Having problems viewing this email? Click here. Contact:  Peter LaVenia, co-chair  chair2@gpny.org  518-495-8001   With 32% of precincts counted and more to come in, the New York State Green Party declared victory at 11:30 PM on election night. The votes cast for Howie Hawkins and Gloria Mattera will secure the Green Party a ballot line for the next four years, and represent support for the "Green New Deal." Support for other candidates is also promising, with Comptroller candidate Julia Willebrand receiving 3% of the vote, and US Senate candidates Colia Clarke and Cecile Lawrence coming in third in their races respectively.   "This is the best showing ever for statewide Green Party candidates. It is the culmination of months of hard work on the part of many party members, and the candidates themselves. Voters are fed up with Democrats and Republicans taking their votes for granted, and are open to hearing ideas from a party not beholden to Wall St. and special interests. Howie Hawkins campaigned tirelessly to promote the idea of a Green New Deal, funded by progressive taxation on the wealthy, and using the stock transfer tax we already collect to fill the budget gap. Voters who heard the message understood that Howie's platform made sense, and that it's the austerity plans of Cuomo and Paladino that are nonsense," said Peter LaVenia, co-chair of the NY State Green Party.   "The strong showing by all of our candidates means voters have finally seen how little difference there is between the Democrats and Republicans. People support Green ideas when they hear them: ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, single-payer universal health care, living wage jobs, renewable energy - and in this election we see they are linking our candidates to the issues they care about most. This is a building block for the future. We are going to use this victory to elect Greens statewide, starting at the local level and moving on up to the state," stated Eric Jones, co-chair of the NYS Green Party.   "While this campaign is over, we're not waiting around for the next one to begin - there's too much work to be done. The Green Party intends to be an independent force in NY State politics for working New Yorkers. Andrew Cuomo and the State Legislature are on notice - this is one party that doesn't sell its ballot line for influence," said LaVenia.   2010 Statewide Candidates Left to right: Julia Willebrand for Comptroller, Cecile Lawrence for US Senate,Howie Hawkins for Governor, Gloria Mattera for Lt. Governor, Colia Clark for US Senate.      Green Party of New York Web Site

Friends Scared about Paladino? Tell Them This:

Every progressive will prefer the program of Hawkins and the Green Party to the conservative economic agenda of Andrew Cuomo (D-I-WFP). But many people vote their fears rather than their values and hope.

Polls show that Paladino has no chance of winning. Every time he talks he alienates more voters. He trails Cuomo by over 20 points. The only question is how bad he will lose.

If voters fear Paladino, they should also fear Cuomo. While they differ on social issues such as abortion, the reality is that the Assembly will block major changes on these issues.

Cuomo himself has argued that Tea Partiers should vote for him because his economic agenda is similar to Paladino but he will be more effective in getting the Tea Party agenda implemented because he is nicer when talking to the public.

Don't Let Your Friends Waste Their Votes - Vote Howie Hawkins!

Voting for what you believe in is never a wasted vote. Liberate your vote from the two corporate parties. We will never get change in this country as long as progressives keep voting for the corporate, pro-war, anti-labor, anti-reform agenda of the Democratic Party. As long as both parties believe that progressives will end up voting for the Democratic Party no matter how many promises they break, there is no reason for them to change their positions.

Howie and the Green Party will win if they get 50,000 votes and get their ballot line back. The two parties in NY have written our state election laws to make it an exhausting and difficult process for independents to get on the ballot. Even if Green candidates survive the process, they have devoted so much resources and time to the petition process that they have little energy left for the rest of the campaign.

When the Greens had the ballot line from 1998 to 2002, we were able to run hundreds of candidates to challenge the two corporate parties. Our vote totals keep on getting higher, and we have won many local races. In 2010, we have 3 elected Mayors in NY State and a number of Town Board, Village Trustees, and School Board members. Just think what we can do together after we regain the ballot line.

Friends Thinking of Voting for the Working Families Party?

A vote for the Working Families Party is a vote for Democrat Andy Cuomo and his conservative economic agenda - plain and simple.

The message to the Democratic Party is that no matter how bad their candidates are, they'll just pick up the votes on the WFP line rather than the Democratic line. No need to change. The WFP is the safety valve for the Democrats.

