I am casting a protest vote for the first time in my life. I am voting for the candidates of the Green Party, Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones. I voted for Zephyr Teachout in the Democratic primary for three reasons: her position on education, on public integrity, and on the environment. And these are the reasons I will cast my ballot in November for the Green Party.
I like their platform on the issues that matter most to me. I oppose hydrofracking ( yes, there was a recent study that said that hydrofracking did not cause pollution, but the faulty wells dug during the process of fracking caused pollution; forgive me for saying that is a distinction without a difference).
Cast your vote as you choose. This is my choice.
FRACKING
BAN FRACKING: Protect New York farms from the air, water, and land pollution, climate change, and degradation of rural infrastructure and property values that hydrofracking of shale formations for natural gas would bring to rural upstate New York.
100% CLEAN ENERGY BY 2030
Build in 15 years a full clean energy system based on:
*energy production from distributed solar, wind, wave, tidal, hydro, and geothermal energy production, where every home, office, and factory is retrofitted to be a solar power producer;
*energy storage from electrolytic hydrogen, battery, potential, and thermal energy;
*transportation through electrified vehicles and rails;
*heating and cooling by electricity-powered air- and ground-source heat pumps, heat exchangers, and backup electric resistance heaters;
*an interactive smart grid to match energy supply and demand and sales and purchases of distributed energy producers and consumers.
INTEGRITY
1. END CORRUPTION
30 state legislators have been indicted or pushed out of office for ethics violations since 1999, including 11 since Governor Cuomo took office in 2011. Cuomo promised in his 2010 campaign to establish an independent ethics commission. Instead, we got the Joint Commission on Public Integrity (JCOPE) and the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC), both of which are compromised by segmented jurisdictions and leadership appointed by and staffing drawn from staffs of the very politicians they are supposed to monitor. Then in 2014 Cuomo shut down the Moreland Commission to investigate public corruption before it could complete its work. We need strong ethics reforms to end this epidemic of corruption.
2. RECONVENE THE MORELAND COMMISSION
Bring the Moreland Commission back to finish the investigations it began. Give it the funding it needs and the autonomy to let the commissioners hire staff this time without interference from the governor’s office or the legislature.
3. ESTABLISH AN INDEPENDENT STATE ETHICS COMMISSION
Establish a truly independent ethics commission with comprehensive responsibility for ethics enforcement. Give it the resources necessary to vigorously investigate and punish ethics rules violations by members of both the executive and legislative branches. Operate it under the following rules:
No elected officials on its governing board.
A five-year revolving door restriction for recent politicians or their staff members to serve as board or staff for the Ethics Commission.
Apply Freedom of Information and Open Meetings Laws to the Ethics Commission.
4. FUND ETHICS ENFORCEMENT BY COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEYS
County DAs need additional resources in order to enforce public ethics laws in addition to their work on street crime.
5. FULL TIME LEGISLATURE
Bar income from outside work while serving a term in office. Legislators should be public servants, not politicians getting rich from the work (show or no-show) they secure because they are legislators who influence legislation. They should devote their full time to the people’s business.
EDUCATION
QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL
Fully fund public schools with an equitable state aid formula.
Eliminate the Gap Elimination Adjustment and the state-mandated local tax cap.
100% Foundation Aid for public schools.
Fully funded, full day, and developmentally appropriate Universal Pre-K and Kindergarten with certified and unionized educators.
Opt out of high-stakes testing for students, teachers, and schools.
Opt out of Common Core and Race To The Top.
Opt into common standards, curricula, and diagnostic tests written by professional teachers in the schools, not by outside corporate contractors.
Opt into teacher and school evaluation based on collaboration.
Opt into affirmative action to reduce school segregation by race and class, such as regional inter-district transfer programs.
State legislation to reduce class sizes and case loads.
Free Tuition at CUNY, SUNY, and Community Colleges.
*
The full platform is online here:
http://www.howiehawkins.org/platform
Diane Ravitch's blog 
How about starting a movement to write-in Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu. That’s how I plan to show my displeasure.
