OntheWilderSide

The only way that the Green Party can regain ballot status in NY is to get 50,000 votes for their Governor candidate in 2010. This opportunity comes only once every four years, and it only applies to the Governor’s race. Gaining ballot status will enable the Green Party to run more peace candidates, more single-payer candidates, more anti-fracking candidates, and more sustainable energy candidates. The last time that the Green Party of New York State had ballot status it set the record for running the most Green candidates of any state.

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party of New York State candidate for Governor, called today upon his Democratic opponent, Andrew Cuomo, to reject the Independence Party line following several new scandals with investigations by the Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, Oneida County District Attorney and the federal government.

Hawkins said:

I ask Mr. Cuomo to face off against me one on one, the Green Party line versus the Democratic line. These fake parties and bought independent lines clutter up the ballot in New York, making it very difficult for voters to find real third party candidates like the Greens, hidden away in obscure corners of the voting machine where you often have to kneel down to even see our names. At a minimum New York should adopt the ballot rotation rules used in other states like California, where the placement of the names are rotated throughout the state so ballot placement doesn’t determine the winner. 

“The Independence Party has just become another fake third party made possible by New York’s unusual fusion provisions. The Independence Party, fathered by billionaire Tom Golisano in his efforts to buy his way to the State Capitol, routinely sells their line in exchange for campaign contributions, patronage and favors for the party insiders. Mr. Cuomo claims he wants to clean up Albany and so far, bowing to the constant media attacks led by the NYC tabloids, has delayed his acceptance of the Working Families Party (WFP) line while their financial operations are under investigation. Yet the Independence Party, which has a more prominent ballot position than the WFP, somehow passes Mr. Cuomo’s litmus test despite repeated examples of their influence peddling,”‘ noted Hawkins.

Hawkins said that candidates for public office in New York should run on only one line, rather than cluttering up the ballot with fake third parties and independent lines whose main function is patronage and vote-buying.

Long time Independence Party Executive Committee member Frank Morano, in recently resigning his party posts, stated, “Our party stands for nothing. The constant scandal and the perpetual infighting have made us a statewide laughingstock and we haven’t achieved a single substantive objective for which it was founded.”

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