Cuomo very publicly stated he would only take the WFP line if they agreed with his agenda and rejected their own platform on issues such as taxing the rich and opposing the property tax. The WFP decided their own base of support was too weak to get 50,000 votes and publicly said they were abandoning their principles to endorse Cuomo. They recently weakened their position on hydrofracking to mirror that of Cuomo.

The WFP argue that they have a real impact on issues at the State Capitol. That is untrue.

The NYS Legislature remains the most dysfunctional in the country, even after the Democratic Party won control of the State Senate. And many of the key Democrats that blocked progressive legislation the last two years, such as the Farm workers Bill of Rights, were the candidates that the WFP helped elect, such as Sen. Aubertine and Johnson.

WFP's biggest victory was raising the state minimum wage. That was long overdue but they lost the most critical issue - indexing the wage to inflation. And they won that issue by doing what the unions in NYS had too long done - keep the Senate Republicans in power in exchange for voting on a few labor issues while the rest of the Republican's reactionary agenda was supported.

The WFP has created an effective Get out the Vote operation that they sell to the Democratic Party in a way that often evades election law. Since they sell themselves to the Democratic Party, it means they are financed by the same special interests that buy the Democratic Party.  But even though the WFP gets a few Democrats elected and get a hearty pat on the back for their efforts, they still hardly get anything passed. While they cite the passage of the recent Green Jobs Green NY program to create jobs and weatherize up to a million homes, a worthwhile goal the Greens supported, the Paterson administration has effectively blocked implementation of the program.

At the top of the ticket, the WFP always run candidates that oppose the agenda they tell voters they support. They get pro-war Democrats elected. They elect candidates who fail to take action on climate change or same-sex marriage. The WFP opposed single payer health care, and their strategy of proposing a flawed public option ended up getting what we all agreed was the worst solution - increasing the power and funding for insurance companies with a mandate. But as the WFP always does, they declared defeat a major victory. War is peace.

Vote for the Green Prosperity Plan, Not Cuomo's Austerity Plan

Says Cuomo would slash state funding for education, health care, other essential services

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, called for New York voters to support the Hawkins prosperity plan rather than the Cuomo-Duffy austerity plan.

“The Democrats are trying to win votes by scaring people about Paladino, who is admittedly a scary person – a bigoted, rich real estate developer. But the really scary thing is that Cuomo and Duffy, with their right-wing economic agenda, scapegoating of unions, and education privatization agenda are likely to win. As Cuomo has told the media, Tea Partiers should vote for him because he has the same economic agenda as Paladino but he will do a better job of getting it implemented because he talks nicer,” said Hawkins.

Hawkins pointed out that Cuomo has failed to tell the voters what programs he plans to cut in order to resolve the state’s projected $9 billion deficit next year.

Hawkins urged New Yorkers to liberate their vote from the two corporate parties and invest it in making the Green Party the true third party in New York. Fifty-eight percent of Americans believe a third major political party is needed because the Republican and Democratic Parties do a poor job of representing the American people.

“The Greens’ positions on job creation, peace, taking action on climate change, and universal health care are the positions of the majority of New York voters. Cuomo is unfortunately going to be elected our next Governor, so a vote on him is not only wasted, it just encourages him to follow through on this threats to workers, teachers, and the budget. We have to stand up and cast as many votes as possible to a progressive alternative to Cuomo,” said Hawkins.

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Election Day Canvassing and Poll Watching

Our focus on Election Day will be reaching voters near polling sites and making sure they know about the Green alternative to Cuomo-Dino! Work with your local Greens to cover high-traffic polling places, and make sure you know the rules regarding where you can canvass.  If you are able, we could use some poll watchers to monitor the opening and closing of the polls. You will need a signed form from one of our candidates to do this, so please email michael@gpbk.org for arrangements.

2010 Statewide Candidates

Left to right: Julia Willebrand for Comptroller, Cecile Lawrence for US Senate,Howie Hawkins for Governor, Gloria Mattera for Lt. Governor, Colia Clark for US Senate. 

     Go to the GPNYS web site candidates page for all Green Party NY candidates.

     If you want to help, please contact the candidates or the GPNY Campaign Committee.

Donate and Get a T-Shirt

To make a contribution to the Green Party of NY with PayPal or your Credit Card, go to www.gpnys.org and click on "Donate."