Shaffer defeats Torbett for county Republican chair

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer
    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Charles Shaffer of Sebec defeated incumbent Andy Torbett of Atkinson for Piscataquis County Republican Chairman by a vote of 16-14 at the committee’s annual elections held last Friday night.

    State Rep. Pete Johnson of Greenville was elected as vice-chair unopposed after Torbett and State Rep. Paul Davis both declined the nomination; Patti Davis of Sangerville was elected secretary and Jim Annis of Dover-Foxcroft was reelected as treasurer.
    Torbett said he wasn’t surprised by the results. “There was some pressure from inside and outside of the committee for me not to express my opinions through the Maine Conservative Voice,” Torbett said. “I hold no ill will against the party, but I can’t be silent on these issues.”
    Torbett started the Maine Conservative Voice blog a few years ago and has authored several articles on controversial subjects such as same-sex marriage, gun ownership and federal and state taxation policies.
    Guilford Town Chairman Robert Shaffer said that — in his view — one reason Torbett lost his reelection bid was because “many committee members had questioned his impassioned public denunciations of Republicans he disapproved of in primary elections. New chairman Charles Shaffer pledged to support all Republican candidates, and observe public neutrality in primaries.”
    The two Shaffers are not related.
    Torbett is backing Davis in his primary challenge against incumbent State Sen. Doug Thomas and has written some letters to the editor critical of Thomas’ voting record.
    But Torbett insisted that he was speaking as the publisher of the Maine Conservative Voice, not as county chairman. “That’s one of the reasons why I wouldn’t accept vice-chair. If they had a problem with me as chair, they’ll have a problem with my stance as vice-chair, too. The other reason I declined to accept vice-chair is because I didn’t want to oppose Pete (Johnson),” Torbett said.
    Charles Shaffer is a graduate of Quinnipiac University School of Law in Hamden, Conn., and comes from a background of providing services to individuals with behavioral health, substance abuse and intellectual disabilities. He was most recently the state advocate for Department of Human Services’ Office of Adults with Physical and Intellectual Disabilities and Autism, covering four counties in central and down east Maine.