Howie Hawkins for Governor
Green Party - www.howiehawkins.org

For Immediate Release: June 2, 2010
For More Info: Howie Hawkins, 315 425-1019
Mark Dunlea, 518 860-3725

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party nominee for Governor, welcomed Rick Lazio to the 2010 race following his selection at today's Republican conclave.

Hawkins said that Lazio's nomination, as usual, gave the Wall Street financiers and other corporate leaders two candidates in the Governor's race - Lazio and Cuomo. The Green Party offers an alternative for the other 95% of New York voters.

"Boss Tweed always felt that the voters should select the winner - as long as he got to select the candidates. Mr. Lazio has made millions in fees from Wall Street since his last statewide race," said Hawkins."And Democrat Andrew Cuomo, just like all of his potential Republican opponents, has explicitly ruled out higher taxes on the rich while calling for a state spending cap and a freeze on state workers' pay and benefits. Cuomo's fiscal and economic policies, along with President Obama's freeze on all federal discretionary spending except the military, show that the Democrats have purged every last remnant of their New Deal legacy. They are taking us back to Hoover's economics, a recipe for a vicious circle of depression and debt," added Hawkins, a member of the Teamsters from Syracuse.

A recent article by Wayne Barrett in the Village Voice - "People's Champion? Rick Lazio Is a Wall Street Creature" - was based on a examination of former Congressmember Lazio's public papers donated to Vassar College.

Barrett found that "As Lazio saw it, his job in the House was to feed and care for the industry symbolized by the 7,000-pound bull sculpture at Bowling Green park that embodies hard-charging Wall Street. It's a mission he excelled at, spelled out all too clearly, for example, in the stunning similarities between the memos faxed to him by lobbyists for the Street and the legislation he subsequently favored. In return for his service, Lazio, though a junior member of the House, collected more in financial service contributions than any other Republican member, and after his 12-point loss to Clinton in the Senate race of 2000, was showered again with millions in salaries and bonuses at two glamour jobs concocted for him by the players who figured they still owed him."

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-04-13/news/rick-lazio-s-fingerprints-are-all-over-the-recent-economic-collapse/