Hawkins for Auditor

Hawkins Calls for Action on Desegregation in Westchester, Statewide

While Governor Cuomo and his Republican challenger exchanged barbs over a housing discrimination case in Westchester County, Green Party gubernatorial candidate announced two measures he would take as Governor to desegregate New York's housing and schools, which are the most segregated in the nation by both race and income.

“I will establish a cabinet-level Civil Rights Department to strengthen enforcement fair housing and anti-discrimination laws and initiate a new public housing program to build in both the cities and the suburbs humanly-scaled, scatter-site, mixed-income, clean energy public housing developments that will improve the quality of life in any community in which they are built,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins said that Astorino is wrong to resist HUD's 2009 fair housing settlement in Westchester County, but that Cuomo has been wrong as well for doing nothing to desegregate New York.

“The enforcement of civil rights in the education, housing, and labor departments of state government has taken a back seat to other missions assigned to these departments,” Hawkins said. “The result has been a steadily growing increase in segregation of housing and schools by both race and class since the 1960s in New York. We are now shamefully the most segregated state in the nation. We need a cabinet-level Civil Rights Department to focus on this problem. It should constituted as a law enforcement agency with an independent funding source and the power to streamline procedures and cut across government agency jurisdictions to get the job done.”

“Enforcement of anti-discrimination laws is not enough to desegregate New York. It has taken decades of discrimination to build the segregated housing and schools we now have in New York. We need to pro-actively open up housing and schools to diverse populations. The new public housing program I propose is needed to begin desegregating our residential patterns. It will also serve as a jobs program, an affordable housing program, and a clean energy program,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins has a plank on Civil Rights and Racial Justice in his platform that addresses these issues in more detail at www.howiehawkins.org/platform.

Former Democratic gubernatorial primary candidate Randy Credico appears in court today to face charges for videotaping police in August.

The Green Party candidate for Governor, Howie Hawkins, called today for all charges against Credio to be dismissed.

Hawkins Wants Tax Cuts for 95% of New Yorkers, Not Astorino's Tax Cuts for the Rich 

(Watertown) Howie Hawkins, the Green Party nominee for Governor, said today  that he opposes the call by his Republican opponent to provide even more tax cuts to wealthy New Yorkers by cutting the income tax.

 "Every politician tells you they want to cut taxes but what they don't make clear is they primarily want to cut taxes for their campaign contributors. The wealthy especially want to cut the income tax because that is the biggest part of their tax bill. What this means is that services are cut while the tax burden is shifted to the property and sales taxes, which makes up most of the tax bill for low- and middle-income New Yorkers," noted Hawkins.

In New York State, the janitor at TrumpTowers pays a higher percentage of his income for state and local taxes than Donald Trump, Rob Astorino or Andrew Cuomo.

Howie Hawkins, Green candidate for Governor, insists that all the gubernatorial debates should be televised statewide and that he should be included. With poll numbers ranging from 9% statewide to 24% in Syracuse Hawkins has proved that he represents a significant portion of the electorate.

Hawkins obtained official ballot status for the Green Party 4 years ago by pulling more than the required 50,000 votes. Hawkins, Cuomo and Astorino are the three candidates nominated by parties with official party status in NY.

Green gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins responded today to reports from both the Cuomo and Astorino campaigns about the other candidate engaging in pay-to-play contracts given to major campaign contributors.

"For once Cuomo and Astorino are both right -- and both guilty. They are both right about the other participating in pay-to-play contributions-for-contracts. They are both hypocrites for calling out the other for unethical transactions in which they themselves participate," Hawkins said.

Howie Hawkins said today that while he is looking forward to participating in a gubernatorial debate in Buffalo with Governor Cuomo and Republican Rob Astorino, he said that all debates should be open to all candidates on the ballot.

"The law should be changed so that if you want to run for office in New York State, you have to agree to participate in a series of public debates with all candidates who meet the legal requirements to be on the ballot," said Hawkins.

Green Party candidate for Governor Howie Hawkins will address the Syracuse Chapter of the National Action Network on Saturday September 27 at 10 am at the Fountain of Life Church (700 South Ave.) During the groups weekly meeting, Hawkins will outline his Green New Deal proposal for full employment, living wages, healthcare and quality public schools. Hawkins plans to elaborate in detail about how his education policy differs from those of his opponents. The event is free and open to the public

A longtime advocate for economic and social justice, during his campaign for Governor, Hawkins has been outspoken about the need to increase funding for public schools and for New York State to desegregate public schools.

The Hawkins for Governor campaign welcomes today's endorsement by Diane Ravitch of Howie Hawkins for Governor and Brian Jones for Lt. Governor of New York.

Ms. Ravitch, a nationally known expert on education, has served in the administrations of President George H. W. Bush and President Bill Clinton. In a statement posted on her blog, Ms. Ravitch wrote, "I voted for Zephyr Teachout in the Democratic primary for three reasons: her position on education, on public integrity, and on the environment. And these are the reasons I will cast my ballot in November for the Green Party."

Hawkins would Provide Full State Funding for Public Defense

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said today that he supported the state taking over the public defense system in NY to ensure adequate funding for legal representation for poor New Yorkers. The program should be headed by an independent public defense commission

"Our criminal justice system discriminates against the poor while Wall Street banksters who defrauded and stole billions from homeowners and pensioners go free. 51 years after the Supreme Court ruled in Gideon that Americans have a constitutional right for legal representations, that right is still denied in New York," said Hawkins.

A report by the New York Civil Liberties Union showed that poor New Yorkers are often forced to appear in court without a lawyer or  with a revolving cast of overworked attorneys unfamiliar with their cases. Public defenders routinely have caseloads up to five times the recommended maximums. People who have not been convicted of a crime can await trial in jail for months when an attorney might have negotiated their release – and they lose their jobs, homes and even ailing partners and children as a result.

The new Marist Poll (WSJ/NBC) shows that voters overwhelmingly (78%) want all the candidates on the ballot included in debates. Two-thirds of the voters want two (42%) or more (25%) debates. Almost half (45%) of the voters said open debates would determine how they would vote. Over half (52%) of Cuomo's voters said they may decide to vote for someone else.

"Voters are not satisfied with the two choices they hear about from paid ads and the news. They want open debates where all the candidates have the opportunity to lay out their vision of how to improve our state. It is time for Cuomo and Astorino to agree to open debates," said Hawkins.