For immediate release: June 29, 2018

Howie Hawkins, the Green candidate for New York governor, will participate in the New York City march and rally to End Family Separation on Saturday, June 30, 2018.

The demonstration will gather at Foley Square at 10:00 am and march across the Brooklyn Bridge to a rally at Cadman Plaza beginning at 11:45 am. The demonstration is one of many taking place in cities across the nation as part of a National Day of Action to Fight for Families.

Hawkins, who called for turning New York into a "Sanctuary State” for immigrants in his 2014 gubernatorial campaign, is again campaigning for New York to enact Sanctuary State policies, including prohibiting New York State agencies from cooperating with federal immigration authorities without a judicial warrant, increased funding for the state’s Liberty Defense Fund to provide immigrants with legal services, passage of the DREAM Act, and drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants.

“Providing a safe harbor for refugees seeking asylum and immigrants seeking opportunity is what the inscription on the plaque on the Statue of Liberty proclaims America should be about," Hawkins said.

Reason, June 29, 2018

So why the hell aren't third-party candidates being polled for New York governor?

...when Siena College Research Institute conducted a general-election gubernatorial poll June 4-7, the choices were: Republican, Democrat, "wouldn't vote," "someone else," and "don't know/no opinion." Nixon's name only appeared as a Democratic alternative to Cuomo, and neither Sharpe nor Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins—who received 4.8 percent of the vote in 2014—were anywhere to be found.

WSYR Radio (Syracuse), June 29, 2018 

Mark Wainwright interviews Howie Hawkins, retired Teamster who is running for Governor with the Green Party, on his reaction to the SCOTUS ruling on Janus, the state of the unions, and the UPS contract negotiation and the vote for strike authorization by the UPS Teamster membership.

For Immediate Release: June 28, 2018

Hawkins Calls on Cuomo to Stop Taking “Pay to Play” Campaign Donations

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, called today for the Governor “to stop taking campaign donations from those seeking contracts from the state – which he said he would do in 2016 after the Buffalo Billion bid rigging scandal first broke. The man is addicted to extracting as much money from donors as possible and continues to shake down those doing business with the state despite however many of his staff and state legislators are convicted for political corruption. It is time for an intervention to protect taxpayers.”

Cuomo’s broken promises with respect to stop taking “Pay to Play” donations are laid out in an article in the Albany Times Union. Pay to Play refers to companies and individuals seeking to do business with the state making campaign contributions.

“Cuomo is the kingpin of the cesspool of political corruption in Albany. He continues to rake in dollars while blaming inaction by the state legislature for his failures to pass even modest ethics reform. But he has spent eight years making sure that the legislature is dysfunctional, continuously helping to prop up the Senate Republicans,” noted Hawkins.

For immediate release: June 27, 2017

Will Join the NYC Protest on June 30 To Support Immigration, Reunification of Families

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, denounced Tuesday’s 5-4 Supreme Court decision upholding the so-called Muslim Ban “as yet another action of a rogue Supreme Court that puts reactionary political beliefs ahead of the facts and fundamental constitutional rights.”

Hawkins said the decision grows out of decades of racist, Islamophobic, and xenophobic policies fueled by both major parties, growing out of 9/11, the so-called War on Terror and white nationalist opposition to immigration.

Hawkins, who has long campaigned to turn New York into a “Sanctuary State” for immigrants, said that “providing a safe harbor for refugees is the morally right thing to do, and that in order to enact any reasonable immigration policy we need to get the racist leadership of Trump and Sessions out of office.” Hawkins noted that immigration has always enriched New York’s economy.

Buffalo Forum, June 26, 2018

Hunting for the Buffalo Billion -- In the Community

On June 21 Green Party candidates Howie Hawkins, for governor, and Mark Dunlea, for comptroller, toured the eastside, hunting for the Buffalo Billion. The aim was to hear from those in the community about their concerns, if the Buffalo Billion had impacted their community as well as their views as to how to spend the Buffalo Billion. The tour took place as the trial on corruption charges of Buffalo developer Louis Ciminelli was underway in Manhattan (see p.1). Ciminelli got the $750 million contract from the Buffalo Billion for construction of SolarCity at the former Republic Steel plant. The tour made clear that very little of the remaining $250 million can be found on the eastside -- and most certainly how to spend it is not being decided by the community.

