Since taking over the floundering Republican party of Brooklyn, Craig Eaton has adopted a new policy. He accepts every dinner, meeting, or parade invitation extended his way, both to let people know there’s a new chairman and to tell them, “We’re going to shake this party up,” he said.

Mr. Eaton, 46, has launched a new Brooklyn Republican Party Web site, www.brooklyngop.com, and plans to hold political seminars to train candidates, campaign managers, and volunteers. He is recruiting teenagers for a Republican club and said he wants to double the number of registered Republicans in the borough within a year.

“There are hundreds, probably thousands, of Republicans out there who are registered Democrats just because they haven’t seen anything happening,” he said. “We want to know who they are. We want to work with them. We want to grow with them.”

There are 113,000 registered Republicans in Brooklyn. Democrats outnumber them at least 7–1, he said.

Mr. Eaton, an attorney and former community board chairman, replaced Herman “Hy” Singer, who served as the party’s head for six years, in May. The first few weeks on the job have left him striving to juggle the demands of his new job with his full-time paid employment.

Last week, Mr. Eaton was dealt his first big blow as party chairman when Mayor Bloomberg announced he was defecting from the Republican Party. The news sent pundits scrambling to interpret the move as a harbinger of a presidential campaign, while Mr. Eaton said he was troubled by its potential impact on the party. He said he is extremely disappointed.

“I was hoping to have his support and work with him to grow the Republican Party,” he said. “His distancing from the Republican Party is a concern to me.”

A Republican political consultant, William O’Reilly, said the Brooklyn GOP should focus on making inroads with the borough’s large immigrant population. He said Mr. Eaton would bring energy and a fresh approach to the party.

The Brooklyn Republican Party “has tremendous potential for growth. As the traditional gateway to America, Brooklyn is home to so many ethnic groups that escaped Communism and tyranny to get to these shores,” Mr. O’Reilly said via e-mail. “These are people who understand the Republican message of economic freedom, and the Brooklyn GOP is the logical entity to make lasting inroads with those communities.”

State Senator Martin Golden, a Republican of Brooklyn, said Mr. Eaton wants to build the party from the ground up and include everyone. Mr. Eaton wants to do “what Republicans are supposed to do — go out and win some elections,” Mr. Golden said.

Mr. Eaton holds a bachelor’s degree in corporate finance from New York University and earned his law degree at New York Law School. He lives in Bay Ridge with his wife, Susan Eaton, and their two sons, 12 and 18, and a daughter, 16.

Mr. Eaton said he supports Mayor Giuliani for president and expects the committee to back the candidacy, as well. He said having Mr. Giuliani on the top of a national ticket would bolster Republican candidates in city and state races. “I think we need to stand behind New Yorkers,” he said.