Give Green Party candidate Hawkins a chance to bloom
The Daily Orange
Murugan Pandian
November 5th, 2007
In 2005, the city of Syracuse experienced one of the most exciting election races in its recent history - the mayoral race. The usual Coke and Pepsi candidates from the two-party system were in the race, but the candidate that truly made the race entertaining was the legendary Green Party co-founder, Howie Hawkins.
Though Democratic Mayor Matt Driscoll won the election and Hawkins garnered only 4.7 percent of the vote, the Green Party candidate remained steadfast in his aim to become an elected official for the region.
Hawkins again plans to provide a third option in Syracuse politics Tuesday when he runs for one of the city's two councilor-at-large positions. Many of his stances for the race mirror those he presented in the 2005 mayoral race.
His campaign included a series of strategic initiatives that were geared toward empowering the lives of the city's citizens.
One of his most popular items from his campaign platform was the push for public power. It would create affordable, green energy from city-owned, clean, renewable energy sources and circumvent the high costs charged by National Grid.
Hawkins felt that Syracuse should have a citywide minimum wage that was a living wage. He also advocated for a fair tax structure because "the poorest 20 percent pay 14 percent of their income in sales and property taxes while the wealthiest 20 percent pay only seven percent."
As a means to improve the democratic election process, he supported instant runoff voting and proportional representation.
In addition, his platform called for redirecting the city's wasteful spending of $6-8 million on enforcing drug laws. He advocated putting that money toward better use such as fully funding the public schools and providing more after-school services for the children.
Hawkins' affiliation with an untraditional party often hurts his chances as a candidate. Nevertheless, his ideas remain as reasonable as any main party candidate.
"Because he has run as a minor-party candidate in so many races and has never won, some might wonder whether he is a 'legitimate candidate,'" an Oct. 30 editorial in The Post-Standard read. "In fact, Hawkins is one of the more credible people running for local office this year."
Syracuse is still in need of innovative leadership. The city is ranked third overall in highest poverty level for the nation's top 100 cities. Governor Eliot Spitzer has mentioned before that parts of this area are akin to the poverty found in Appalachia.
The Coke and Pepsi candidates that challenged Hawkins in the last mayoral race felt that construction of a gargantuan mall would be the savior for the city.
In contrast, Hawkins' common sense campaign platform that contains solutions to the city's everyday problems is desperately needed. He has received the endorsement of The Post-Standard, AFSCME Local 400 and the Central New York Chapter of the Socialist Party USA.
In the past few years, students in New Paltz, N.Y., and Cobleskill, N.Y., have dramatically improved their towns by voting for innovative Green Party candidates.
It is time now for the student community in Syracuse to improve the city by casting a vote for Hawkins and setting the city in the right direction to rejuvenate itself.
Murugan Pandian is a graduate student in the School of Information Studies and a member of the Green Party.
(c) Copyright 2007 The Daily Orange
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