The tour began at the Freedom Wall at Ferry and Michigan, where 28 portraits of African Americans who fought for equal rights are located. Those pictured all demanded more from society and themselves fought for change in various ways. Hawkins, whose campaign slogan is Demand More, applauded their contributions to the struggle for change and urged people to further advance the fight for rights. Demanding More includes demanding government guarantees for the equal right to housing, education, healthcare and jobs. He spoke about the fact that New York State is one of the wealthiest in the country, yet places like Buffalo and his hometown of Syracuse contend with poverty and inequality. Funding must go to meeting the needs of the people, not to the rich, like Ciminelli and IBM.

Mark Dunlea is running a campaign focused on contending with climate change and specifically to divest New York pension funds from the oil and war monopolies, like Exxon. He also calls for creating a public bank and stopping the rebate to Wall Street of the $16 billion secured from the Stock Transfer Tax.

Focus on Albany, June 25, 2018

Audio

Rockland/Westchester Journal News, June 25, 2018

ALBANY — Former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner has chosen Pelham Mayor Michael Volpe — a Republican — as her running mate in her independent bid to defeat Gov. Andrew Cuomo this fall.

In an interview with the USA TODAY Network's Albany Bureau, Miner revealed Volpe as her pick to run for lieutenant governor, pointing to him as someone who "shares (her) goals and values."

Miner, a Democrat, and Volpe, a Westchester County Republican, create a bipartisan ticket hoping to knock off Cuomo, a two-term Democratic incumbent, and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul....

Crowded Field

...First elected in 2010 after a term as attorney general, Cuomo is in an enviable position for re-election with more than $30 million in his campaign account.

He is running in a Democratic primary against actor and activist Cynthia Nixon, though polls show him with a hefty lead among Democratic voters.

Nixon, however, has already secured the Working Families Party nod, which means she could stay on the third-party line in November even if she loses the Democratic primary.

Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro has the Republican nod locked up, while Howie Hawkins is running on the Green Party line and Larry Sharpe is running as a Libertarian.

Chief-Leader, June 25, 2018

Letter to the Editor
Nixon Not the One
Jun 25, 2018

"If Washington is a swamp, then Albany under Andrew Cuomo is a cesspool," says Democratic primary opponent Cynthia Nixon.

No argument there. But Nixon is hypocritical for ignoring the pay-to-play cesspool of her friend, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Just as both de Blasio and Nixon call themselves progressives while he gives union-represented city workers only real-money pay cuts and she complains that transit workers are overpaid. Just as she criticizes Cuomo for underfunding education while ignoring de Blasio's neglect of New York City schools.

Let me make this perfectly clear. Nixon is a hypocrite. Make no mistake about that.

When Democrats and Republicans both offer terrible candidates, I refuse to limit my choices to them. I will vote for the same gubernatorial candidate I chose in the 2010 and 2014 elections, the Green Party's Howie Hawkins.

RICHARD WARREN

Retired transit worker

For immediate release: June 25, 2018

Hawkins Calls for a Green to be Appointed to the Public Service Commission

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said today that a Green Party member should be appointed to fill the vacancy in the Public Service Commission.

By state law, no more than 3 members of any one party can be appointed to the 5-person Public Service Commission, which oversees the electric industry in New York. The legislature recently adjourned without the Governor nominating anyone to fill the present vacancy. The existing term of a second member also expired in February.

“We need a strong consumer renewable energy advocate on the PSC to stand up to the Governor and utility companies. As we heard in the recent Percoco corruption trial, the PSC has become little more than a rubber stamp for Cuomo rather than an independent body looking out for the well-being of the state’s ratepayers. Thus we get a PSC that approves a $7.6 billion bailout for 3 upstate nuclear power facilities and which blocks the development of community solar farms by prematurely changing the net metering rules,” said Hawkins.