am New York: October 30, 2018

An interview with the Green Party candidate for governor. Photo Credit: Getty Images / Audrey C. Tiernan-Pool

By Mark Chiusano

Howie Hawkins had a sort of thousand-yard stare last week during an interview about his third run as the Green Party candidate for governor of New York.

The stare came as he listed the issues he believes he alone carries into the general election: full public campaign financing. Expanded rent control. A big boost in public housing, built to a “human scale.” A Green New Deal featuring clean jobs and infrastructure. One hundred percent clean energy in the state by 2030.

The thousand-yard stare might come from the fact that Hawkins is a minor party candidate in Democrat-friendly New York who hopes to get 5 percent “plus” of the vote.

But it was hard to shake the feeling that the stare also came from the fact that Hawkins is brimming with ideas he thinks would make New York better, and he knows that many will have to wait for some future election.

NY State of Politics: October 30, 2018

By Nick Reisman

Green Party candidate for governor Howie Hawkins on Tuesday released an upstate-centric tax proposal that would repeal the limit local property tax increases.

The tax cap, instead, would be replaced with restoring state revenue sharing with local governments.

“Upstate New York suffers from the highest property taxes in the country and the Governor’s tax cap has been just a sound-bite gimmick that has done nothing to lower them,” Hawkins said in a statement. “The state government has a much broader base than the sales and property tax to finance government operations. Restoring revenue sharing would offset the cost of unfunded mandates and enable local governments to reduce local taxes while making needed investments in services and infrastructure.”

The proposal was unveiled with Mark Dunlea, the Green Party’s candidate for state comptroller, who has been pushing for a divestment of the state pension fund from fossil fuel interests.

“The state comptroller has failed to take the easy step of protecting our health and tax dollars by divesting the state pension fund from the $6 to $11 billion. It has invested in fossil fuels,” Dunlea said. “We need to go much further, immediately halting all new fossil fuel infrastructure and moving to 100% clean energy by 2030, including enacting a state carbon tax to make polluters pay for the damage they have caused.”

For immediate release: October 30, 2018

Notice of Press Conference

When: Wednesday, October 31
Time: 2:00 PM
Location: Depew Amtrak Station, 55 Dick Road
Who: Howie Hawkins for Governor
Why: Oil Bomb Trains, Mass Transit, Gubernatorial Debate

Hawkins To Call for NY to Take Action to Protect Residents from Oil Bomb Trains

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, will hold a news conference at the Amtrak Station, 55 Dick Road, Depew on Wednesday October 31 at 2 PM to discuss his gubernatorial campaign.

Hawkins will call for state action to protect area residents from the dangers presented by oil bomb trains. The State Department of Transportation has not released the track inspection reports since February 2017 while the Trump administration has overturned rules enacted by the Obama administration for safer brake system requirements.

Hawkins will also discuss the need for increase funding statewide for mass transit.

Hawkins will discuss the only inclusive gubernatorial debate, sponsored by the NYS League of Women Voters, that will take place on Thursday November 1 at the College of St. Rose in Albany.

WIBX 950AM (Utica): October 30, 2018

The Green Party candidates for Governor and Comptroller made their last campaign stop in Utica before Election Day today.

Both Howie Hawkins and Mark Dunlea want to repeal the state's two-percent cap on local property taxes and replace it with a restoration of state revenue sharing with local governments.

City Limits: October 30, 2018

Jeanne Zaino, professor of political science at Iona College, says that with widespread agreement “that the system is broken and needs to be reformed,” she could see some of the ideas being floated in the campaign informing new policies around bail, even if the candidates pushing those ideas don’t end up winning....

Hawkins has called for abolishing bail altogether for misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, and he supports passage of “Kalief’s Law” that would allow judges to set the “trial clock” deadlines to ensure speedy trials....

Hawkins would ban solitary confinement. He would also “ban the box,“ ending the practice of employers and public colleges such as SUNY using criminal history to disqualify applicants before an offer is made. He calls for providing educational opportunities for the incarcerated and would include prisoners in his wider plan to provide free tuition at SUNY, CUNY and community colleges....

Hawkins would legalize, tax, and regulate cannabis, as well as instruct the attorney general to defend cannabis producers and consumers prosecuted by the federal government.

He would appoint a commission to recommend policies that would address the impact of the war on drugs and mass incarceration, particularly on communities of color, as well as decriminalize hard drugs by treating low-level possession and consumption as violations, the repercussions of which would include referring people to treatment. Drug trafficking would remain criminal, but he says he would free drug prisoners....

For immediate release: October 30, 2018

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, and Mark Dunlea, the NYS Comptroller candidate, were in Utica on discuss their respective campaigns.

Both candidates want to repeal the state’s 2% cap on local property taxes and replace it with a restoration of state revenue sharing with local governments. State law (Sec. 54 of State Finance Law) used to require the state to share 8% of its revenues with local governments. Under Cuomo, revenue sharing has dropped to 0.4%.

“Upstate New York suffers from the highest property taxes in the country and the Governor’s tax cap has been just a sound-bite gimmick that has done nothing to lower them. The state government has a much broader base than the sales and property tax to finance government operations. Restoring revenue sharing would offset the cost of unfunded mandates and enable local governments to reduce local taxes while making needed investments in services and infrastructure,” said Hawkins.

WUTQ FM 100.7, Utica: October 30, 2018

Audio

Green Party candidates Howie Hawkins for NY Governor and Mark Dunlea for NY Comptroller explain why they should be considered as an option for voters and discuss their agenda, including Single Payer Healthcare and Reducing Taxes.

Pipe Dream (Binghamton University): October 29, 2018

Newsday

Howie Hawkins (G)

Howie Hawkins is the Green Party candidate for governor of New York. He is running alongside Jia Lee, Green Party candidate for lieutenant governor. As a young adult, Hawkins was involved in political activism, and was one of the founding members of the Green Party. He has previously run for New York governor and for U.S. Senate. He was also Jill Stein’s running mate for vice president when she ran in the 2016 presidential election. Hawkins is originally from San Francisco, California, and currently lives in Syracuse, New York.

1. Fighting corruption at the state level is a big concern for citizens across New York during this election cycle. What is your plan to tackle corruption in Albany?

“Enact full public campaign finance. Reopen the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption. Close the LLC loophole. Ban campaign donations from state lobbyists and contractors. Replace the politician-appointed Joint Commission on Public Ethics with an independent ethics oversight commission. Full-time legislators with limits on outside income. Term limits, two four-year terms for state executive offices and six two-year terms for state legislators.”

For immediate release: October 29, 2018

For immediate release: October 29, 2018

Westchester like rest of state needs to desegregate

The Green Party candidates for Governor and Attorney General were in White Plains today to call for an overhaul of the state’s education policies, including more funding for schools in low-income communities.

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said that New York must desegregate its schools and housing.

The Greens say the state should close the $4.2 billion cumulative shortfall in Foundation Aid funding that was intended to meet the requirements of the 2006 ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case. They say the Attorney General should settle, not fight in court, the lawsuits from New York City and Syracuse parents and the Small Cities for full Foundation Aid funding.

Hawkins noted that the “best way to improve education is end the racial, class, and academic segregation in public schools. Integration has been the most powerful progressive education reform since Brown v. Board of Education by far. It substantially reduces the achievement gap between low- and middle-income students. And all students do better in terms of intellectual self-confidence, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and tolerance.”

Hawkins blasted Governor Cuomo for failing to address the race and class segregation of schools in New York State.