Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said yesterday's historic march  of 400,000 in NYC showed that New Yorkers are fed up with political leaders who are delaying action on climate change.

The Green Party was one of the sponsors of the march and had a large contingent, including Hawkins.

Hawkins held a news conference at the birthplace of the Occupy Wall Street movement. He then participated in a Flood Wall Street climate change protest.

"Americans understand that we need action now on climate change, even if our Democratic and Republican politicians don't. New York needs a Governor who will say that fracking for more natural gas is not the answer. We already have a plan by Standard and Cornell professors that shows how New York can go to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030 and I pledge to implement it if elected," said Hawkins.

I will be one of tens of thousands – hopefully hundreds of thousands – marching on the UN Climate Summit in New York City this Sunday demanding that the world's governments take decisive action to stop global warming.

I will also be speaking at the Climate Convergence on Saturday where I will argue that to deal with climate change we must replace the coal, oil, and gas companies and investor-owned utilities with a democratic public power system operated at cost for public benefit, not for private profit. We need system change, not climate change.

As the 2014 Green candidate for Governor of New York, I am calling for a Green New Deal for New York, the centerpiece of which is building a 100% clean energy system by 2030. It will create 4.5 million new jobs and cut energy costs in half. We will need a statewide public power system in New York implement the conversion to clean energy.

Hawkins: Census Shows Cuomo has promoted income inequality in NY

"The new data today from the Census Bureau confirms that the bipartisan policies enacted under Cuomo over the last 4 years have benefited the rich at the expense of average New Yorkers. The wealthy have recovered from the Great Recession but not the 99%. Children especially are hurting from Cuomo's austerity agenda," said Howie Hawkins.

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said he supported the "New York is Home Act" introduced by Senator Rivera to provide voting rights and other benefits to undocumented residents. 

The Green Party has long supported allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections. Many democracies allow local residents to vote in local elections regardless of the citizenship status. At the beginning of the 20th century, at least 22 states and territories permitted non-U.S. citizens to vote in local, state, and national elections. New York City also extended voting to non-U.S. citizens for certain elections. 

"The Green Party believes that all people should be treated with dignity and that they are entitled to basic human rights where they live. Immigrants are a vital contributor to our local and state economies. We need comprehensive reform of immigration laws in Congress, but New York should provide leadership where it can," said Hawkins.

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said that the real scandal over the Buffalo Bills is not that Astorino prefers the Miami Dolphins but that the new owner made his fortune fracking for natural gas and contributing to climate change. 

"While the rest of the country was debating the issues of domestic violence, child abuse and the NFL, Cuomo spent his campaign dollars photoshopping Astorino's son out of a sport attack ad," Hawkins noted. "Rather than debating which sports teams we follow, we should be debating jobs, health care and climate change." 

"The NFL needs to send a stronger message that it is not going to tolerate violence against women, children and its own players. One way to show they are serious is by firing Commissioner Goodell," said Hawkins.

Hawkins calls for Open Debates, 100% Clean Energy by 2030



Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, called today for Governor Cuomo to agree to participate in a series of debates with him and his other opponents.



“It would be a disservice to the progressive majority in New York to exclude the only progressive choice on the ballot in November from the debates,” Hawkins said. 



“By any reasonable criteria — support demonstrated by poll numbers, a ballot status party with its own candidate, a serious statewide campaign, the only progressive option on the ballot — I should be included in debates,” Hawkins added.


(Syracuse) Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said today that by any fair and objective standard, he should be included in debates with Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo and his Republican challenger, Rob Astorino.

Two polls released yesterday in upstate conservative districts (19th and 21) showed Hawkins at 12%. (bit.ly/1qIhnnh bit.ly/WQ7lUV). Both polls were conducted prior to the stunning primary result where 40% of the Democrats rejected Cuomo.

Says the Democrats and Republicans are scared to publicly debate the Green Party
 
(New York) Brian Jones, the Green Party candidate for Lt. Governor, called today for his opponents to have more courage than Cuomo and Astorino and to agree to a series of open debates.
 
The Green Party pointed out that by any fair and objective standard, they should be included in any debates this fall.

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said today in Rochester that by any fair and objective standard, he should be included in debates with Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo and his Republican challenger, Rob Astorino.

After the strong protest vote in the Democratic Party, Governor Cuomo reversed course yesterday and said he was open to debates in the general election. But he indicated that he preferred debates only with his conservative Republican challenger.

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said today that the stunningly high vote total against Cuomo in the Democratic Primary shows that many New Yorkers reject his conservative economic policies.

Hawkins will also hold a statewide call with the media on Sept. 10 at 2:00 PM to discuss the primary and the upcoming general election. http://www.howiehawkins.org/media_conference_call_with_howie_hawkins

He congratulated Zephyr Teachout on running a strong, spirited campaign challenging Cuomo's record.