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Hawkins Cries Foul
by Elizabeth Benjamin
Albany Times Union |
Green Party U.S. Senate candidate Howie Hawkins is calling on the Working Families Party to retract this “last-minute” mailer, which he feels is disingenuous because it wrongly implies “peace mom” Cindy Sheehan is supporting the entire WFP ticket.
In fact, Sheehan recently endorsed Hawkins and another Green Party candidate, gubernatorial hopeful Malachy McCourt.
Adding insult to injury in Hawkins’ eyes is the fact that the WFP slate is identical to the Democrartic slate, and this includes his opponent, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY. Many on the left do not feel Clinton is sufficiently anti-war when it comes to Iraq, despite her criticism of the Bush administration, since she voted for the war and never apologized outright for that vote or supported an immediate withdrawal of the troops.
The Hawkins campaign e-mailed out a statement from her today in which Sheehan reiterated her support of the Green Party candidates and criticized Clinton.
“I support a lot of the work of the Working Families Party and especially Mr. Pete Seeger who has been an amazing warrior for peace. However, I cannot support the candidacy of Hillary Clinton who is ensconced in the all-Democratic slate. She is not pro-peace, or even
anti-war and has been a rubber stamp for George Bush’s war of terror.
“Many of the candidates that the WFP supports are worthy of support, but
certainly not Senator Clinton.”
“I support Howie Hawkins in his campaign against Hillary Clinton, and I support Malachy McCourt in his campaign for governor.”
- “Peace, Cindy Sheehan.”
The WFP mailer doesn’t mention Clinton at all - or Democratic state Comptroller Alan Hevesi. It does, however, prominently disply the names of Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner/AG Eliot Spitzer and his LG running mate, Senate Minority Leader David Paterson, D-Harlem, as they will appear on Row E.
WFP spokesman Alex Navarro said all three of the anti-war activists pictured in the mailer had authorized their quotes for use in the WFP’s direct mail “Bring ‘Em Home” campaign (named for a Pete Seeger song), in which the party is urging votes on Row E to send an anti-war message.
“Cindy Sheehan is a courageous American, who along with Michael Moore and Pete Seeger, has been an important force in changing public opinion about the war in Iraq,” Navarro said. “The Working Families Party is grateful for the support they’ve given to the party’s ‘Bring ‘em Home’ campaign and for the quotations they authorized for our direct mail.”
“We hope New Yorkers who reject the Nader-ite “spoiler approach to electoral politics that elected George W. Bush president will vote Working Families on Tuesday to send a message about the war.”
Meanwhile, Hawkins announced he’ll be running a TV ad during cable news broadcasts Monday (including “The Daily Show”) in which he pron |
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 *Website by David Doonan, Labor Donated to Hawkins for Senate Campaign* |
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