Alex Burrola

Alex Burrola (born 10 May, 1977) is a California political figure, Republican Party activist and writer. He has been a member of and leader in a number of Republican Party organizations and conservative leaning groups. He has twice been a GOP nominee for partisan office, in 2000 for the California Legislature's Assembly, and in 2002 for the U.S. Congress.

Youth and Education

Alex Burrola was born on May 10th, 1977 in Montebello, California, the same town where he would spend most of his youth growing up. His parents divorced when he was around 3, and he was raised primarily by his grandparents.

Burrola graduated from Whittier Christian High School in La Habra, California in 1995, where he was active in cross country, track & field, the French Club and school newspaper. In 1999 he graduated from Whittier College with a double major in history and political science. At Whittier he was active with the Richard M. Nixon Republican Club as well as college radio station KWTR.

Republican Politics

In 1992 Alex Burrola began his active involvement in politics by volunteering for the re-election campaign of former President George H. W. Bush and other candidates. In 1994 he again took an active role in that year's campaigns as Republicans swept races nationwide.

In 1996, Burrola ran for and was elected to the Los Angeles County Republican Party Central Committee as a member from the 58th Assembly District. At the age of 18 he was the youngest person ever elected to that body. The district included the cities of Montebello, Pico Rivera, South El Monte, Santa Fe Springs, Norwalk and Whittier. He would serve as secretary of the committee for the duration of his time on it, as well as acting treasurer for a time.

Here Burrola would meet and befriend longtime close associate and ally John Brantuk. That year Burrola also attended the Republican National Convention in San Diego.

Burrola was re-elected in 1998 and was also appointed to the Executive Committee of the L.A. County Republican Central Committee by former Chairman Andrew Hopwood. In 1999 he was appointed to be a member of the California Republican Party state central committee, as well as that body's 100-member executive committee by former Chairman John McGraw.

He remained a member of the county central committee through 2004 as an ex-officio member and of the state central committee through the same time period. In 2001 then-CRP Chairman Shawn Steel re-appointed Burrola Executive Committee as well as to the Proxies and Credentials Committee.

Currently Burrola is an alternate member of the 56th A.D. Republican Central Committee.

Candidacies

In 2000 Burrola, with the encouragement of GOP leaders, ran for and won the Republican Party nomination for the 58th District seat in the State Assembly. Facing Democrat nominee Thomas Calderon in the general election in a district with an overwhelming Democrat-majority in voters, Burrola was defeated.

After the redistricting process GOP leaders again turned to Burrola in 2002 to run for the 38th Congressional District seat. The newly configured area consisted of familiar territory such as Montebello, Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs and Norwalk, as well as a small portion of Whitier, as well as Hacienda Heights, La Puente, Industry and Pomona. Burrola's opponent in the general election was incumbent Grace Napolitano, who also enjoyed a heavy Democrat advantage in voter registration and turned back Burrola's challenge.

Controversies

In late 2002 and early 2003, Burrola was among the first to loudly support the nascent drive to recall Gray Davis from the office of California governor, which he had been re-elected to in November 2002. The effort was spearheaded by Steel, as well as state Senators Tom McClintock and Ray Haynes among others, and was initially derided as counterproductive by the Republican establishment, especially by Republicans close to presidential advisor Karl Rove and President Bush's California "viceroy" Gerald Parsky. Parsky had notoriously been at loggerheads with Steel and others for promulgating outside interference from Washington in the affairs of California Republicans.

The recall was ultimately successful in making it onto the ballot and in removing Davis from office. Burrola was firmly in the camp of Senator McClintock's uphill camapaign, rather than that of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 2004, Burrola was selected as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in New York City at which President Bush was to be renominated for another four year term. Citing objections to the growth of the size of government, increases in spending and growth of federal government programs under the Bush Administration, Burrola boycotted the convention and refused to support Bush for re-election.