Declaration of Candidacy for Governor and Lt. Governor
Declaration of Candidacy for Governor and Lt. Governor – Howie Hawkins and Gloria Mattera
March 30, 2022
To the State Committee of the Green Party of New York:
We are asking for your support for our candidacies for Governor and Lt. Governor at the Nominating Convention on April 3, 2022.
We hope to repeat our success in 2022 that we had as the Green Party ticket in 2010 – Howie Hawkins for Governor and Gloria Mattera for Lt. Governor. We secured a Green Party ballot line for first time in eight years with that campaign by passing the 15,000 signature and 50,000 vote thresholds for ballot access.
The ballot access challenges we face this year are even greater than we faced in 2010 because the signature and voting requirements for ballot access were tripled at the behest of disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
On the other hand, the Green Party of New York is better organized today than it was in 2010 and we have had three successful statewide campaigns to secure ballot status, which has raised the Green Party profile among progressive voters in the state considerably.
In this campaign, with a corporate centrist, Kathy Hochul, as the likely Democratic candidate and an extremist Trump loyalist, Lee Zeldin, as the likely Republican candidate, the Green gubernatorial ticket will fill an enormous vacuum on the Left.
The Green ticket should be able to mobilize a significant vote for our policies and leverage New York politics in a progressive direction.
We would campaign on the policies the Green Party of New York has championed under the theme of a Green New Deal, although we propose to campaign for an Ecosocialist Green New Deal to make clear we are for significant pubic ownership and planning in the energy, transportation, manufacturing, and financial sectors to get the transition to clean energy and economic rights done on the rapid timeline needed and to distinguish the Green Party’s Green New Deal from the ineffectual corporate welfare incentives for clean energy in the Democratic version of the Green New Deal that some progressive Democrats have proposed.
Among the policies we will campaign for under the theme of an Ecosocialist Green New Deal:
- 100% Clean Energy and Zero Emissions in 10 Years
- Climate Jobs in a Just Transition
- Guaranteed Minimum Income Above Poverty
- Universal Public Health Care – NY Health Plan
- Universal Public Child Care
- Worker Co-ops
- Public Power
- Public Banks
- Affordable Housing – Good Cause Eviction Law, Expansion Not Privatization of Public Housing
- Police Reform – End Qualified Immunity, Defend Bail Reform
- Progressive Tax Reform
We also propose to campaign for democratic rights under a second theme of Inclusive Democracy. Our democracy is under assault by Republicans who are passing laws in many states to restrict voting rights and to steal elections by taking control of election administration. The Democrats have abjectly failed to modify the Senate filibuster in order to pass federal legislation to stop these anti-democratic laws. Moreover, the Democrats in New York and other states have passed more onerous ballot access laws. Party suppression is a form of voter suppression. It’s what authoritarian governments do. It’s what the Democrats do.
Greens have always been disadvantaged by the exclusionary nature of single-member-district, winner-take-all elections. But that disadvantage is worse than ever today because the Republican Party is no longer a conservative party but an extremist far-right party. The voting incentives for progressive-minded voters who support the Green policy platform to settle for the lesser-evil corporate Democrats in order to stop the extremist Republicans are now stronger than ever.
We intend the take on these anti-democratic exclusionary features of our electoral system in New York by campaigning for an Inclusive Democracy, and specifically:
- Fair Ballot Access
- Ranked Choice Voting for statewide offices
- Proportional Representation in the state legislature
These policies under the themes of an Ecosocialist Green New Deal and an Inclusive Democracy will not be discussed in New York politics unless the Green Party is in the election. The gubernatorial debate will be between a center-right corporate Democrat and a far-right extremist Republican.
Meanwhile, public opinion polls show that the majority of New Yorkers are progressive on economic, environmental, and democracy issues. It is up to the Green Party to give progressives an option on the ballot.
We ask for your nomination at the State Convention and for your active support in the campaign to give New Yorkers a progressive alternative in the 2022 state election.
In Solidarity,
Howie Hawkins and Gloria Mattera
Showing 1 reaction