Today we're proud of our Green candidates, their campaign teams, the solutions they fought for and the races they ran. Jabari Brisport ran an inspiring campaign for City Council in Brooklyn, receiving 29% of the vote and demonstrating a Red-Green Alliance for Greens and socialists around the US! In Glens Falls, Robin Barkenhagen received 35% of the vote for Councilor-At-Large, riding a swell of community support that we know will only grow with him in the fights ahead. Continue reading

Nassau County - Cassandra Lems, Green Party candidate for County Executive, organized a mini-protest Sunday outside an Environmental Candidates Forum at Adelphi University. Ms. Lems and a small group of Green Party members handed out campaign literature to attendees at the forum, which was sponsored by the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund in partnership with Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Vision Long Island and Adelphi University. In late September and against last week, when Green Party members Jim Brown and Peter Louis called forum organizer Joshua Klainberg to ask that Cassandra Lems be included, they were told that Green Party candidates do not receive enough campaign contributions or media attention to be “viable.” Mr. Klainberg offered to allow Ms. Lems to sit in the audience, to have her presence acknowledged, and speak to attendees after the event. However, Ms. Lems declined that offer, saying she found it “patronizing and demeaning to be expected to sit and listen to ‘the real candidates’ speak.” Continue reading

 At the League of Women Voters debate* held on Sunday at Hofstra University, Cassandra Lems, Green Party Candidate for Nassau County Executive, announced her support of the New York Health Act. *A video recording of the entire candidates forum may be found here. (Event begins at 19:05.) This single payer health insurance bill, if enacted, would bring affordable and expanded health coverage to all New Yorkers, including 1.2 million currently uninsured New Yorkers. The plan would be funded through progressive payroll and self-employment taxes, coupled with a progressive assessment on income from capital gains, dividends and interest. Continue reading