Please consider voting for Howie Hawkins instead. If Howie Hawkins has a strong showing, it will give some political clout to those of us who believe in helping people rather than in giving it all to corporations. I am proud to say I voted for Howie in 2010 as well.
Exactly right, Janice! Best way to continue Zephyr’s opposition is to vote for Howie in November. Diane hit it right on the head.
Howie Hawkins is an excellent, substantive candidate who knows what it’s like to work for a living with an agenda very similar to Teachout’s. I hope supporters of Teachout and Wu will cast their vote for Hawkins/Jones in the general election.
Did you hear that Tim Wu endorsed Cuomo two days after the primary!?! Did you hear that Teachout is not taking a stand or endorsing anyone?! In my opinion you can not say you are for democracy, or real progressive change, or saving public education, or saving the planet if you only challenge the powers that be a little bit, but not enough to actually risk your future chances for power within the Democratic Party. I strongly believe that both Wu and Teachout are thinking about their OWN future careers and not about what is truly the only way forward. To me that is “politics as usual” and will only get us all the things we have been afraid of. Therefore they do not deserve any efforts for a write-in campaign. Especially when Hawkins/Jones – the true progressives – are on the ballot!
The clock is ticking extremely fast for our planet and for our children’s future. There is no more time for game-playing and selfishness. We need to go cold-turkey and break our addiction to the Democratic Party. The Green Party is on fire and is leading the way to a brighter future! Without corporate money and without using the corrupt system of cross-endorsement (being on more than one party line simply to get more votes like Cuomo and Astorino!). Howie Hawkins and Gloria Mattera came in 3rd for Governor in 2010! Howie and Brian can make history and be national news just by getting even 9% of the vote, but they can also WIN THIS TIME if enough people DONATE to the campaign, spread the word to all their friends and family, and of course, vote for Hawkins/Jones November 4th! Your children will thank you for it and you will be part of the solution, not part of the problem!
Teachout doesn’t deserve a write-in vote for governor because she hasn’t endorsed someone else for governor?
The fact that Teachout has not endorsed anyone for governor is a clear statement that she has no intention to step out of line to break Democratic Party ranks in order to promote a candidate (Hawkins) who is CLEARLY the only progressive in the race. Why is this the case? She claims to want to promote democracy and make real meaningful change (in fact, many of her stated campaign issues seem to have been borrowed heavily from the Green Party platform that has existed for at least 10 years in NY State). So, then why does she not do the honorable and courageous thing to help get a fantastic candidate elected by formally endorsing Hawkins and telling her supporters to vote for him?! In my opinion, the reason is because she is more concerned with her own future personal gain within the corrupt and corporately controlled Democratic Party than she is with truly furthering progressive politics and saving the planet. In essence, she is willing to actually help Cuomo with her silence. That kind of politicking, game playing, confusion, power-struggle, and cowardice is exactly why the world is in crisis. I don’t want any part of it and Teachout shouldn’t either. That is why I don’t believe she deserves a write-in vote.
Hooray! Thank you, Diane, for taking the plunge. Until we all make it clear that we’re no longer giving the Democrats a free ride just for “not being Republican”, nothing can change.
I had the pleasure of speaking to Howie recently. I think he and Brian get it on CCSS and education reform generally. I just wish the Greens could field more strong candidates around the country. But once people like you start taking the plunge, the chances of that get much better.
Besides pollution, fracking has been linked to increased earthquakes. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/448.abstract
Of course, NC is actively promoting it.
Here’s a suggestion for the education platform: abolish private and parochial schools.
I’m right there with you Diane. I voted with great pride for Teachout in the primary, and will now proudly vote for Howie Hawkins in the general election. It is truly time for teachers and parents across New York State to join together and send a strong message that people count more than corporations.
