Cuomo's bill pretends that a sprinkling of limited public matching funds on top of a stinking pile of unlimited private campaign funds will solve the legalized bribery problem in state elections and government. Cuomo's bill would not take effect until 2015, after his gubernatorial re-election campaign. By January 2013, Cuomo had already amassed $22.5 million in campaign funds from the 1%.

Howie Hawkins, a Green Party candidate running for the 4th District council seat, said he would like mass transportation to be considered. Hawkins suggested that through traffic could be sent around Syracuse on I-481 while much of the traffic into the city could be provided by buses, light rail, or other public transportation.

The use of genetically engineered foods without mandatory publicly transparent safety testing amounts to a massive science experiment on the health of New York families and children in the name of corporate profits. This is unacceptable.

Consumers should be provided the information necessary to make informed decisions when choosing food products for their families. This legislation requires that the information be provided through product labeling. Sign the petition to support GMO labeling in NYS!

http://centralny.ynn.com/content/665455/green-party-designates-candidates-for-office/

Voters in Syracuse will have at least three Green Party candidates to choose from at the polls this November.

The party held its Spring Convention on Monday, designating its candidates for local office. Howie Hawkins will run for 4th District Common Councilor, Albert Sales is running in the 3rd District and the party is backing Barbara Humphrey in her run for Syracuse School Board.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/05/live_qa_with_the_green_partys.html

Howie Hawkins announced today he will run on the Green Party line for the 4th District Common Council seat held by Democrat Khalid Bey.

For weeks, Hawkins has been trying to decide whether to run for Syracuse mayor or Common Council. Hawkins said running for mayor would give him a platform to talk about the party's big-picture policy issues.

But he said he believes the 4th District is a race he can win.

By Michelle Breidenbach, May 17, 2013 Read story and sign-in to livechat here!

Syracuse, NY - Green Party activist Howie Hawkins is likely to decide Monday whether to run for Syracuse mayor. You can help.

Discuss the pros and cons with him in a live chat at 11:30 a.m. Monday on Syracuse.com. He will also take questions on issues, including campaign finance reform, in the wake of ongoing Albany corruption scandals.

Hawkins, a graveyard-shift United Parcel Service worker from Syracuse's South Side, has run at least 17 times for public office. He ran for mayor in 2005. He has also run for the 4th District Common Council seat and could decide to run for that seat this year instead of mayor.

http://centralny.ynn.com/content/665033/uncertainty-in-the-race-for-syracuse-mayor/

Hawkins said, “When I ran for District Councilor in 2011, people wrote me in for every council seat. At large. I think I came in second in the District Attorney's race. They were writing me in for judge. A lot of people want to vote for the Greens and vote for me.”

By Howie Hawkins, originally published on syracuse.com May 14, 2013

New York needs a Clean Money system of full public campaign funding. That's how we end the privatized “public” elections funded by the 1% that make Albany a feeding trough for wealthy special interests.

The so-called Fair Elections Act (A4980C-2013), which passed the Assembly and was delivered to the Senate on May 7, merely supplements the existing system ofunlimited private campaign financing with partial public funding.

This bill throws good public money after bad private money. The cesspool of pay-to-play influence peddling by wealthy private donors remains alive and well.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/04/syracuse_firefighters_seek_cou.html

Longtime Green Party activist Howie Hawkins told the council not to be "pennywise and pound foolish" about the fire department. He then launched into remarks about the need to raise more revenue from the rich to pay for city services.

http://auburnpub.com/blogs/eye_on_ny/howie-hawkins-says-green-party-wouldn-t-be-impacted-by/article_7f0467fc-ac50-11e2-a7b1-001a4bcf887a.html

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party's candidate for governor in 2010 and a challenger for other local and state-level seats, said Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposal to eliminate the Wilson-Pakula requirement won't affect his party, but it may if it means open primaries for all political parties.