By AMANDA PINTO, Hour Staff Writer

NORWALK — The last time the Working Families Party endorsed a candidate for Common Council, it was Democratic Council President Michael Coffey.

This year, Working Families announced Tuesday, it will endorse nearly the entire Democratic slate.

Two years after Coffey said he “bucked political party insiders” by accepting the minor party’s endorsement, Working Families backed all five Democratic at-large candidates — newcomers Michael Geake, Amanda Brown and Marc Bradley and incumbents Fred Bondi and Doug Sutton — and seven candidates for districted seats.

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Cross-endorsed candidates will see their names appear twice on the ballot — on the Democratic Party line and the Working Families Party line.

Working Families Party Director John Green said the increase in cross- endorsements was due to the number of attractive candidates.

“I’d say we’re inclined to endorse people that show, based on their record or the (survey) they submitted, that they’re with us, that they care about what we’re about … sometimes that’s nobody and sometimes that’s quite a few people,” Green said.

Brown said she was excited to have the backing of the party, and would work to advance their issues — like increasing jobs and affordable housing — if elected to Common Council.

“I think the reason I appealed to them is I’m a working family,” she said. “I’m a single mom with two kids. I live and work in Fairfield County and it’s not easy to live here… I could talk to (their issues) because I have a lifetime of experience with that.”

At-large Councilman Matthew Miklave and District B Council members Phyllis Bolden and Carvin Hilliard were the only Democrats not to earn the support of Working Families, which typically endorses candidates who highlight health care, quality education and livable wages as major issues.

Bolden and Hilliard were not selected because Working Families did not have the authorization to run candidates in District B and resources were better used elsewhere, Green said.

Daisy Franklin, of Norwalk, co-chairwoman of the 4th Congressional District chapter of Working Families, said the party would have enthusiastically endorsed Bolden and Hilliard, but that the incumbents don’t require the party’s help as much as other candidates, because they’ve enjoyed past success.

Miklave did not apply for endorsement, Franklin said.

Democratic Town Committee Chairwoman Galen Wells said she didn’t think any of the three incumbents’ campaigns would be hurt by being left off of the Working Families slate.

“Their status as incumbents I think should go a long way to make up for that,” she said.

In addition to the at-large candidates and Democratic mayoral candidate Walter Briggs, cross-endorsed in September, the Working Families Party supports Steve Serasis in District A, incumbent Kevin Poruban and Laurel Lindstrom for Council District C, Anna Duleep and Gail Wall for District D, and incumbents Gwen Briggs and William Krummel for District E.

The extra ballot line should prove helpful to the cross-endorsed candidates, Green said.

“Some of the elections in district seats in previous years have been decided by very small margins, 10 votes, 50 votes, very small margins, he said. “In very tight elections that second line on the ballot could be the difference between winning and losing.”

Franklin said two people who applied — one of whom was a Republican Franklin declined to name, but said she voted to endorse — were denied party support.

Jeffrey Konspore, Republican Town Committee Chairman, said it was difficult for fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republicans to agree with Working Families positions on jobs, taxes and economic growth.

Each Republican candidate may have different positions on these issues, Konspore said.

“(Our candidates) are not loc -step on any issues,” he said. “We’re just looking for people who are interesting in doing the right thing for the citizens of Norwalk.”

Though Konspore said it was “nerve-wracking” to know so many Democrats will enjoy dual ballot lines, but it would be more of a concern if Working Families was more widely known in Norwalk.

“They don’t have a large following within the electorate,” Konspore said.

The party, formed by a coalition of community organizations, labor unions and neighborhood activists, seeks to hold politicians responsible for issues important to working families in Norwalk, Franklin said.

“Voting on (the Working Families) line will strengthen our party,” Franklin said. “(It) really says to the candidate, these issues are truly important and we want the issues met.”

Staff writer Amanda Pinto can be reached at (203) 354-1045 or apinto@thehour.com