Real Left Politics with Stewart Alexander, July 11, 2018

Audio

Stewart Alexander talks with Howie Hawkins about his run for governor of New York.

Politico New York, July 11, 2018

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party gubernatorial candidate, has reached out to the NYC-DSA seeking its endorsement.

“As someone who came up in the McCarthy and Cold War eras, it is fascinating to see the word socialism coming back into mainstream public discourse — if not the distinguishing programmatic feature of the socialist tradition: a new democratic mode of production based on social ownership of the major means of production,” Hawkins wrote in an email that measured recent DSA endorsees’ definition of socialism.

“But I’m happy they have opened up a discussion of socialism,” he said.

Spectrum News, July 10, 2018

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Chanting and waving signs, dozens of protesters gathered outside at each stop, speaking out against the Trump administration and Congressman Katko.

From immigration, to trade and taxes, there were a number of issues mentioned by demonstrators. But, some demonstrators wanted their message to be heard by a larger audience.

"We all need to look at what's happening to this beautiful, wonderful country that we all came to as immigrants for the most part, I know I did in the mid-1800s. So we need to protect the freedoms we have come to be able to just assume, because they're going away day-by-day,” said Stephanie Ladd, a protester.

Politicians joined the protestors in Syracuse.

Katko's opponent, Democrat Dana Balter and Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins both stood with the crowd.

Syracuse Post-Standard, July 9, 2018

WRVO (NPR, SUNY Oswego), July 9, 2018

Protesters demonstrate outside of the Syracuse Institute of Technology, where President Donald Trump’s daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump attended a round table. CREDIT PAYNE HORNING / WRVO NEWS

Outside of the roundtable, a crowd gathered to protest Trump’s visit. Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins says he demonstrated to oppose the Trump administration’s education policies, including supporting charter schools and rolling back Obama-era regulations meant to protect minorities.

“Instead of using our schools as a prop, Ivanka Trump should be back there in White House, where she’s a senior advisor, trying to convince her father to stop these abusive policies toward children,” Hawkins said.

The Riverdale Press (Bronx), July 7, 2018

To the editor:

In a Quinnipiac University poll released May 2, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was preferred by 50 percent, and Cynthia Nixon by 28 percent. Another 22 percent were undecided.

I’m not surprised by the lack of support for Nixon. But I’m glad that (if the poll is accurate) Cuomo is receiving less support than in the past.

Nixon, a friend of Mayor Bill de Blasio, recently claimed that transit repairs cost so much because workers’ salaries were too high. Transit workers finally got a decent contract after decades of real money pay cuts.

So Nixon did not object to all the Scrooge-like contracts that Cuomo gave to state workers, only the decent one he negotiated for transit workers. You can see why she and de Blasio, who’s given the city’s unionized workers nothing but real money pay cuts, like each other.

I’m guessing the 22 percent undecided is misleading. I was asked recently in a telephone poll who I would choose. I said neither of them. Was I counted as undecided? I will vote for the same man as I did in the last two gubernatorial elections, the Green Party’s Howie Hawkins.

NY State of Politics, July 6, 2018

Howie Hawkins believes there’s an opening for the Green Party in the race for governor, whether or not Cynthia Nixon remains in the race after the Sept. 13 Democratic primary against Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Hawkins, in a fundraising appeal on Friday, noted that Cuomo, Nixon and independent candidate Stephanie Miner, all backed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

At the same time, the Working Families Party with Nixon as its nominee in November would continue to be part of a broader project to push Democrats to the left, Hawkins argued.

“All three self-styled “progressive” Democrats – Cuomo, Miner, and Nixon – may be running on different ballot lines this year, but they all supported Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders in the (2016) New York presidential primary,” the email stated. “If Nixon loses the Democratic primary but stays on the Working Families Party line for November, she will still be a Democrat pursuing the Working Families Party strategy of influencing the Democratic Party. Of all six tickets on the November ballot, only the Green Party is building an independent party of the left to beat, not just influence, the corrupt two-party system of corporate rule.”

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.

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.