Poughkeepsie Journal: October 2, 2018

To the Editor:

In reading the front-page story ("NY races head to November: Partisan campaigns heat up in still-crowded fields") from the Tuesday, Sept. 18 edition of the Poughkeepsie Journal, I was pleased to see that there was mention of the fact that Howie Hawkins is the Green Party candidate for the office of governor in the upcoming election.  

It was upsetting that the article failed to mention the fact that the Green Party of New York has a full slate of strong candidates for all of the statewide offices. The article ended with a sub-section titled “Also on the Ballot” where candidates for other statewide offices were mentioned. The Green Party candidates, Jia Lee for lieutenant governor, Mark Dunlea for comptroller, and Michael J. Sussman for attorney general were not included. In my opinion, Jia Lee, Mark Dunlea, and Michael J. Sussman are more qualified for the offices for which they are running than the big money and big “machine” party candidates. Their “Progressive” agenda calls for single-payer health insurance, an accelerated transition to renewable energy sources, and divestiture of state pension funds from fossil fuel enterprises, to name a few. 

I agree with the sentiment expressed by Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan as presented in the article, that if the progressive agenda is allowed to be implemented “New York will never be the same.” Of course he meant that more of the same is preferable to change. 

I’m for change. The team of Hawkins, Lee, Dunlea and Sussman are the ones to bring on that change.

David Giannascoli

Pougkeepsie