Capital Tonight, April 19, 2013

Capitol Pressroom with Susan Arbetter, April 9, 2013:

http://www.wcny.org/thecapitolpressroomorg/wp-content/uploads/APR092013.MP3

Howie's segment starts at 13:40 and goes for about ten minutes. The main topic is campaign finance reform.

“Legalized bribes, otherwise known as campaign contributions, are still the best investment that Wall Street can make. The adoption of a NYC-style matching funds system of partial public campaign funding by NYS will not stop the domination of special interests, as we already know from the NYC experience under matching funds. We need far more fundamental reforms such as proportional representation, which almost all other democracies use for elections. As for campaign finance reform, we need the Clean Money system of full public funding, which provides all qualified candidates with equal campaign grants and prohibits private contributions,” said Howie Hawkins.

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

What Hawkins wants to know is this: What’s wrong with the "Clean Money" campaign finance reform proposal that has been in negotiations in Albany for years?

“Drug policy reform is an issue of racial justice as much as criminal justice because drug law enforcement has clearly targeted low-income black and Latino communities. We need to stop spending $50 billion a year nationally on the drug war, and use that money for treatment and rebuilding poor communities of color,” said Hawkins.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/03/new_york_minimum_wage_deal_cri.html

Hawkins says state minimum wage enacted is still a sub-poverty wage.

Capital Tonight, August 4, 2012

http://capitaltonightny.ynn.com/2011/08/hawkins-talks-green-party-convention/

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/protesters_in_syracuse_call_fo.html

Perennial Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins called for people who favor a ban to step up and run for political office, so New Yorkers won’t have to choose between candidates who favor no ban and a limited ban.

The most promising approach for immediate relief in the coming year is a restoration of the original plan to pay for state mandates: state revenue sharing.

We should also demand from the state more home rule on taxes, including the right to a local income tax. A city income tax instead of higher property taxes is fairer in Syracuse because the majority of property is owned by tax-exempt government and non-profit institutions.