Howie Hawkins to Announce Candidacy for 4th District Councilor

Howie Hawkins for 4th District Councilor 
P.O. Box 562, Syracuse NY 13205 
474-7055

Media Advisory / Notice of News Conference

For More Information:
Howie Hawkins, 315-425-1019, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Date: Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Location: Corner of South Salina and Colvin Streets, Syracuse
Time: 11:00 am

Howie Hawkins will hold a news conference at 11:00 am on Wednesday, September 14 at corner of South Salina and Colvin Streets to announce his candidacy as the Green Party candidate for 4th District Common Councilor in Syracuse.

Hawkins received 41 percent of the vote for this seat in 2009 in the closest race in the city that year.

As a newly qualified party, Green Party candidates are placed on the ballot this year by a Certificate of Nomination from the party that must be filed by September 20.

It was Hawkins' candidacy in 2010 for New York Governor that qualified the Green Party as a ballot line party in New York. Hawkins came in third out of seven candidates. His nearly 60,000 votes was well over the 50,000 votes needed to secure the Green Party a line on all ballots across the state for the next four years.

"Last year the goal was to win a ballot line. I've run other races to put policies into the debate that would otherwise been ignored. This year my goal is to win the office and put policies into effect," Hawkins said.

At his news conference, Hawkins will discuss his policy platform, starting with a community hiring hall to insure city residents get their fair share of jobs with city departments and contractors and a set of state and local progressive tax reforms needed to avert city insolvency and a state-appointed financial control board.

"I reject the austerity politics that seek to pit the public against public employees. We need to unite the public and public employees behind progressive policies and tax reforms at the state and local level," Hawkins said.

Hawkins, 58, has been active in movements for peace, justice, labor, and the environment since 1967. A former Marine, he helped organize opposition to the Vietnam War. He was a co-founder of the anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance in 1976 and a leader in the anti-apartheid movement for divestment from South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. He helped found the national Green Party in the early 1980s.

Hawkins has lived on the South Side of Syracuse since moving here in 1991. He is on the board of both the Southside Community Coalition and the Southside Food Cooperative. He is a Teamster who works at UPS unloading trucks. Before coming to Syracuse, he worked in construction and helped start up a workers cooperative that specialized in energy audits, efficiency retrofits, and wind and solar installations.

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