David Pechefsky, who ran for City Council in the 39th district as a Green last year, is supporting Green Party candidates Howie Hawkins for New York governor and Park Sloper Gloria Mattera for Lt. governor and he thinks you should, too
Many in Brooklyn’s 39th district (which includes Park Slope, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, and Boro Park) got to know Pechefsky during the race and were impressed with his energetic and creative campaigning, his intelligence, his knowledge of local politics, his experience as a staff member in the New York City Council and his consulting work in Africa.
We spoke last week at Connecticut Muffin and he urged me to tell OTBKB readers about Hawkins and Mattera because if they get 50,000 votes it’ll make things easier in the future for the Green Party to get on the ballot in New York State, where they make third party candidates jump through hoops just to get on the ballot.
A vote for Hawkins and Mattera is a vote for a more inclusive multi-party system like in other countries. Or so says Pechefsky: “50,000 votes for governor gets you ballot status, ballot status means it is much easier to get people on the ballot in City Council and State legislature races.” In other words: a vote for a Green candidate is a vote for Greens and that could create a regular spot for the Greens on New York ballots.
Hawkins, who lives upstate, is a Teamster, who works for UPS for a living. He’s been an organizer in movements for peace, justice, labor, the environment, and independent politics since the late 1960s.
Gloria Mattera, who lives in Park Slope, has been active in the Green Party in New York State since 2001 and has run as a Green candidate for City Council in District 39 in Brooklyn in 2001 and 2003 and in 2009 she ran against Marty Markowitz for Brooklyn borough president.
In all likelihood, this is Andy Cuomo’s year and he will win by a landslide. Nonetheless, progressive Brooklynites are afraid to vote for Hawkins and Mattera because they think it’ll be a vote for Paladino, who’s hateful homophobic remarks to a group of Brooklyn rabbis last week created a firestorm.
In the aftermath of the hideous anti-Gay hate crime (and brutal assault) in the Bronx, he told the group that he didn’t think children should be “brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option — it isn’t.”
Nice.
In an announcement released today, Howie Hawkins said that he “supports full rights for all members of our society, regardless of sexual orientation or gender. Greens like Mayor Jason West of New Paltz have provided critical leadership to issues such as the right to same-sex marriage. I will do the same as Governor.”
Hawkins hopes that “statements in recent days across the political spectrum condemning the homophobic remarks of Paladino will translate into concrete political action to enact stronger legislation and programs supporting the GLBT community.”
We can only hope.
Count me as another New Yorker who’s voting Green up and down the ballot. We have little to show for years of Democratic control – except for the most dysfunctional state government in the country. It’s a step in the right direction that all the ballot-qualified candidates for governor are getting the chance to debate. We badly need reforms to open up our electoral process, like instant runoff voting and proportional representation. As far as I can tell, only the Green Party is pushing for those and other reforms like public campaign financing and banning corporate money in politics.
Green candidates for city council like David Pechefsky and Lynne Serpe are a breath of fresh air in a city where general elections are rarely competitive and the Democratic machine gets less democratic all the time. If Hawkins gets 50,000 votes, the Greens will be able to run a lot more candidates at the local level, which would be a very good thing. That’s only about 1% of the vote, and right now Andy is sitting on a 20-point lead. I’d vote Green anyway, but I urge anyone who’s sitting on the fence because they’re afraid of Crazy Carl to consider using your vote to help build an independent progressive alternative. If you want to really stick it to Carl, vote for the Green Party, the only party that is 100% for equality. The Green mayor of New Paltz, Jason West, was the first in the country to hold gay marriages. San Francisco was next, after Green Matt Gonzalez missed being elected mayor by a narrow margin.
The Green Party has core values of peace, social justice, grassroots democracy, ecology, and getting corporate money out of politics. It’s time for progressives to support a party that supports us, and doesn’t just take our votes for granted and act like friendlier Republicans. Vote Green!
This Bushwicker is going vote for Hawkins and entire Green slate. As the years go by, I always hope that the morning after the election will be the beginnings of a morsel of change. It’s not going to happen with Cuomo.
At least a vote for Hawkins will mean a ballot line for the Green Party and, someday soon, a Green on the NYC Council and the State Assembly.
I’m tired of the Democrats delivering nothing. Controlling the White House, both bodies of Congress, Gov, State Senate, State Assembly, NYC Council and they’ve offered virtual NOTHING to improve my life.
It’s been too many years of nothing. I want hope. I want change. I want a ballot line for the Green Party so I can help elect people who are motivated to help better our City, State, Nation. Howie Hawkins, the Green Party, YOU HAVE MY VOTE AND SUPPORT!
Carl Paladino may be a bit of a nut, and if Cuomo needs the votes, that is one thing. But if Cuomo is leading by a statistically significant margin, the Green Party could really use the votes. 50,000 is the goal.