and to begin moving the Republican agenda through the Legislature.

With the widespread GOP victories of 1994, Republicans unexpectedly won a 41-30 majority and they savored the opportunity to replace veteran Democratic Speaker Willie L. Brown Jr. (D-San Francisco) with Brulte.

But that plan was foiled when then-Assemblyman Paul Horcher of Diamond Bar announced he was leaving the GOP and becoming an independent. He then voted to retain Democrat Brown as Speaker.

Branded a traitor, Horcher subsequently was recalled and a Republican was elected in his place. But Brulte was thwarted again when Allen cut a deal with Brown to become Speaker on a 40-39 vote: the Democrats’ 39 votes, plus Allen’s own vote.

Brulte said Friday that he never expected to become Speaker when he took the GOP leadership job because no one expected Republicans to win control of the house before he was retired by term limits.

But Brulte, who always has been considered one of the shrewder politicians in the Legislature, is bitter about the fact that he is jokingly referred to as the man “who couldn’t count to 41,” a reference to the 41 votes needed to get himself elected Speaker at the opening of the term.

“I can count to 41,” he said. “I could have been elected Speaker. All you have to do is be willing to sell out your party and your principles.” But, Brulte said, he would not do that.

Times staff writer Eric Bailey in Sacramento contributed to this story.