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Green Party calls for increased funding for schools, housing
For immediate release: October 29, 2018
Westchester like rest of state needs to desegregate
The Green Party candidates for Governor and Attorney General were in White Plains today to call for an overhaul of the state’s education policies, including more funding for schools in low-income communities.
Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said that New York must desegregate its schools and housing.
The Greens say the state should close the $4.2 billion cumulative shortfall in Foundation Aid funding that was intended to meet the requirements of the 2006 ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case. They say the Attorney General should settle, not fight in court, the lawsuits from New York City and Syracuse parents and the Small Cities for full Foundation Aid funding.
Hawkins noted that the “best way to improve education is end the racial, class, and academic segregation in public schools. Integration has been the most powerful progressive education reform since Brown v. Board of Education by far. It substantially reduces the achievement gap between low- and middle-income students. And all students do better in terms of intellectual self-confidence, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and tolerance.”
Hawkins blasted Governor Cuomo for failing to address the race and class segregation of schools in New York State.
Read moreHawkins Only NY Gov Candidate for Single-Payer
For immediate release: October 25, 2018
Hawkins Supports Universal Coverage with Single-Payer New York Health Act
Only Candidate for Governor Committed to Signing NY Health Act
Slams Insurance Industry and Business Council for Spreading Misinformation
Syracuse NY – Green Party candidate for Governor Howie Hawkins, standing outside of health insurance giant Blue Cross Blue Shield, announced that when elected Governor, he will sign into law the New York Health Act, making New York the first state in the nation to implement universal single payer healthcare.
“There’s only one way to cover everyone and save money, and that’s with the New York Health Act and Medicare for All. I am the only candidate running for governor who is committed signing the bill,” said Hawkins, a long time advocate for universal single-payer healthcare.
Hawkins slammed the Business Council, Blue Cross, and the health insurance industry for spreading misinformation about the New York Health Act: “They are scaring people with lies, on the radio and in mailers attacking candidates, claiming single payer healthcare and Medicare for all will end Medicare. In fact, NY Health Act will expand benefits to Medicare beneficiaries like myself because it will cover our vision, dental, hearing, and long-term care.”
“In addition, the NY Health Act will lower costs for Medicare beneficiaries by eliminating copays, deductibles, cost-sharing, and out-of-pocket fees for uncovered services. Those of us on Medicare will have better benefits at less cost to and still be able to have our choice of doctor and hospital. The New York Health Act will actually strengthen the Medicare program, and guarantee healthcare for everyone in our communities,” Hawkins said.
Criminal Justice Reform
For immediate release: October 24, 2018
Hawkins Calls for Criminal Justice Reforms to Stop Discrimination Against the Poor and People of Color
Binghamton – Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, called today for an overhaul of the state’s criminal justice system to ensure that all people are treated fairly regardless of race, age or economic status.
Hawkins stated his support to abolish cash bail for misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies; enforcement of the right for a speedy trial; full funding for a statewide public defenders’ office; banning solitary confinement; ban the box; and passage of the Child Victims Act.
Hawkins has long called for an end to the war on drugs starting with the legalization of marijuana. He also repeated his call for the establishment of a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to address the impact of mass incarceration on people of color.
Read moreHawkins says a Realistic Subway Fix Needs Congestion Pricing, Millionaire’s Tax, and More
For immediate release: October 22, 2018
Green gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins said today that he is the only candidate with a realistic approach to funding the upgrades needed to the New York City subway system.
Hawkins called Gov. Andrew Cuomo “irresponsible” for proposing to fund the MTA’s Fast Forward plan to fix the subways over the next decade by splitting the cost “fifty-fifty” between the state and the city.
“It is the state’s responsibility to provide most of the funding for the MTA. The governor controls it. He appoints the majority of the MTA board. He should stop using the MTA as a ping pong ball in his intramural competition with Mayor De Blasio,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said that the city should continue contributing, but that most of the funding should come from state revenues.
Hawkins also blasted the other gubernatorial candidates’ proposals. “The idea of Republican Marc Molinaro and Serve America’s Stephanie Miner to pay for subway upgrades by cutting costs is as unrealistic as Libertarian Larry Sharpe’s idea of funding it by selling corporate naming rights for MTA bridges and tunnels. Cutting funding to the MTA in order to cut costs has been what governors have done for decades and look at what a mess they have made of the subway system,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said that MTA board members have a better grasp of the MTA funding crisis. MTA board member Carl Weisbrod said recently, “We don’t yet have a final target price on Fast Forward, but congestion pricing and the millionaires tax together are unlikely to fund Fast Forward, much less our other transportation needs.”
Hawkins proposes ecological and progressive taxes to fund $100 billion subway fix
Hawkins said he would propose in his first year of office a multi-year $100 billion capital spending plan to fix the MTA, expand it to so-called “transit deserts,” and improve commuter trains from the suburbs.
Hawkins said that the $100 billion for these capital improvements should be funded by a variety of revenue sources, including congestion pricing, a carbon tax, land value taxation, and increased taxes on the incomes and stock trades of the wealthy.
Read moreHawkins Says He Will Participate in League of Women Voters’ Gubernatorial Debate
For immediate release: October 19, 2018
Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, says he will participate in the League of Women Voters’ gubernatorial debate regardless of which other candidates agree to show up.
Hawkins thanked the LWV for organizing the debate and inviting all the candidates to attend.
“The League is viewed as the gold standard for holding debates. It is time for Cuomo and Molinaro to stop their political gamesmanship and show up to give the voters’ the opportunity to hear all the candidates for Governor discuss their ideas about how to make our state better,” said Hawkins.
