A new oral history of Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle

Curt Pringle, who arrived in Sacramento as a brash 29-year-old conservative Republican in 1988, became the first Republican Assembly speaker in a generation, and likely the last Republican to hold that post for many years to come.

In this newly published oral history interview, conducted by journalist Dan Morain in Pringle’s Anaheim office, the former Assembly leader provides a first-hand account of the battle for the speakership following the 1994 election in which Republicans gained a shaky 41-39 seat majority in the 80-seat Assembly, but lost that majority when Republican Paul Horcher sided with Democrats to retain Willie Brown as speaker.

After a year of intrigue and infighting, Pringle ultimately gained the speakership in 1996. In an echo of the GOP’s battles in the U.S. House of Representatives, Pringle recalls that although he was “very conservative,” he had to contend to members who were “very, very conservative.”

Seeking counsel on the operations of the house, he regularly traveled to San Francisco to have lunch with Willie Brown, who had left the Assembly in 1995 after being elected mayor of that city.

Pringle found a friend in one of the most liberal Democrats, then Assemblyman John Burton. He also describes his relationship with Gov. Pete Wilson and Bill Lockyer, then leader of the state Senate.

Pringle began his career when Orange County was the center of Republican politics. It’s purple now. Pringle offers his prescription for what Republicans must do to regain public support. Like Brown, Pringle ended his time in elective office by becoming a mayor, in Anaheim.

Links to the three part oral history may be found here.