Green Party NYS Candidates Hawkins & Dunlea

Binghamton, NY; September 30, 2018

Related Link: Green Party of New York State

Green Party of New York State - Binghamton Press Conference

Binghamton, NY; 9/21/18

Howie Hawkins Says Green Party is the Progressive Choice in November

NY Times: Planet is Doomed; Solution - Vote Green

Howie Hawkins, a retired Teamster from Syracuse, kicked off his general election campaign in Binghamton today by saying he was Plan B for the 500,000 people who voted for Nixon last week as well as for other voters who think Cuomo is liberal.

Hawkins was joined by Green Comptroller candidate Mark Dunlea, who wants to divest the state pension fund from fossil fuels, as well as increase budget transparency and cut down on public corruption.

“Cuomo cannot solve the simplest of problems, like finding one day for federal, state, and local primaries or making sure that children are not exposed to lead contamination, a huge problem is many of our communities. When he can’t solve problems like this, there is no way that Cuomo can solve climate change and income inequality,” said Hawkins.

Hawkins vowed to end the culture of corruption that dominates the State Capitol, with two of the Governor’s top aides being convicted for corruption, including a case involving the Buffalo Billion. Joe Percoco was sentenced to 6 years in prison for corruption including the CPV power plant (whose permit Hawkins wants vacated). Over 50 New York State officials have been convicted or forced to resign since 2000 for improper activities.

Hawkins plans to appeal to progressives who voted for Nixon, Williams, and Teachout in the recent primary. He called on them to support the Green gubernatorial ticket of Hawkins and Jia Lee, as well as Michael Sussman for Attorney General and Mark Dunlea for Comptroller. Hawkins said that the Green candidates are veteran activists who come out of progressive movements and are the most qualified for their offices.

With an increasing number of scientists, government bodies, and the media warning that the future of human civilization is imperiled by accelerating global warming and climate change, the Green Party wants New York to set a goal of 100% clean energy by 2030.

“The NY Times Magazine recently argued that most life on the planet is probably doomed due to the inability of politicians to set aside partisan bickering to launch an emergency mobilization to avoid the worse of climate change. The clear solution is to vote in the Green Party because we are committed to doing what is needed to avoid climate chaos,” stated Mark Dunlea, the Green Party candidate for State Comptroller who wants the state to divest its pension fund from fossil fuels.

“The good news is that we largely know how to move to 100% clean energy while creating millions of jobs, cutting deaths from air pollution, and lowering energy costs. All we need is the political will to act and the Greens have that in abundance,” added Dunlea.

“Nixon urging Cuomo to get behind the Climate and Community Protection Act, which the state Assembly has passed three times, is ironic because it mostly codifies Cuomo’s own energy policy. We need to fight for passage of the New York Off Fossil Fuels Act, a plan for 100% clean energy by 2030, with the same sharp focus we had on the fracking ban in 2014,” Hawkins added.

Hawkins, who is campaigning as an eco-socialist, said that now that the primary is over, there needs to be a much more open discussion about what being a progressive means in New York rather than the narrow debate during the Democratic Party primaries.

“While I certainly agree we need to end the Trump presidency as soon as possible, the gubernatorial election needs to focus on real solutions for New York’s problems,” added Hawkins.

Hawkins proposes four regional debates (NYC Metro area, Capital District, Central NY and Western NY), each focused on a topic: The Economy, Government Reform, The Environment and Climate, and Social Policy, including education, health care, criminal justice, and civil rights.

Hawkins and the Greens support the single-payer NY Health Act and a range of ethics and criminal justice reforms, including ranked-choice voting and proportional representation, full public campaign finance based on the Clean Money system used in Arizona and Maine, term limits, bail abolition, speedy trial, marijuana legalization, and Sanctuary State policies to protect immigrants .

One issue where Hawkins disagreed with both Nixon and Cuomo was the Governor’s property tax cap, which has done nothing to reduce sky-high local property taxes but has prevented local governments from funding needed services and improvements. Nixon wants to tweak the tax cap. Cuomo and Molinaro want to make it permanent. Hawkins wants to repeal it and instead have the state pay for its unfunded mandates and restore revenue sharing with local governments to 8% of state revenues so local governments can cut regressive property taxes.

To provide every child a good education, New York should fully fund and desegregate its schools, which are the most segregated in the country. Hawkins and Lee, a leader in the Opt Out movement, also want to scrap high-stakes testing to evaluate teachers, schools, and students. The Greens charge that the real goal of such testing is to attack teachers and put high-poverty schools into receivership and then privatization into charter schools.

On the housing affordability crisis, Hawkins said, “Universal rent control is pointless without repealing the Urstadt Law to give cities home rule on their rent regulations. We also have to radically expand quality public housing to provide affordable housing options for all.”

Hawkins noted that the income share going to the top 1% has grown from 12% in 1980 to 31% today. He called for progressively graduated tax brackets on multi-millionaire incomes and retaining, rather than rebating, the stock transfer tax. “The 1% can afford to contribute more. We need to fund a Green New Deal to revitalize public sector services and infrastructure, which are the public avenues that private commerce needs to thrive,” Hawkins said.

Dunlea added that “we need a Green to watch the green. We need to end the practice of the two parties treating the public treasury as their private piggy bank.” Dunlea said that the Comptroller needs to more aggressively review state contracts to stop corruption, especially contracts going to those making campaign donations. He also supports a host of budget transparency reforms.