Hawkins urged the media to cover the debate, including broadcasting it on television and cable.
“The media needs to stand up for democracy and the voters’ right to have a debate and stop caving in to the demands of Governor Cuomo. Stop covering elections like a reality game show and remember the media’s historic role in our democracy, a role enshrined in our Bill of Rights,” added Hawkins.
Hawkins Says Kick Out Cuomo to Clean Up Albany with Public Campaign Financing
For immediate release: October 19, 2018
Greens Call for “Clean Money” System of Full Public Campaign Financing
Green Party candidates Howie Hawkins (for Governor) and Mark Dunlea (for State Comptroller) said that Cuomo’s fundraising practices highlights the need for New York to adopt a full public campaign finance program to end the practice of selling government to the highest bidder.
The State Comptroller’s office has long been viewed as a prime source of pay-to-play problems with donation in New York, so much so that the state had a limited public campaign finance pilot for the office four years ago.
Hawkins mocked Gov. Cuomo after his spokeswoman Abbey Collins said, "No donation of any size influences any government action — period."
“Really? That’s what Trump says while he uses his office to enrich himself. Like Trump, many of Cuomo’s top aides and donors are leading a parade to prison for public corruption,” Hawkins said.
“Big pay-to-play campaign donations have become the most lucrative investment that wealthy real estate, Wall Street, and other special interests doing business with the state can make. The taxpayers are stuck with the bill for the tax breaks, subsidies, contracts, and regulatory favors this legalized bribery buys,” added Dunlea.
Read moreGreen Party Candidates Call for Full Funding and Desegregation of NY Schools
For immediate release: October 16, 2018
Scrap Standardized Tests and Screening - Make All Schools Diverse with Gifted-Quality Curriculum for All
Howie Hawkins and Jia Lee, the Green Party’s gubernatorial ticket, called today for desegregation of all New York schools. The Greens said that the use of standardized tests for entrance to gifted high schools should be scrapped, and instead there should be a gifted-quality curriculum in all high schools.
They called for a “controlled choice” system of desegregation where families rank their preferred schools and students are assigned to schools using a formula to account for preferences while achieving socioeconomically integrated schools.
The Green candidates called for full funding of the Foundation Aid formula designed to provide adequate and equitable funding for all New York school districts, including high-poverty districts. The state is a cumulative $4.2 billion behind funding the Foundation Aid enacted in 2007 to meet the requirements of the Court of Appeals ruling in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case in 2006.
Hawkins said that student outcomes will not improve much until there is wider social reform to secure economic rights to living-wage jobs and affordable housing and health care for all. “When 10% of the children in my home city of Syracuse and in New York City are homeless, how can we expect those children to focus on their education?” Hawkins said.
Read moreGreen Candidates To Speak on Desegregating Housing and Schools - Tues. Oct 16 Brooklyn
For immediate release: October 16, 2018
Three members of the Green Party’s ticket for statewide office will be speaking tonight about how to desegregate housing and schools in New York. New York’s cities are the most segregated in the nation by race and income.
The forum is in the Brooklyn Commons, 388 Atlantic Ave. from 7 to 9 pm. Tuesday, October 16.
Michael Sussman, the Green candidate for Attorney General, will speak about litigation against discrimination and segregation. Sussman is a civil rights lawyer who won over $400 million from the New York State, HUD, and Yonkers to remedy school and housing segregation in Yonkers.
Jia Lee, a pubic school teacher who is the Green candidate for Lt. Governor, will address “controlled choice” programs that combine school preferences and family income to create integrated schools across school districts.
Margaret Kimberly, a columnist for Black Agenda Report, will discuss why politicians of all races have backed away from desegregation policies in recent decades.
Howie Hawkins, the Green candidate for Governor, will discuss how building new mixed-income public housing can contribute to housing desegregation as well as affordability in an era of gentrification and displacement of working-class tenants.
Read moreDunlea Slams NY1, Spectrum For Exclusion From Debate
For immediate release: October 16, 2018
“The action by Spectrum and NY1 to exclude the Green Party, the 4th largest ballot-qualified party in New York, is a slap in the face to voters and democracy. The Green Party has already been complaining about NY1’s behavior this election cycle, especially in contrast to their heavy air time for WFP. Spectrum’s hostility towards the Greens unfortunately is being repeated nationwide as major corporations increased their ownership of the media,” noted Dunlea.
NY1 has only had Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, on once this election cycle. Hawkins finished third in the 2014 Gubernatorial election, pulling far more votes than the Working Families Party....
“Spectrum is acting like a Pravda for the American two-party state. In America, Spectrum and its corporate media cohorts, faithfully propagate the line of the two government parties in the two-party system of corporate rule. The two government parties are presented as the only real options and the public is given the illusion of choice when both options are funded by primarily big corporate interests.,” added Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor.
Read moreHawkins Debates Chicken Cuomo (with photo)
For immediate release: October 15, 2018
Hawkins Confronts “Chicken Cuomo” Over Debates
Calls for State Debate Commission Run by Media, Civic, and Educational Organizations
Green gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins confronted Gov. Cuomo today over his refusal to debate by debating a chicken-suited Cuomo actor and then satiric impressionist Randy Credico playing Cuomo outside the governor’s Manhattan office.
The chicken-suited actor, former Green Public Advocate candidate James Lane, had a “Cuomo” sign hanging around this neck and a placard that read, “Cluck You! No Debates!” The Cuomo chicken also squawked: “Debates Are Fowl!,” “Read My Beak! No Debates,” and “Debates? Kiss My Eggs!”