(Albany NY) Green and Libertarian Party officials announced they will pursue litigation against the anti-democratic changes in ballot access recommended by the Public Campaign Finance Reform Commission. Continue reading

12/3/19 - Green Party officers today said they will have no choice but to pursue litigation against the draconian ballot access thresholds threatened by the Public Campaign Finance Reform Commission if the Legislature fails to remove them.  Continue reading

Albany, NY November 26, 2019 - Green Party leaders said Gov. Cuomo's comments at a press conference today, in which he stated third parties needed to prove their viability before receiving public funding, are not just wrongheaded, but dangerously undemocratic. Officers said that the exact opposite should be true: public campaign financing should aid third parties and candidates in becoming viable. By placing nearly insurmountable barriers to entry to the ballot and public campaign financing Cuomo and the Commissioners expect third parties to run a marathon with a weight attached to their legs, while Democrats and Republicans are driven to the finish line in limos. Continue reading

State Legislators Need to Come to Albany in December to Clean Up Elections Green officials said today the Public Campaign Finance Commission's decision to raise ballot access thresholds to 2% of the vote or 130,000 votes (whichever is greater) for presidential and gubernatorial elections was an anti-democratic decision that would limit voter choice in New York. Continue reading

ALBANY, 11/20/2019 — Green Party of New York (GPNY) officers said today the Public Campaign Finance Commission is making a mockery of democracy, and it appears their secret plan all along has been a bipartisan effort to eliminate third parties and real competition from New York State politics. Continue reading

Green Party officers called the public campaign finance plan taking shape from the Commission a cartel agreement between Democrats and Republicans to protect incumbents and the two-party duopoly. Absurdly high contribution limits, initial matching funds thresholds, the ability to carry over campaign funds from previous cycles, and the specter that third parties will be frozen out make it impossible to imagine this is about increasing competition or grassroots democracy. The Greens called on the Legislature to return in December and alter the Commission's recommendations to create truly democratic campaign finance reform. Continue reading

Albany, October 29, 2019 — Green Party officers said that the plan floated by Campaign Finance Commission co-chair Jay Jacobs to raise the minimum vote total for ballot access to roughly 250,000 votes was an unacceptable attack on real third parties in New York. Party officers said the Commission should instead ban fusion and make ballot access for third parties easier, including allowing any statewide office vote totals to qualify a party. (See NY Times article.) Continue reading

Albany — Green Party officers said the Campaign Finance  Commission's latest about-face on whether to allow out-of-district donations to count towards a proposed public matching funds system highlights the flawed nature of public matching funds. Continue reading

The Green Party of New York (GPNY) expressed its disagreement with the 'Long Island Six' State Senators who called last week for an end to the moratorium on the Williams gas pipeline construction to Long Island. GPNY officers said an immediate halt to fossil fuel infrastructure construction was an absolute necessity to combat the climate crisis. Green leaders instead called on the state to require use of renewable energy sources for new home construction and a program to aid retrofitting old houses. This has long been part of the Green Party's vision of the Green New Deal. Continue reading

NEW YORK —The Green Party of New York (GPNY) said today's meeting of the Public Campaign Financing Commission, empaneled by the Governor and Legislature, has the opportunity to propose urgently-needed reforms to broaden and strengthen democracy in New York. GPNY officers stated they “support a system of full public campaign financing, broader than had been proposed by the Governor,” and the “banning of fusion.” Party officers also promised their members will express support of these reforms to the commission.  Continue reading