I participated in the People’s Climate March with Howie Hawkins and the Green Party members. His and our presence made a difference in getting the word out about the Green Party platform. Of course, he lacks the funding to secure ample media coverage and capture the attention of New Yorkers. In this crucial time it is vital to share with fellow voters Howie and Brian’s stance. What a difference when Brian Jones speaks on all matters of education…you see, he was actually a classroom practitioner for many years… how atypical these days.
Thank you, Diane, for reaching out to us New Yorkers with this post.
I too will be voting Green. But here’s my questions to you Diane. This seems to be a personal endorsement rather than one from your PAC. Yet when I asked you about posting an endorsement for Nan Rich, you responded she never asked for your PAC’s endorsement. I contacted her campaign who told me they did.
You of all people had to know that Nan Rich was a very strong supporter of public education and was against the over-use of testing. So why did you hold back an endorsement? What was it about Crist that you liked over her (even though you didn’t endorse him either)? A strong endorsement from you (not your PAC) early in the race would have made a big difference.
Schoolgal, my personal endorsement is distinct from any endorsement by the Network for Public Education. Every state has its own laws for PACs, and NPE is not able to endorse in some states because of the laws. NPE has to be very careful always to comply with state laws, and it does. There is a process for vetting candidates, and that process involves seeking responses from all candidates. I don’t recall the particulars of the Florida campaign–whether it was about the laws or the process–but I personally supported Nan Rich as I personally supported the Green Party candidates in NY. Any individual like myself can announce their support without having to run through a legal gauntlet. My endorsement is mine, not NPE.
So are you saying it could have been illegal if you personally endorsed her on this blog?
I’m with you, Diane. Green all the way.
I have come to distrust just about anything I read or hear form the corporate owned traditional media. For instance, hydrofracking.
http://www.propublica.org/article/ca-halts-injection-fracking-waste-warning-may-be-contaminating-aquifers
California Halts Injection of Fracking Waste, Warning it May Be Contaminating Aquifers
State’s drought has forced farmers to rely on groundwater, even as California aquifers have been intentionally polluted due to exemptions for oil industry.
Their position on Education is in the right direction, but in my view, there are some critically important missing components.
My Platform:
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the seven (7) point platform below represents an objectively correct, and clear direction for our children and families. Therefore, the focus of my campaign, and contribution toward helping improve educational conditions for all children in the Rochester City School District (RCSD) — will revolve around the following issues:
1. Establishing relevant, broad-based, parent, student and community engagement at every level of the system, and throughout the community (movement)
2. Addressing / ending systemic, social promotion
3. Development / Implementation of effective, authentic, alternative educational models
4. Systemic change regarding standardization (in order to produce a new reality, in which the overall, initial focus is on properly and adequately laying the academic foundation upon which all else is built)
5. Addressing / reducing systemic / institutionalized racism, and establishing cultural equity
6. Working for relief from federal and state mandates (increased autonomy, and local / community control)
7. Reducing / mitigating the impact and effects of concentrated, widespread poverty (equitable resource acquisition and efficiency, which includes rooting out massive waste, and possibly fiscal mismanagement, malfeasance and corruption)
Rationale: As it relates to focus and contribution — if I am elected — I will continue doing what I have been doing for over 35 years, which is working collaboratively and cooperatively with parents, grandparents, guardians, students, other family members, committed educators, Board members, and anyone else who is serious about widespread change and improvement within the RCSD — in the process of building an ongoing movement, which I am thoroughly convinced will be necessary in order to produce substantial change and improvement. As a Board member I would be better positioned to help build such a movement. Of course, any credible movement must necessarily center around concrete issues and conditions that are negatively impacting our children and families. Those include, but are not limited to the following:
I will work to help ensure that we get focused (with laser-like precision) on the foundational academic development of our children — by doing everything that we possibly can to make certain that they master literacy skills and knowledge — that is, reading, writing, math skills and knowledge at or above grade level (right from the very beginning), which is one of the most important reasons why we must address / change the standardized testing process, i.e., because it is driving everything that happens at the classroom level, and deprives teachers and support staff of the necessary time and energy to concentrate on developing foundational skills and knowledge. Instead, largely because of state and federal mandates, rules, regulations and policies — teachers find themselves (more and more) teaching narrowly to tests. There is no mystery surrounding the reason why so many of our children don’t do well on tests. It’s because they don’t have adequate reading, writing, and math skills, which again represents the very foundation of all knowledge, and which is necessary for them to be able to master higher-order knowledge and skills — such as critical and analytical reading, writing and thinking. So, I’m saying, if we lay the foundation properly, then we won’t have to worry so much about tests. If the proper foundation has been laid, then the testing issue will take care of itself (as long as that which is being tested, is fundamentally the same as that which is being taught). So there are two issues wrapped up together: 1) the need for more local control (as opposed to far too many dictates from the state and federal governments, and 2) the need to free teachers and support staff up — so that they will have the time and energy to focus, again, with laser-like precision, on laying the academic foundation upon which all knowledge and skills-development is built. This issue is even more important when we consider that huge numbers of our children enter the system lagging far behind their middle class peers — right from the very beginning.
