Republican Rep. Paul Torkelson stood on stage behind Rep. Lisa Demuth as she made a campaign stop on her push to become the new governor of Minnesota. As Demuth had her eyes on the next stop in her political career, Torkelson’s mind was on something else: the end of his own.
“When I first decided to run, I set my target at 10 years, and my wife had kind of thought that was going to be my only 10 years,” said the longtime lawmaker from Hanska. “But, of course, she agreed to let me continue for a while beyond that.”
In May he completed his last legislative session.
Torkelson was first elected in 2008, beginning his tenure in the Minnesota House at the start of the 2009 session. Over those nearly 20 years, Torkelson has been a part of some of the most important committees in the Legislature, including co-chairing the Ways and Means Committee in this last session.
“When we were in the majority a few cycles ago, I was asked to be the chair of the Capitol Investment Committee, the bonding committee, so we toured the entire state looking at bonding projects all over the state,” he said. “I was named chair of the Transportation Committee, so a lot of work in transportation around the state. (I) enjoyed that very much. And then … chairing the Ways and Means Committee. Chairing three important committees is in and of itself unusual at the Minnesota Legislature; a lot of legislators end up just kind of specializing in one area.”
As for how what colleagues thought about Torkelson, Rep. Luke Frederick, DFL-Mankato, summed it up in a few words.
“He’s a good man” Frederick said, pointing specifically to a moment of Torkelson encouraging a piece of legislation from Frederick, who sits on the opposite side of the aisle from Torkelson.
“One of the things that I worked on was expanding the state’s mental health safety net by getting funding for the Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center,” Frederick said. “We talked for a moment and he said it’s a problem that we’ve been having for a lot of years, where people have been sitting in jails and not getting sent to either St. Peter or Anoka and getting the care that they need. He said no one’s had the political will to actually address the problem and so I am grateful that you’re leading it, my only question then is gonna be how are we going to pay for it.”
That kind of resume lends itself to a lot of memories, but one that has stuck with Torkelson through this last year involved a moment that has left ripples in the fabric of Minnesota politics for the last year — the assassination of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband.
“This last year of tragedy is one of the dark sides. To see one of my colleagues assassinated is just almost unbelievable, even though it happened over a year ago,” Torkelson said. “I knew representative Hortman very well. Our first year of this biennium, (during) negotiations, I was sitting with Lisa Demuth, the speaker of the House, right next to me on my right side and Melissa Hortman sitting next to me on my left side, as we negotiated the budget with the governor and his team. We knew each other well. We had served together throughout my term in the House, and yes, it certainly had an impact (on the House),”
One thing Torkelson highlighted was the work that went on to restore the Capitol visiting, inviting Minnesotans to come out and see the new Capitol if they haven’t already.
As for ongoing projects he’s passing on to future legislators, Torkelson mentioned the importance of upgrading county benefit systems as a key one.
“Counties that administer our social programs like SNAP and Medicaid use software that’s supplied by the state, but was designed and built-in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It’s green-screen software, it’s inefficient,” Torkelson said. “It’s kind of (an) in-the-weeds thing, but it’s really important, especially to rural counties.”
Getting in the weeds of legislation was a specialty of Torkelson’s, according to people who worked with him. It’s what made him such a special legislator in many eyes.
“He was really focused on legislating and to do that effectively, you have to do it in a bipartisan way, and he understood that well and was good at it,” Clark Johnson said.
Johnson is a former DFL representative for what is now District 18A, now held by Rep. Erica Schwartz of Nicollet. He worked for many years with Torkelson and recalls how he was known for his sense of humor.
“He had some levity. I sat on the Transportation Committee when he was chair and he really added a nice sense of humor to what can be kind of a dry process. I think people really appreciated that, both the public and his colleagues,” Johnson said.
At the end of the day, even though the two were on different sides of the political aisle, Johnson considers Torkelson a friend, thanking him for years of service.
“He devoted a lot of time to it, and we know that that’s a big responsibility and a lot of sacrifice. And he did it well, so I say thank you,” he said.
As for any parting words to those legislators, Torkelson focused on bipartisanship.
“Establishing a reputation is very important and working with not only your colleagues within your caucus, but listening to the people across the aisle. I’ve always felt that to get the work done, you have to understand everyone’s perspective.”
And now he’s closed the book on what was supposed to only be a 10-year career that ended up lasting 18.
“I’ll be 74 this summer and would like to have some genuine retirement time,” Torkelson said. “Serving in the Legislature, especially from rural Minnesota, I think is a huge commitment to the constituents, to the area, to the state. (It) takes a lot of time and I’ve given my best, and it’s time to move on.”