Buckley always takes it up a step

Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley has always been controversial no matter where he has been.  One thing even his critics will give him credit for is he has always taken his organizations to a new level.

When Ray Buckley took over as Chairman of the Manchester Democratic Committee Ray Wiezorek was Mayor, the Republicans had a majority on the Aldermanic board and the School board was split even.  By the time Buckley had left 9 years later the Democrats had won 3 of the 4 mayoral races, overwhelming control of the board of Alderman, had control of the school board, the majority of state representative seats and had won every state rep special election possible in 9 years. 

Buckley took the committee to a new level by hiring full time staff which was unheard of from a local party committee.  During his nine years as chairman, Buckley had a full-time staffer at all times and during election season would increase the staff to as many as five.

After Buckley lost his bid to unseat Wiezorek as Executive Councilor he was hired on to run the Democratic campaign efforts in the state Senate.  Buckley beefed up the staff for the Caucus the way he had done the city.  The Caucus had hired 35 full time staff members to run the campaigns and assist in the office efforts. 

Now Buckley is doing for the State Committee what he did for the other committees he was involved in.  Since becoming chair of the state party Buckley has already tripled the size of the Democratic Party Staff.  Not only will the each state Senator have a full-time campaign manager like 2 years ago, but each will have one starting earlier to give them more time to get organized. 

Compared to most states NH is a small state with small political operations, but Ray Buckley has done all he can to change that mind set every step of the way.