Connecticut Pirate Party rally logo // enjoy the translation of that

The captain is elected. The crew, Michael Fryar tells me, covers a wide range of folks. There are female pirates. You know, because equality.

If The Pirate Party seems outlandish, remember that there are individuals who believe it is legitimate to run public schools like businesses. With that perspective, this rising party seems downright logical.

Already, the party has a candidate — to be announced later — it plans to endorse in the next campaign for Connecticut State Senate, 1st District seat. The Pirate Party will have a full slate in Hartford for 2016. This includes three City Councilpersons, a Justice of the Peace, and other candidates. Those candidates will be announced in a year, but none have run for political office previously. Fryar, who has announced his run for mayor, says this is also about having fun. The Republicans and Democrats are not fun, he says.

He should know. He ran as a Republican for City Council in 2011.

This party means “starting on a level playing field,” Fryar said. People already have opinions about Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Working Families, Libertarians, etc., but The Pirate Party is not yet well known. It has had some successes in Europe and is growing in interest nationally.

The “pirate wheel” lists values that some of the party’s members hold, but it is not strict. Fryar summed up the party as being “open market with less government restriction, but with a living wage and public education . . . and social justice.”

The “stuff going on with privatizing education is a failure,” he said.

In Hartford, five of the nine Board of Education members are appointed by the mayor, and have included the mayor himself. Fryar said he would be committed to appointing people who all have an actual background as public school educators.

His own background is in education, business, and law. He wants to see Hartford have a small business incubator — perhaps partnering with the UConn School of Business — that would help budding entrepreneurs write business plans and find the financial backing to help fill storefronts. He is interested in eclectic shops, but specifically named antique, used book, comic book/manga, and hobby stores as places Hartford should be able to support.

He says that the mayor gets paid too much; if elected, Fryar would take 25% of his salary as mayor and use it to fund the small business incubator.

For more information about The Pirate Party, follow this link.