Former Sen. Jim Brulte to compete for state GOP chairmanship

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Former state Sen. Jim Brulte announced at a meeting of Republican activists in San Diego on Monday night that he was officially a candidate to become state GOP chairman.

Brulte becomes the frontrunner for the California Republican Party leadership position at a time when voter registration by the party has dropped below 30% and Democrats have won supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature.

He said his goals include rebuilding Republican grassroots organizations, recruiting more diverse candidates from more neighborhoods and boosting the party’s fundraising ability to pay off a debt that at one point approached $500,000.

‘Candidates come and go, but political parties should be eternal,’’ Brulte told The Times. ‘The Republican Party needs to rely more on itself rather than elected officials to raise money.’’

Brulte represented part of San Bernardino County when he was the Senate Republican leader from 2000 to 2004 and Assembly Republican leader from 1992 to 1996.

He is now a partner in the public affairs firm California Strategies, heading up the company’s Inland Empire office.

The chairmanship will be filled at the state Republican Party’s spring convention in March.

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--Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

Photo: Former State Sen. Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga). Credit: Robert Durell.