Questionnaire of the Coordinated Campaign Committee of the Green Party of the United States

Candidate Name: Howie Hawkins

Office Sought: Governor of New York

District, Municipality and/or State: New York State

Campaign Email Address: [email protected]

Campaign Website: www.howiehawkins.org

How many people are seeking this office? 6

Number of seats available: 1

Number of incumbents running: 1

Contribution limits that apply?

State Law: $5,000 for political committees and corporations; $44,000 for individuals and LLCs.

My campaign: accepting only up to federal limits of $2,700 from individuals and $5,000 from political committees. See http://www.howiehawkins.org/contribution_rules.

What are your qualifications for this office? Describe how you decided to run for the office you are seeking. Describe your major accomplishments as a Green, and how they relate to the office you are seeking. Please include any relevant history of activism.

I've been an organizer in movements for peace, justice, labor, the environment and independent working-class politics since the late 1960s. I was a construction worker and then a Teamster for over 50 years. I know what progressive movements and working people have been through.

I was asked to run again by the State Committee of the Green Party of New York State.

As a Green, I was at the first national organizing meeting for a Green Party in St. Paul MN is August 1984 and remained active ever since, organizing local and state Green parties and running for office over 20 times. I was the Green candidate for Governor of New York in 2010 and 2014, securing a ballot line for the party in 2010 and renewing that line in 2014 with 5% of the vote, the most for an independent party of the left in a century.

As for my history of activism, this essay -- The Last Resort: Civil Disobedience for Safe Energy -- outlines much of my activism over the last 50 years.

Have you completed all legal paperwork necessary to begin campaigning or be officially recognized as a candidate? Yes

Will you be on the ballot in Fall 2018? Yes

What are the goals of this campaign? How does the campaign plan to achieve them? What are the chances of you being elected?

To win more progressive reforms for New York. The state adopted or partially adopted our demands for a ban on fracking, $15 minimum wage, paid family leave, tuition-free public college, and criminal justice reforms after Gov. Cuomo realized he had to compete for our 5% of the vote in 2014. In 2018, we are again campaigning as we did in 2010 and 2014 for a Green New Deal for NY: an economic bill of rights to secure guaranteed health care, affordable housing for all, tuition-free public college, a living-wage job or income above poverty, and 100% clean energy by 2030.

We plan to win these goals by increasing our share of the vote and following up after the election with movement pressure on the legislature and governor, even if I am the elected governor.

My chances of winning are low. Hereditary voting for Democrats and Republicans, media bias in favor of the two government parties, and the incumbents $30+ billion campaign fund make winning a long shot. But we are campaigning as if we ought to be elected because our platform is favored by the working-class majority.

What are the major issues in the race? On what issues is the campaign centered? What strategies will the campaign use to get your message out?

The major issue is decades of stagnate wages while rents, health care, college costs and lately food costs have skyrocketed.

Climate change, particularly the governor's support for fracked-gas expansion and nuclear bailouts, is also a major issue.

Our Green New Deal offers real solutions to these problems.

Our strategies for getting the message out are earned media, social media, campaign events throughout the state, and voter ID canvassing and GOTV where we have organized Green Party or campaign groups.

How many votes do you anticipate needing to win? 2.5 million

What is the fundraising goal of the campaign? How much progress has been made towards that goal (i.e. how much have you raised to date)?

$200,000 is the fundraising goal. We had raised about $30,000 by Mid-August.

Is the campaign willing to share its donor list with GPUS? Yes

Has your campaign been endorsed by the local and/or State Green Party? Yes

Prior to receiving funding, we will need confirmation from the party of the endorsement if applicable.

Opportunity & Diversity

The Green Party is committed to helping those who have traditionally been excluded from electoral politics the chance to run for office. Please indicate if any of the following apply to your candidacy.

Person of color

Woman

Young Green

LGBTQ

Disability

Low-income

Other: Working-class union member for 50 years.

Additional Information: Please tell us anything else about yourself and/or your campaign you feel we need to know. This is a good place to include links to media about your campaign. This is also a good place to talk about how your campaign impacts ballot access for your state, especially for 2020 (if at all).

Media coverage: http://www.howiehawkins.org/news.

We need 50,000 votes to secure the Green ballot line for the next 4-year elections cycle. We got 60,000 in 2010 and 184,000 in 2014.