
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, October 24, 1994                   TAG: 9410240082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                 LENGTH: Medium

ALTERNATIVE PARTIES BAND TOGETHER

Members of nontraditional political parties say they want to work together to elect their candidates to the General Assembly next year.

Representatives of the Patriot Party, the Green Party, the Virginia Independent Party and other organizations gathered Saturday in Charlottesville to discuss taking a coalition approach to the 1995 House of Delegates and state Senate elections.

``We all have two common enemies,'' said Louis Herrink, a King George resident who represented the Virginia Independent Party. ``Democrats and Republicans.''

Springfield resident Bruce Weiner, state chairman of the Patriot Party, said it will be important to be selective if the parties want their candidates to win.

``We're going to pick our races and have a good reason to run against a particular incumbent,'' he said.

The 12 party officials also pushed for an amendment to the state constitution to allow supporters of initiatives and referendums to place the measures on state ballots by obtaining a given number of signatures. Voters in 24 other states have such options.

Proposals are under study by committees in both the House and Senate. The state legislature would have to approve such a measure in two consecutive sessions before it could become an amendment.

The Patriot Party has a platform supporting a balanced federal budget by the year 2004, universal health care, term limits, restructuring federal and state tax codes to promote personal savings and increasing the minimum wage.

The Green Party operates on a platform promoting nonviolence, grass-roots democracy and protection of the environment and the poor.

Herrink said the two major parties are too polarized to reflect the public.

``There should be some room in the center for people to get together and not have to choose the two extremes,'' he said.

Herrink said his top priority is independent Senate candidate Marshall Coleman's campaign.

``If Coleman can get elected,'' Herrink said, ``that will energize the quote, independent movement, unquote.''

In a poll released Sunday, Republican Oliver North held 33 percent of the vote; Democratic incumbent Charles Robb held 32 percent. Coleman was favored by 17 percent, and 18 percent were undecided.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB