January 19, 2007
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The following are the first comments I have found from the new Party Chair. Mr. Torkildsen vows to speaks with Republicans from across the whole state, and recognizes that electing Republicans begins truly at the grass root level with school committee and city council members. While the prior leadership was effective at raising funds, they were not successful in growing the Party.
New GOP chair seeking to revive party in Mass.
Sentinel & Enterprise, By Hillary Chabot (http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/ci_5037432)
BOSTON -- Newly-elected Massachusetts Republican Party Chair Peter Torkildsen hopes to revive the wilted party by rebuilding it from the grassroots.
Fresh from losing the governor's office after 16 years of Republican control and losing three seats in the Legislature, party members elected Torkildsen, a Chelmsford resident and former Congressman, to succeed outgoing party chair Darrell Crate Tuesday evening.
He plans to focus on fund raising and fostering Republican candidates at the local level to bring the party back to life.
"We have to really go back to the basics now that we do not have the governor's office," Torkildsen said in a phone interview from his Chelmsford home. "We have an obligation to give people an alternative. Government only works when you have two parties."
Torkildsen has scheduled a dizzying listening campaign to hear from Republicans in every community about what they think is needed to get the party back on its feet, and to sniff out any potential candidates.
"Before we can field candidates for state representative or senate, we're looking to help them join the local school committee and city council," Torkildsen said.
The 48-year-old, who also served as a state representative from 1981 to 1991, added that Republican talent needs the volunteer support to get their message across.
"We need to make sure we have strong candidates running, Like (former Republican state senate candidate) Sandy Martinez out of Chelmsford, and we want to make sure we have the volunteers in place to help those candidates," Torkildsen said.
The former Danvers resident moved to Chelmsford three and a half years ago and lives there with his wife and five-year-old daughter.
The majority of Chelmsford voters backed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kerry Healey, along with many other communities in Greater Lowell, Torkildsen noted. He hopes to increase that support along the 495 beltway.
House Minority Leader Rep. Brad Jones, D-North Reading, said Torkildsen's political experience will help build the party. Jones hopes to learn from past mistakes and look for future opportunities, such as special elections, to get more Republicans into state politics. Republican analyst Jim Nuzzo said Torkildsen needs to focus on, "the gritty tough work to make the organization a political party, not just a club."
Torkildsen has asked to be paid a full time salary somewhere in the ballpark of $100,000 for his new position, which the previous three chairs haven't done. He needs the money in order to give the party full-time attention, he said.
Torkildsen recently stepped down as the director of federal, state and work force relations in the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, which he was appointed to by Former Gov. Mitt Romney.
Info@PlymouthCountyGOP.com
