Curt Pringle
 |
Curt Pringle |
Curtis L. Pringle (born
June 27,
1959), is a
politician from the
U.S. state of
California. Pringle, a
conservative Republican and onetime
Speaker of the California State Assembly, is currently
Mayor of
Anaheim, California and runs his own public relations and lobbying firm.
As a young man, Pringle ran unsuccessfully three times for a seat on the
Garden Grove city council. In
1986, while working for his parents' drapery business, Pringle ran unopposed for the
Orange County Republican Central Committee, which is the controlling organ of the county
Republican Party. In
1988, the Republican nominee for Pringle's
Assembly district died before election day, and under California law the central committee was charged with selecting a replacement. It chose Pringle.
Prigle won the election, but an election day controversy would plague him for years. On Election Day, the Orange County Republican Party hired uniformed guards to stand near the polling places in Pringle's district. Latino activists charged that Pringle and/or the party had hired the guards to scare away Latino voters, who were expected to favor Pringle's Democratic opponent. Pringle and the Republican party were sued, and the case was eventually settled. Pringle and the Orange County Republican Party paid $400,000 to the defendants, five Latino voters and the Orange County Democratic Party.
Pringle took office as a state assemblyman in December
1988 at the age of 29. In
1990, he was defeated for re-election by
Democrat Tom Umberg, but after legislative district lines were drawn between Pringle and Umberg's houses, Pringle ran again for the Assembly in
1992 and won. Pringle worked his way up the Republican hierarchy, and in
1996, after a protracted power struggle between Republicans and former Assembly Speaker
Willie Brown, he was elected Speaker of the Assembly. According to Brown, Pringle was the last Speaker to wield broad power in that office, since rule changes immediately after Pringle's tenure transferred much of the Speaker's authority to committee chairmen. Pringle, for example, issued committee assignments to both parties' members, controlled campaign funds, and had broad administrative duties.
After losing to
Phil Angelides in the
1998 race for
California State Treasurer, Pringle launched a government affairs,
public relations, and
entitlement firm, Curt Pringle & Associates, LLC, where he is currently President. His firm's clients have included
ARCO,
Orange County, California, the
City of Newport Beach,
Yamaha, and
Jack in the Box. Pringle was also appointed in
1998 by
Governor Pete Wilson to the
Orange County Fair Board, where he served for four years.
In
2002, Pringle re-entered electoral politics with his successful campaign for Mayor of
Anaheim, California, the tenth-most populous city in the state. Since taking office in December
2002, Pringle and the Anaheim City Council over which he presides have enacted a number of reforms that
The Orange County Register has depicted as "freedom-friendly." According to the Los Angeles Times, "Pringle has built such a strong reputation for his aggressive pro-business approach to governance (creative tax waivers, sweeping zone changes, market incentives to redevelop run-down parts of the city) that other local officials have coined a verb for his philosophy: 'to Pringle-ize.'"[
1]
Although in Anaheim, the mayor is technically just
first among equals among fellow city council members, Pringle has been an active mayor, governing with majority support on the city council. Pringle has led the effort to transform the area surrounding
Angel Stadium and the
Arrowhead Pond into the
Platinum Triangle, which is meant to be Orange County's downtown. He has also been the public face for the city as it has courted the
National Football League for a football franchise and fought the
Angels baseball club over its recent name change from "Anaheim Angels" to "
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim."
Pringle can also be seen occasionally with mayors of other major California cities when they travel to
Sacramento to collectively lobby the governor and state legislature. He has a good relationship with
Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, whom he knows from their years together in Sacramento, and he even hosted a fundraiser for Villaraigosa's unsuccessful 2001 bid for L.A. mayor.
Pringle is also a member of the
Orange County Transportation Authority's
board of directors.
The Los Angeles Times reported on July 26, 2006 that Pringle will most likely run unopposed for a second term as mayor, after his chief critic on the city council,
Harry Sidhu, endorsed him.[
2]
In August 2006, the Los Angeles Times's
West magazine named Pringle as one of the 100 most powerful people in
Southern California.
Pringle received a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in public administration from
California State University, Long Beach.
In addition to his political work, Pringle is an adjunct professor at the
University of California, Irvine, where he teaches California politics and government.
Pringle was born in
Emmetsburg, Iowa but moved to California at an early age. For much of his adult life he lived in
Garden Grove, California, a city adjacent to Anaheim. He is married to his wife Alexis, with whom he has two children, Kyle and Katie.
*
Biography from Curt Pringle & Associates, LLP*
Biography from the City of Anaheim