The latter referenced issue is clearly among the most important of all issues we face, and is connected to another issue, i.e., the issue of widespread, concentrated poverty. Please don’t misunderstand me regarding this critically important issue. I do not subscribe (under any circumstances) to any theory or idea about children not being able to learn because they live in poverty. If this was the case, many whom I’ve known (as children of migrant farm workers) would be among the most uneducated people on earth. On the other hand, for us to stick our heads in the sand (as an ostrich would do), and pretend that issues and conditions that often come along with abject poverty —does not impact our ability to educate well — is frankly ridiculous, but the main point is that we need to do all we can to make sure we have the necessary, equitable, resources to provide whatever our children need in order to develop to their full potentials, which is currently not the case, and to be honest, in order to secure such necessary resources probably will require a struggle and a fight (politically speaking). As you probably know, often those who need less — actually get more — because they are well organized and very effective advocates for their children (often exclusively). The other side of this coin is, we must make sure the vast amount of resources that we do receive (nearly $800 million dollars) are being utilized efficiently and effectively, which obviously is not the case currently, and which raises another issue, which I would be better positioned to help focus on as Board members, i.e., rooting out massive waste, and possibly fiscal mismanagement, malfeasance and corruption, which is currently occurring in the RCSD.
Two other critically important issues, which we must deal with are 1) the need to address individual and institutionalized / systemic racism and the establishment of cultural equity relative to curricula, hiring and retention practices, as well as other ways, including revisiting a number of existing policies and practices. I realize this is a sensitive issue, but it is one that we cannot shy away from. It needs to be addressed; 2) it is amply clear that traditional educational approaches and systems will not work for many of our students, especially many of those who have been shuffled through the system via the criminal practice of social (age) promotion. Therefore, we must get serious about developing authentic, alternative models of education.
These (above) represent areas that I have focused on as a community activist, for over 35 years, and will continue to focus on as a Board member.
Also, I would like to be clear about the fact that I do not view myself as, and I am not presenting myself as some sort of superman. On the contrary, in my humble, but staunch view, probably not much of this will get done unless and until we build a deadly serious, ongoing, movement of parents, grandparents, guardians, students, extraordinarily committed educators, politicians, including and especially Board members, and anyone else who is really serious about widespread, fundamental change and improvement — working cooperatively, collaboratively and constantly around concrete, well defined, measurable goals strategies and tactics, which is in essence what a movement is.
