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Connections: Gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins
WXXI (NPR, Rochester), April 24, 2018
Our series of interviews with the gubernatorial candidates continues with Howie Hawkins. He's running for governor on the Green Party line once again. Hawkins has said that Democrats and Republicans have become far too alike, and have failed the people of New York.
He discusses his vision for a single payer health care system, a higher minimum wage, and more.
Nixon and Hawkins protest Cuomo on energy policies
WXXI (NPR, Rochester), April 23, 2018
WAMC (NPR, Albany), April 23, 2018
Two of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s political opponents were at an Earth Day rally on climate change attended by hundreds at the State Capitol, where they said the governor’s energy policies are far from adequate.
POINTING OUT Another opponent for Nixon and Cuomo
Newsday (Opinion), April 20, 2018
By Lane Filler
As New York’s Working Families Party tries to figure out its general election endgame regarding its endorsement of Cynthia Nixon if she, as expected, loses the Democratic nomination to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, it has become certain there will be another left-leaning candidate on the ballot.
Howie Hawkins has again thrown his oft-tossed hat in the ring. Hawkins was the Green Party candidate for governor in 2010 and 2014, and last week he kicked off his 2018 campaign.
He’s not going to win, but he can take the moral high ground. The electorally pristine Green Party does not allow any candidate to use both its line and a major-party one. That means party leaders can’t trade off the ballot line for jobs and influence, as do the Conservative and Independence parties.
Hawkins is for real, and he has a platform. He impressed in the legendary 2010 gubernatorial six-way cage match debate that also featured Jimmy “The Rent Is Too Damn High” McMillan, and, by garnering 59,906 votes, Hawkins regained automatic ballot status for his party. Then, in 2014, Hawkins brought home 184,419 votes, a statistically significant showing that vaulted the Greens past the WFP and the Independence Party and into fourth position on the ballot.
The current conversation centers on whether Nixon, if she loses the Democratic primary, could allow a Republican to win if her WFP line pulls liberal votes away from Cuomo in November. It’s unclear how Nixon could get off the WFP line.
Meanwhile, though, Hawkins will provide a third-party liberal to vote for — one who pulled more than 5 percent support last time out. That’s a big win for liberal purists — and at least a small one for state GOP head Edward Cox, too.
NY Gubernatorial candidate pitches "Green New Deal" in Binghamton
Green party Gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins was in the Southern Tier, sharing his plan for the state and the region.
Hawkins is no stranger to politics. This will be his third time running for Governor. At a news conference in Binghamton Wednesday, he focused on high property taxes, as well as revenue sharing between the state and cities. Hawkins talked corruption in Albany, mentioning more than 40 officials with ethics violations. He also wants to make the state health care system a single payer program working from the bottom up.
"Our approach is not this trickledown economics that Governor Cuomo has taken to a new level, which is corrupting because the campaign contributors go, they're the ones that get the favors and improve the situation for everybody from the bottom up," said Hawkins. "You put more money in working people's pockets, they spend it. It increases demand, business expands, jobs are created."
Hawkins is also calling for New York to run on 100-percent clean energy by 2030. The green party candidate will face off against the winners of the Republican and Democratic primaries.
Green Party Candidate Howie Hawkins Speaks In Binghamton
Fox 40 WICZ TV, Binhamton, April 18, 2018
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate running for Governor of New York, visited Binghamton Wednesday.
Speaking at Columbus Park, the Green Party candidate who finished 3rd in the Gubernatorial race in 2014 says he's pushing for single-payer health care, fully-funded public schools, a ban on new fossil fuel infrastructure, and 100 percent clean renewable energy within 15 years.
“I will be happy to debate the Republicans on who can improve the business climate more - the Green Party or the Republican party - because they talk a good game about cutting taxes, but they talk about cutting taxes for the rich, not for the working class.”
— Howie Hawkins, Green Party Candidate for Governor of New York
Hawkins called for a Green New Deal as “the alternative to Cuomo’s corrupt corporate welfare posing as economic development.”
The Green New Deal includes transitioning to 100 percent clean energy and investing in public infrastructure and services. The objective is to achieve full employment with jobs in clean energy, mass transit, public housing, public broadband, education, and health care.
“We put more money in working people’s pocket, they spend it, it increases demand, businesses expand, jobs are created, that’s our approach. That’s what we call the Green New Deal," said Hawkins.
During his press conference he stated that his 5 percent of the vote that year forced Cuomo to compete for progressive voters by adopting a number of Green demands, including the ban of fracking, the $15 minimum wage, paid family leave, and tuition-free public college.
Governor Cuomo, a democrat, is seeking his third term in office as New York governor.
Republican Governors Association 'Keeping Close Eye' on New York
Gotham Gazette, April 18, 2018
...That makes the intervention of the RGA a potentially game-changing factor for a Republican candidate’s campaign.
“They can’t coordinate but they certainly can have a huge impact,” said New York State Republican Committee Chair Ed Cox, in a phone interview. “And they know how to win gubernatorial elections.”
As opposed to 2014, Cox sees a clear path for a Republican victory this year -- with the governor’s mounting scandals, his second-term swing to the left that has created resentment upstate, and his use of the race as a springboard for a presidential bid, which Cox said would rub voters the wrong way. There’s also the possibility, he noted, that Cuomo will lose votes in the general to third party candidates -- Nixon won the endorsement of the Working Families Party, which would allow her to be on the general election ballot even if she loses the Democratic primary; and Howie Hawkins is running for governor for a third time on the Green Party line, on which he came in third with more than 180,000 votes in 2014....
Off to the Races
OFF TO THE RACES Howie Hawkins, a Green Party candidate for New York governor, said his platform includes pushing for more education funding and integrating schools. Politico
Fallout From GOP Co-Opt Of Green Party Line
NY State of Politics, April 17, 2018
The Erie County Green Party said local Republican operatives co-opted its line by circulating petitions in NY-27 for a candidate who does not represent party values. Green Chairman Eric Jones said it is the latest and most publicized implementation of the tactic, but it’s certainly not the first time this has occurred....
The situation is particularly sticky for the Green Party this year because its officials want to make sure their members vote in the gubernatorial race. Howie Hawkins is again running for governor – for the third time – and the party needs at least 50,000 votes to maintain ballot access under New York state law.
Jones said making sure people don’t continue to go down the line after checking the box for Hawkins will take a significant educational effort. He said the party is planning on sending direct mail to Green voters who live in NY-27, which, of course, will be costly.