State GOP Picks New Chief With High Hopes

Leaders of the fractured California Republican Party pledged Sunday to stop their infighting and unite behind a new chairman to rebuild the GOP and shed its image as a bastion of white men out of sync with the state’s ethnic diversity.

State GOP delegates elected Silicon Valley lawyer Duf Sundheim to replace maverick party Chairman Shawn Steel, who has infuriated fellow Republicans by attacking President Bush’s political team.

Sundheim, who put Bush’s reelection at the top of the state party agenda, described himself as a “team player” who hopes to remain “invisible in terms of controversy.”

He defeated another Republican veteran, Bill Back of Yuba County, who ignited controversy when he distributed an essay that pondered the benefits of a Confederate victory in the Civil War.

“I want us all to commit to work together to unify this party in a way that’s never happened before,” Sundheim told more than 1,000 delegates at the closing session of the party’s three-day convention.

But unity will not come easily to a party that faces profound difficulties.

Democrats hold both California seats in the U.S. Senate, dominate the state’s House delegation, control both houses of the Legislature, and -- for the first time since 1882 -- won every statewide office in November.

Money is another big problem.

On Sunday, the state GOP released a financial statement showing it was broke: It reported $535,000 in debts, but just $500,000 in the bank.

Sundheim announced Sunday that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New York Gov. George Pataki will soon visit California to raise money for the state GOP.

Intraparty conflict also poses a challenge. It was only after a bitter campaign for the party chairmanship that Sundheim beat his opponent in Sunday’s delegate vote, 666 to 489.

At a debate Saturday night, Back had dismissed Sundheim as “a member of the country club Republicans who write checks.”

He charged that Sundheim was disloyal to the GOP for donating $1,000 to Democrat Bill Bradley’s presidential campaign in 2000.

And Back accused Sundheim of letting supporters “play the race card” to win the party’s top job -- referring to their criticism of the Civil War essay.

Sundheim said it was “time to stop this internal fighting and focus our attention on the Democrats.”

On Sunday, Back and Sundheim appeared with other GOP leaders in an effort to show a united front in the 2004 campaigns for Bush and the yet-to-be-nominated Republican challenger to Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Gerald Parsky, Bush’s top political operative in California, said the party was “not deterred” by its losses. He cited a trend of narrowing loss margins for the GOP in statewide races.

“I think we’re making solid, steady progress, and are in what I would call a growth position as we head into 2004,” he said.

Parsky signaled apparent White House concern, however, that a proposed special election to recall Gov. Gray Davis could distract the party and drain away money that it needs for the Bush campaign.

“Obviously, resources are finite,” Parsky said.

“From my perspective, the first priority is to make sure the resources are available for the president and for the party.”

Nonetheless, party delegates voted Sunday to support the effort to gather the nearly 900,000 petition signatures required to get a Davis recall on the ballot.

Sundheim said Davis “deserves to be recalled,” but made no commitment to mobilizing party forces behind the effort.

The election of Sundheim caps two years of internal party tensions under Steel, an outspoken chairman who often used his party platform to rail against Parsky.

Even at the convention on Friday, he blamed Parsky for what he called “inept, incompetent” television advertising during Bush’s 2000 campaign, and warned that the president’s reelection bid in California would not be a “serious effort” with Parsky in charge.

Steel also took aim over the weekend at state Assembly Republican leader Dave Cox of Fair Oaks, saying it was “embarrassing” that Cox opposed the Davis recall.

But on Steel’s final day as chairman, party leaders tried to set a more civil tone.

“We’ve got to do our very best to put all of the harsh words out of our thoughts and minds,” Cox said.

State Senate Republican leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga said one of the party’s main goals will be to broaden its appeal to Latinos and other minority groups.

All 15 of the state Senate Republicans are white men, but Brulte cited other signs of progress.

In the Assembly, for example, the 32 Republicans include five women, three Latinos and two Asian Americans.

“Sure, we need to better reflect as a party the diversity of California, but we’re making gains,” Brulte said.

At a news conference called to celebrate his victory, Sundheim referred elliptically to the need for minority outreach.

He said his supporters included “groups that have felt maybe that they weren’t equal partners in the Republican Party.”

“I’m totally committed as chair of the party to continue that effort to go into the communities where we haven’t historically been perceived as being sensitive to the needs of those communities,” Sundheim said.