Hurray Diane!! Thank you for being sane enough to Vote for Howie Hawkins and Brain Jones for Governor/ Lt. Gov. But your vote will not JUST be a “protest” vote. Your vote will be a REAL vote that can make a huge difference and change politics as usual in New York State!! The Hawkins/Jones campaign is polling at 9% state-wide and 25% in Howie’s home territory of Syracuse where he is well-known. The poll numbers are going up steadily as more and more people learn about the campaign. 9% may not seem like a lot to some of you, but it is historic. No third party in NY has EVER done that well. And we don’t intend to stop there. If we can get Howie into the televised debates where he will get the exposure he deserves, he has a REAL chance of winning. All it will take is for everyone reading this list to spread the word and get involved in the campaign, even if it is just to send a message to all your friends & family encouraging them to vote for Howie/Brian. Please also go to the website at http://www.howiehawkins.org and give a donation (anything you can afford!) and sign the “Real Debate” petition. Howie has a serious chance to make history!! We need to break the strangle hold that the corporate controlled parties have on our democracy and we CAN do it! All it takes is a little effort by a lot of people. Please spread the word, donate, and Vote Hawkins/Jones – Green Party on November 4th!
Great call on the endorsement. To me, voting for Hawkins is not a protest vote though – it’s a party building vote. Cuomo’s dominance of the Democratic Party and even the Working Families Party illustrates to me more than ever the importance to build an independent left party which doesn’t allow its candidates to accept corporate contributions on principle, and which doesn’t cross endorse with the major parties on principle; and which favors climate justice, social justice, and quality public education for all.
If we can get in the double digits this election, that will make it so much easier for us to win more local races and move closer to being a serious contender at the state level in the future.
The only reason I kept my lifelong Democratic Party registration into the fall was to vote for Teachoit and Wu in the primary. Now I’m not only voting for Hawkins amd Jones in the general election, I’m registering Green.
I voted for both Obama and Cuomo, mistakenly believing them to be democratic (small d) progressives. Now I finally see, thanks to their corrupt, authoritarian approach to education that the two party system in this country is morally bankrupt — because both are bankrolled by the same people.
From now on I’m voting for the best candidates regardless of crude calculations of “electability.” My guys are now president and governor and I want to leave the country!
This voter has learned his lesson.
Wow, Diane! At a time where our Governor has basically handed over public education to the free market privateers, this is a most important step to take and I’m grateful you’ve done so with time to spare! I realize your initial backing was with Teachout and Wu, but Howie and Brian really deserve to be seen and heard for their platform. With the serious possibility of losing all things public to those in the private sector that have little concern for the public good, our best chance is to support this Green Team to bring these areas back into balance. Whether it be education or the environment, the train is well out of the station and Gov. Cuomo’s plans need derailing immediately. “Going Green” cannot be just a slogan, but a paradigm shift that we need to make as it may be the only solution to this downward spiral. Bravo for saying this out loud!
Spreading the word about Howie and Brian…order pamphlets and brochures and engage in some leafleting. I do believe a win is possible, this is a crucial juncture and people are yearning for, as Janine mentioned above, a paradigm shift. Social media is not enough…New Yorkers need to get out, beyond their devices, and campaign.
I’m sure the Hawkins/Jones campaign welcomes your vote. But for me, voting for Howie is not a “protest vote.” It’s a positive vote for a great candidate who will be a strong advocate for the progressive agenda. He’s the only candidate in the race who fits that criteria.
I love that you’re voting for the Green Party, but I wouldn’t consider it to only be a protest vote! Hawkins could win if everyone who actually believed in his platform considered him a viable candidate. Third-party electability concerns are generally self-fulfilling prophecies.
Thank you, Diane. I don’t expect Howie to win even though I would be thrilled if he did. The least I am hoping for is that he’ll take enough votes to not only frighten Cuomo, but scare the pants of the New York State Democratic Machine which has drifted far and away from the party of Roosevelt and Kennedy. Indeed, no Democratic president before Ronald Reagan would survive in this Republican Lite Democratic party.
They are losing their true liberal base as they abandon the principles of a once noble party.
Perhaps a good scare will remind them of who they are supposed to be and who they are supposed to represent.
And if one more Astorinophile waves her children in my face as political props to try to convince a liberal to vote for anyone in today’s Republican Party I may have an embolism. But, of course, the only reason they do so is to blame the left for Astorino’s defeat.
Which is really funny, in a tragic irony sort of way, when you think about it.