LoHud
by Jacob Fischler
Albany Bureau
October 17, 2010

Albany — Meet your third-party candidates for governor.

One is a former Manhattan madam, another wants to legalize marijuana. One was a comedian-martial arts entertainer, another buys expiring Web domain names. The fifth candidate is a tough-talking New York City councilman.

The race has been dominated by Democrat Andrew Cuomo and Republican Carl Paladino, but all seven will be on stage Monday at the only debate planned among the candidates. The debate is 7 p.m. at Hofstra University in Nassau County.

Kristin Davis, 35, is the gubernatorial candidate on the Anti-Prohibition Party line. She is best known as the alleged madam of the escort service used by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, but she said she has a list of policy issues. She is running on a platform to legalize marijuana, gay marriage and prostitution.

"I hope that people will judge me by the things I'm saying now," she said about her past, which includes four months at Rikers Island for promoting prostitution.

Another pro-marijuana, pro-gay marriage gubernatorial candidate is the Green Party's Howie Hawkins, a former Marine. Hawkins, 57, is calling for a ban on the controversial hydrofracking method of natural gas drilling.

Hailing originally from San Francisco, the former UPS truck unloader and current Teamsters member attended Dartmouth College. After college he moved to Syracuse, where he has lived since 1991. He has run unsuccessfully for various public offices, including U.S. Senate and Syracuse common council.

"I believe that the fiscal deficit is a matter of politics, not economics," Hawkins said. "It's money-drenched politicians doing what the big banks of Wall Street say, not what market forces say."

New York City Councilman Charles Barron, D-Brooklyn, is on the Freedom Party line, spurred to run by Democrats having an all-white statewide ticket. His wife, Inez Barron, is an assemblywoman.

Before he was elected to City Council, Barron, 60, attended New York Technical College and then Hunter College, where he received a bachelor's degree in sociology. After college, Barron was a leader of the National Black United Front. He also was active in the Black Panther Party, a controversial civil rights organization.

Barron said Paladino and Cuomo can't stamp out corruption or cut back on the state's tax burden because they are part of the problem.

"It's like asking the arsonist to put out fires," he said.

The Libertarian candidate is Warren Redlich, 44, whose motto is "stop wasting money." He wants to cut state spending, eliminate some state agencies and cap the pay and pensions of public workers.

"The laws only bind regular people," he said. "They don't bind government, they don't bind big corporations."

The attorney in Albany County operates an Internet database of traffic courts nationwide. He also dabbles in buying expired Web domains, from which he said he makes $100 a day from ads already placed on the sites.

The reason Jimmy McMillan is running is clear in the name of his party: Rent Is Too Damn High. The Brooklyn-based community activist has held several jobs in multiple fields. Most recently, McMillan, 64, was a letter carrier. He said he was once a comedian-martial arts entertainer.

McMillan writes and produces his own music, much of which can be found on the party's website. The focus of many of his songs: high rent.

"Rent is too damn high is my thing. Jimmy McMillan is my name," one song says.

Third-party candidates in other statewide races include Julia Willebrand of Brooklyn, 77, representing the Green Party and running for comptroller. She said she wants to stop the corporate takeover of the state and that the current government doesn't do enough to help state residents.