Howie Hawkins for Mayor
Media Release
For More Info: Howie Hawkins 425-1019, www.syracusegreens.org:
Hawkins Urges Vote on Policy, Not Personality
Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Mayor in Syracuse, held an election eve news conference Monday to urge voters to make their vote based on the important issues concerning our city and not to be distracted by the series of negative campaign ads between Driscoll and Mahoney.
Hawkins expressed his disappointment that the other candidates have used their paid ads to turn the mayoral debate into a question of personality and not policy.
“The negative ads by both Driscoll and Mahoney calling each other liars have steered the debate away from the serious issues facing Syracuse. Both of them are debating about who is in Bob Congel’s pocket, but neither one is talking about the corrupting nature of private financing of public campaigns,” Hawkins said.
“Mahoney and Driscoll have turned the campaign into a debate over style — about whether congeniality or firmness is needed to best manage the status quo. If we stick with the same policies, we are going to get the same results no matter the style or personality of the mayor,” Hawkins declared.
Hawkins urged voters who want real change to look at his platform. He underscored his proposals for public campaign financing, public power, a living wage for all city workers, and his Sustainable Syracuse development strategy.
“Public Campaign Financing creates a level playing field and eliminates the perception or reality of legalized bribery in the form of private funding of public elections,” Hawkins said. He noted that the Onondaga Citizens League has also called for public campaign financing of local elections.
“Public power means replacing National Grid with a city-owned power company like Solvay has next door that will enable us to cut our energy bills and build a local, reliable, renewable energy base for the city,” Hawkins said.
Even though Hawkins introduced the idea of a living wage in Syracuse when he ran for councilor at-large in 1995, he was disappointed by the living wage ordinance adopted earlier this year. The current ordinance covers only 50 to 100 of the over 60,000 jobs that the city and its contactors hire for each year, he said. He also condemned the fact that people of color in the city were hired for only 17.5 percent of those jobs even though they represent 41.2% of the city’s population.
“It’s time for a Living Wage Plus ordinance that covers all of those over 60,000 jobs,” Hawkins said.
“The ‘plus’ part of Living Wage Plus would be a Community Hiring Hall. The city and its contractors would be required to hire from the community hall if they are unable to meet affirmative action goals. The goals would insure that city residents and people of color get their fair share of the jobs,” Hawkins said.
Speaking before the Sustainable Syracuse vision map in the Green Party’s 499 Warren St. office, Hawkins said, “Sustainable Syracuse means neighborhood-directed development using green technologies and widespread community ownership to create living-wage jobs in a city that is ecologically and economically sustainable. It means directing city resources toward the creation of thousands of $40,000 per year manufacturing and construction jobs—and not $14,000 per year jobs servicing tourists at Destiny USA.”
Turning back to the question of voting strategy, Hawkins concluded, “Election day is the only day the average voter has a say. Instead of a negative vote for the lesser evil, I urge voters who support my platform to make a positive vote for me. We can set the agenda for the next four years even if we fall short of winning the office. Vote your hopes, not your fears,” Hawkins said.
Posted by syracusegreens at November 7, 2005 05:48 PM