Green Party Candidate for Governor in NY, Howie Hawkins, with supporters

Lame duck Gov. Paterson of my good ole state of New York has made the headlines by laying off 900 state employees during the worst recession since the Great Depression. Paterson, like the political elites in most states, are using imaginary state budget "crises" to justify this attack on the middle class.

The rich in New York, like other states, don't pay anywhere near their fair share in taxes. Raising tax rates on the wealthy to equitable levels would turn deficits to surpluses in every state that has budget shortfalls. New York, also, is neglecting to do its job to fairly tax Wall St. There is this weird gimmick called the "stock transfer tax rebate" which allows the banksters and the brokesters to rip off the rest of us who live here. Repealing that gimmick alone would create a budget surplus.

Unlike the "Democratic" candidate Andrew Cuomo, the Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins opposes the layoffs. The Green Party of New York State gives us information about Hawkins' views on the subject which are largely censored by corporate media outlets. (bolding mine)

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said today that when elected he would rescind any layoffs of state workers instituted by Governor Paterson as a threat to the health and safety of state residents..

Paterson agreed last year to a no-layoffs pledge as part of deal for a new, less generous pension tier for state workers. Attorney General Cuomo, running for Governor, said that he would defend Paterson’s effort to break the agreement.

“The state’s fiscal crisis is the result of the handouts to the rich from state lawmakers, including massive tax cuts to the wealthy and the rebate of $16 billion from the stock transfer tax. State workers are not the cause of the state’s fiscal crisis and should not be scapegoated like this. It is bizarre that Governor Paterson seems intent on making layoffs the prime legacy of his flawed administration. It is also bad that Cuomo as Attorney General has put politics ahead of the law in holding that this layoffs aren’t in violation of the memo of understanding agreed to earlier this year not to lay off any state workers in 2010,” Hawkins stated.

If you are unemployed, corporate media are trying to get you to resent government employees who still have jobs. However, laying off government employees hurts people who already are unemployed from the private, instead of helping them. It just puts even more people in the competition for scarce jobs. It's typical of the divide and conquer tactics the wealthy elites use against the rest of us on a variety of issues.

One reason why the Democrats from New York have sold us out so badly is that the Green Party doesn't have ballot access. That means that many Democrats will have no opponents on the left in most campaigns. In the cases where Green Party candidates do jump through the hoops to get on the ballot, the signature gathering process takes most of the time that otherwise would be used to actually campaign. Greens will get ballot access for the next two elections if they get 50,000 votes in this year's governor's race.

Cuomo is guaranteed a victory this time out, due to the self destructive campaign run by his execrable GOP opponent. There is nothing to lose by voting Green in the Governor's race. In fact, voting Green is essential if you want to pressure Cuomo and other New York Democrats to stop acting like Republicans for the next four years.

Please vote for Howie Hawkins for Governor!