Working Familes Party: Vermont Chapter

The Working Families Party is probably most well known for its presence in New York, where it has established itself as a relatively powerful force in the politics of NYC, while upstate its relative weakness leaves it vulnerable to manipulation by operatives of the major parties. The party also has chapters in Connecticut, South Carolina and Orgeon. And now the Burlington Free Press reports that a new chapter is forming in Vermont:

A small group of Vermonters will take the first steps this week to establish a new political party -- the Working Families Party."Working Families is in a bunch of states now, and we think it is a good thing for Vermont," said Dan Brush of Woodbury . . .

"We are only going to deal with economic fairness issues," Brush said. "We don't want to get involved in a lot of other issues that just distract."

Brush said he didn't expect the party to run candidates, at least not many in the next election. Rather the party would look over candidates from Vermont's other parties for those who support positions important to the Working Families Party and offer endorsements and support.

Vermont is one of 10 states that allows candidates to run with more than one party affiliation noted on the ballot and those are the states that the Working Families Party have targeted. The party was founded in New York in 1998 and then spread to Connecticut . . .

Bob Master, co-chairman of the Working Families Party in New York and political director of Communications Workers of America District One, will visit Vermont next week to help build some enthusiasm for the new party. "We are pretty excited there are some folks in Vermont who have seen what we have done," Master said.

He argues that organizing a party that endorses major party candidates gives the working families voting block leverage inside the two-party system. He also said a political party has more staying power than coalitions built around particular issues. "What we have found is that by forming a party, we have been able to create stronger coalitions."