Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
SOMERVILLE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — There were no eye patches at the Pirate Party Winter meet-up in Somerville — just a round table of ideas.
That’s because the Pirate Party is a little-known, Massachusetts independent political party, and Sunday was their annual conference.
“Pirate Party fundamentally believes that you should have privacy and the government shouldn’t; and you should have power and corporations shouldn’t.,” Captain, or Chair, James O’Keefe told WBZ NewsRadio.
Part of the larger United States Pirate Party was founded in 2006, the Massachusetts chapter was established in 2010. Also on the platform is more governmental transparency as well as elimination of patent laws and copyright law reforms.
According to state political finance filings, the party isn't exactly a monetary power player: the party's Political Action Committee had just $2,500 on hand, as of earlier this month.
O’Keefe said he estimates they have around a thousand registered voters state-wide. The party's focus right now is to win more down-ballot, local office seats and expand from there. They elected their first member, Steve Revilak, into the Arlington Town Meeting in 2015, and he served until 2021.
“We’re attempting to encourage pirates to run at a local level because that’s where we feel we’re going to make the largest [impact],” he continued.
WBZ NewsRadio's Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.