Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, said today that the Freedom Party should have the right to run its statewide candidates in this fall's elections.

"Democracy requires a full debate of ideas. The Freedom Party has certainly exceeded any minimal standards that should be required to qualify for the ballot. We should let voters, not election law attorneys, decide who will represent our state," said Hawkins, a Teamster who works at UPS in Syracuse.

Hawkins was responding to the filing of objections to the Freedom Party's ballot petition by Lew Fidler, a Democratic member of the New York City Council from Brooklyn's 46th District. Hawkins took offense at Fidler's rationale for filing objections, who was quoted in a NY Daily News blog Monday as saying he opposed the Freedom Party's “hateful agenda … entirely based on racial politics.”

“The truly hateful agenda is knocking legitimate candidates off the ballot, especially those who want to give voice to aggrieved communities that are neglected by Fidler's own Democratic Party. The Democrats' all-white slate in New York is just a symptom of their racism. The Democratic Party takes Black and Latino votes for granted and it shows in their decades long failure to deliver decent jobs, good schools, or just policing in Black and Latino communities. It's the same story for the labor, peace, and environmental movements. The Democrats get their votes but don't deliver. All of us need to file objections to the Democratic Party by voting for independent progressives this year,” said Hawkins.

The Green Party's statewide slate includes two women of color running for the US Senate seats. Colia Clark, a civil rights veteran who worked with Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, Jr. and now lives in Harlem, is challenging incumbent Charles Schumer. Cecile Lawrence is challenging incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand. Lawrence, a Jamaican immigrant living near Binghamton, is a health care, environmental, and anti-hydrofracking activist.

Filling out the Green slate are Gloria Mattera for Lt. Governor and Julia Willebrand for Comptroller. Mattera of Brooklyn is a public health worker in New York City hospital system. Willebrand of Manhattan is a retired school teacher and former UFT delegate.

See also: Green Party's Howie Hawkins: Let Barron's Freedom Party Be Free, NY Daily News