Curtis L. "Curt" Pringle (born June 27, 1959) is an American politician from the U.S. state of California. He is the most recent Republican to have served as the Speaker of the California State Assembly. He is a former Mayor of Anaheim and a former Chairman of the California High Speed Rail Authority. Since leaving office, Pringle has operated a public relations and government affairs firm, Curt Pringle & Associates. Early life and education Pringle was born in Emmetsburg, Iowa in 1959, but moved to California with his family at the age of nine in 1968 and settled in Garden Grove. Pringle then earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's degree in public administration from California State University, Long Beach. Career As a young man, Pringle worked for his family's drycleaning and drapery/ window covering business. In 1986, after three unsuccessful runs for a seat on the Garden Grove City Council, Pringle was elected to the Orange County Republican Central Committee, which is the controlling organ of the Orange County Republican Party. Pringle served as Vice-Chair of the Orange County Republican Central Committee. In 1988, the Republican nominee from Pringle's Assembly district, freshman incumbent Dick Longshore, died the day after the June primary election, and under California law the Orange County Republican Central Committee members were charged with selecting a replacement nominee to run in the November General Election, and out of the ten candidates, they chose Pringle. In his first campaign for the State Assembly, Pringle was accused of vote suppression against Hispanics in Santa Ana. The Orange County Republican Party hired a security guard firm to protect against supposed illegal voting by undocumented aliens in the Pringle district. Some claimed this was an effort to scare Hispanic voters. The FBI investigated and no charges were filed against Pringle and the local GOP, however they agreed to pay $400,000 to settle the civil lawsuit out of court. California State Assembly 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 in 1990. After the redistricting of 1991, Pringle ran and was elected to the district, Assembly in 1992. He also won re-election in 1994 and 1996 and left the Assembly, due to term limits in 1998. Pringle worked his way up the Republican hierarchy in the Assembly. After the Assembly