Hawkins for Auditor

Hawkins Says Agreement in Indigent Defense Lawsuit Falls Short of Needed Statewide Solution

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said that the agreement announced today in Hurrell-Harring v. State of New York falls far short of the statewide solution needed to guarantee adequate legal defense for poor New Yorkers in criminal trials.

Support for Howie Hawkins for Governor continues to come from teachers unions across New York State. In the past few days Howie Hawkins received his 5th and 6th teacher union endorsement— Nassau County's East Williston Teachers' Association and northern Westchester County's Lakeland Federation of Teachers, which includes the towns of Yorktown, Cortland, and Putnam Valley.

Hawkins' previous teacher union endorsements have come from: Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association, Valley Central Teachers Association, Buffalo Teachers Federation, The Plainview-Old Bethpage Congress of Teachers. He also has endorsements from New York Badass Teacher Association, United Opt Out, Independent Community of Educators, Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE), Coalition for Public Education

Hawkins' opposition to Common Core and Race to the Top, as well as his platform to fully fund schools in an equitable manner has caught the attention of teachers and parents around the state who are distressed about the state of their schools due to high stakes testing, unworkable and narrow standards and a lack of funding. 

The following is the East Williston Teacher's Association statement on their endorsement of Howie Hawkins:

Hawkins cited investigation by Capital New York showing DEC edited USGS fracking study to remove threats of contamination and threats posed by gas infrastructure

(Syracuse)- Green Party Gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins said today that he would question Governor Andrew Cuomo at the debate in Buffalo Wednesday about why his administration edited and delayed a federal fracking study in 2011.

"When previously asked why his administration tampered with the report, Cuomo said simply, 'I don't know.' That's unacceptable," said Hawkins. "New Yorkers deserve answers from Cuomo, who for years has promised to listen to the science, not alter it. I intend to ask him what he knew and when."

The East Williston Teachers' Association of Old Westbury endorsed Howie Hawkins for Governor and Brian Jones for Lt. Governor on Thursday. Below is their statement, which can also be found at their blog.

Local leaders endorsed Green Party candidate for Governor Howie Hawkins during his Wednesday visit to Tompkins County. Standing in the rain with guitar, spoken word and hip hop entertainment emceed by Carolina Osorio Gil, a crowd in Ithaca's downtown Press Bay Alley welcomed the Syracuse organizer. Hawkins is the only gubernatorial candidate to visit Tompkins County.

"The issues I'm about to outline for you, I think the majority of people in New York want. If they vote for what they want, I'll be the next governor. And we're going to have New York be an example for the rest of the country and the rest of the world," was Hawkins' opener to a detailed overview of his "Green New Deal" to increase needed services with tax revenue from the most wealthy while reducing taxes on the remaining 95% of New Yorkers.

On His Way to Buffalo Gubernatorial Debate, Howie Hawkins to Announce in Syracuse that He Will Ask Gov. Cuomo Why His Administration Tampered with Federal Fracking Study

Hawkins will cite recent investigation by Capital New York showing DEC edited and delayed USGS fracking study to remove threats of contamination

Hawkins Will Address the Extent to Which Gas Infrastructure is Increasing in New York

(SYRACUSE, NY) Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins has released his income tax returns for 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009. They can be found here.

A working Teamster who unloads trucks overnight at UPS, Hawkins earns close to the median household income for his home town of Syracuse ($28,807 in 2012).

by Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones, Green Party candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor

Racism has recently become an issue in the gubernatorial race over the question of exclusionary zoning in Westchester County. The Republican gubernatorial candidate, Rob Astorino, has defied court orders to remedy the problem as Westchester County Executive and lost millions in federal housing funds as a consequence. The Democratic incumbent, Andrew Cuomo, has done nothing to desegregate our schools and housing other than to point fingers at Astorino.

Media commentators have noted that both camps feel that their sparring on this issue has helped them with their base. But where is the positive program of reform?

Cabot Gas Moves to Jail Anti-Fracking Leader Vera Scroggins
Alleges She Violated Injunction When Touring Howie Hawkins Around Gas Fields
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Howie Hawkins Stands With Scroggins and Blasts Gas Company

(Dimock, PA) — Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation is seeking fines and jail time for peaceful anti-fracking leader Vera Scroggins for allegedly violating an injunction banning her from areas near its gas fields.

Cabot filed its legal motions against Ms. Scroggins just days after she led Green Party candidate for New York Governor Howie Hawkins on a citizens tour of the Pennsylvania fracking fields and to meet with families whose land, water and health have been negatively impacted by the hydrofracturing operations in Pennsylvania.

The fracking company alleges that she showed "blatant" disregard for the ban when she took Hawkins on the tour and allegedly stood within 100 feet of an access road leading to one of Cabot’s wells in Dimock, Pennsylvania.

"This is pure harassment by fossil fuel barons against a non-violent, peaceful citizen activist who is a leader in the fight to protect our water, air and land against degradation by these gas companies. Not only is Cabot trying to take away Vera Scroggins right of free speech and movement, they want to jail her, fine her, and even pay their legal fees. They’re behavior is unconscionable and disgusting," said Howie Hawkins.

"Ms. Scroggins will not be bullied. I will stand with her and support any citizen standing up for the very water we drink and air we breathe. We know these fracking corporations like Cabot think they own the water, air and land, and now they seem to think they own us. I stand with Ms. Scroggins. She is a model citizen."

Scroggins says she has not violated the injunction and that she has been continuing and will continue to lead her Pennsylvania fracking field tours. The ACLU, which has represented Ms. Scroggins against Cabot’s attacks, has called the injunction "unjustified."

"What I saw on Ms. Scroggins tour is more than enough to reaffirm my opposition to fracking in New York state. As Governor I will ban fracking; unfortunately Governor Cuomo cannot be trusted at all to ban fracking. Besides the environmental disaster that fracking is, and the step backward it represents in the fight to turn the tide in the global climate crisis, we can't allow big oil to come into our state, or any state, to bully  citizens and take away their rights."

The injunction has been in place on Ms. Scroggins since last January.

Video of Howie Hawkins on the October 9th, Scroggins led fracking tour can be viewed at: http://www.howiehawkins.org/dimock_pa_videos

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, came to Buffalo today to lend his support to teachers and parents protesting the rushed action taken by the School Board to allow charter schools to take over their public schools facing closure. Hawkins visited a school and a community center, toured low-income neighborhoods with anti-poverty activists, and met with school teachers and administrators.

Hawkins has been touring the state in the last week as part of his ongoing effort to ban fracking. He visited communities already suffering from fracking last week in Pennsylvania. Hawkins also wants the state to take action on global warming by committing to a 100% clean energy system by 2030. Building out the full renewable energy system in New York in the next 15 years will create 4.5 million jobs while lowering electric rates to half of what fossil and nuclear fuels will cost in the next decade, according to a recent study by Cornell and Stanford researchers.