Howie Hawkins for NY Governor - Press Conference

Hawkins for Governor

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, discusses the primary election and its impact on the campaign as well as the upcoming march for climate change in New York City, the status of gubernatorial debates, fracking, and other issues of concern to NY residents.

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Are you a registered Green who votes Democratic? If so, like many other Greens you probably do so because you see the Democratic candidate as the "lesser of two evils," and a vote for the Green candidate as a wasted vote.

Let's now take a view from the other end of the looking glass, so to speak, with the goal of understanding the mindset of The Powers That Be in the Democratic Party.

They know that you, an otherwise conscious and informed person, will continue to vote for the Democratic candidates no matter what, simply because they are not "the greater evil," the big bad Republican candidates. Thus do you surrender any and all political leverage you might otherwise have had. From their perspective, they OWN you. They don't have to respond to your concerns; they don't have to keep their promises; they can walk all over you and come election day you will still cast your vote for the Democratic candidates. This leaves them the option of moving ever further to the right in hopes of chipping away at the Republican Party's base. It also leaves them free to do the bidding of their masters...the corporations...who are their masters only because you have abdicated that role. If you look back over the last few decades you can clearly see this happening.

Your vote can be effective only if it contains an implicit threat that you might withhold it. Voluntarily surrendering that threat amounts to political suicide. In other words, your sordid little lesser of two evils game has shifted the political center of gravity to the extreme right, boxed you into a corner, and effectively disenfranchised you. Your vote counts for nothing, and is a mockery of your core values. Some political strategy...The only thing it's good for is a round of hearty laughs at cocktail parties in the Hamptons.

It's time to wake up and take back the reins of political power. Stop being the butt of jokes. Stop being a chump. Stop voting for evil, even a so-called lesser evil. Vote your conscience, vote your soul, get mad, and get even. BE the powers that be.

Ecological Socialism vs. Capitalist Exterminism

 

Howie Hawkins spoke at NY Green Fest 2011, held in Alfred, NY, August 5 - 7, 2011.

Howie is a Teamster and Green Party activist in Syracuse, NY. He has been an organizer in movements for peace, justice, labor, the environment, and independent politics since 1967. Howie currently serves as co-chair of the Green Party of New York State. In 2010, he was the Green Party candidate for Governor of New York, receiving nearly 60,000 votes and securing a ballot line for the Green Party for the next four years. Howie is the editor of Independent Politics: The Green Party Strategy Debate (Haymarket, 2006).

The Principle of Green Political Independence

Why Progressive Democrats Reinforce Corporate Rule

Howie Hawkins spoke at the NY Green Fest 2011, held in Alfred, NY.

Ban Fracking in NY: A Statewide Conference

Binghamton, NY; April 16, 2011

The Ban Fracking in NY conference drew activists from throughout NY State and elsewhere for a day-long exposition of strategies and sharing of energies. The focus was squarely on rejecting half measures, and insisting that the goal of anti-frackers should be a complete and total ban on fracking in NY State.

Sponsor: CDOG

In Part One:

Carl Arnold: Opening Remarks

Attorney Mary Jo Long: What Are Lawyers For?

Ben Price: We Don't Have a Fracking Problem, We Have a Democracy Problem

Related Link: CELDF

Rachel Treichler: Water Law

With an afterward by Jack Ossont of The Committee to Preserve the Finger Lakes and The Coalition to Protect New York.

Attorney Mary Jo Long: Powers of Local Governments & the "Takings" Threat

See the Google Doc: Ban Actions and the "Takings" Bogeyman

Mike Bernhard and Ben Price make short presentations on the inherent dangers of regulationism, and specifically the danger of expecting one or more governmental agencies to protect us from the the adverse effects of fracking.

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In Part Two:

Adrian Kuzminski of Sustainable Otsego, and Carl Arnold of CDOG: Statewide Ban: Legislative & Executive Action.

Adrian Kuzminski of Sustainable Otsego, and Ben Price of CELDF: One Ban at a Time? - Counties, Towns, Villages.

Howie Hawkins: Public Power - Why Philly Could Choose

See video of Jannette Barth's presentation: Gas Drilling - The Economic Impact on Communities.

Read her Google Doc on the same subject.

Related Link: American Public Power Association

Kevin Bunger: Organizing Faith Groups

Related Link: Coalition to Protect New York

Larry Bennett of Ommegang Brewery, and Art Hunt of Hunt Country Vineyards discuss Organizing Businesses.

Mike Bernhard: Outreach to Leaseholders & Prospective Leaseholders

Laura Sheinkopf, LuAnne Kozma, & Sherry Fleming: Interstate, Inter-Issue, Upstate/Downstate Organizing

Related Links: Neogap; Safe Water Movement

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In Part Three:

Rachel Treichler: Electoral Action - Navigating NYS Election Law

Ken Jaffe: Electoral Action - Independent Campaigns

Gloria Mattera: Electoral Action - Party Campaigns

Laurie Spaeth: Reframing

Lindsay Speer: Using Twitter

Outreach - Organizing Resistance

Michael Dineen: Petition Drives

With further outreach commentary by Jan Quarles, Art Hunt, Julie Huntsman, Jack Ossont, and

Keywords: Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling

Healthcare Reform: People Not Profits

Syracuse, NY; November 4, 2009 

 Mobilization for Health Care for All

Wherein Howie Hawkins walks the walk.