“You had *one* job!”: GPNY Says Public Campaign Finance Commission is Trying to Kill Third Parties, Mocking Mission to Curb Influence of Big Donors
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.
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Public Campaign Finance Commission Suggestions Are Cartel Politics
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.
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Green Party Decries Jacobs' Ballot Access Plan
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.)
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Green Party Proposes Fix For Latest Campaign Finance Commission Flip-Flop
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.
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Green Party Opposes the 'Long Island Six' on Williams Pipeline Ban
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.
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Green Party On Public Campaign Financing Commission Meeting: “Pivotal Moment” for New York Politics
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.
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GPNY Demands Justice for Eric Garner
The Green Party of New York (GPNY) renewed its call for justice for Eric Garner in response to the Justice Department’s announcement that it would not bring federal civil rights charges against the New York City Police Department officer responsible for killing Garner, an unarmed citizen, five years ago today.
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Ranked Choice Voting May Come to New York City . . . But Not for Everyone
The Green Party of New York (GPNY) said last night's vote on a ballot measure to introduce ranked-choice voting (RCV) for New York City municipal primaries and special elections was disappointing, as commissioners voted 8-6 against applying RCV to general elections. Party officers praised the six commissioners, including Democrat Sal Albanese and Republican Stephen J. Fiala, who made a strong case for RCV in all municipal elections for New York City voters.
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Green Party Calls Proposed Public Matching Funds Proposal a Sham
For Immediate Release
ALBANY—The Green Party of New York today called the campaign finance matching funds proposal put forward by the Governor an incumbency protection system, and discriminatory against candidates not running as Democrats or Republicans. Party officials said the legislature needs to pass a full public campaign finance system like Maine and Arizona.
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Green Party Supports Cuomo’s Effort to Expand NYPA Role with Renewable Energy
For Immediate Release
ALBANY—The Green Party today urged state legislative leaders to drop their opposition to the Governor’s budget proposal to expand the role of the New York Power Authority in developing renewable energy, including providing electricity to CCAs (Community Choice Aggregation) and other public entities.
“With time running out to save life on this planet from catastrophic climate change, this is not the moment for state lawmakers to focus on protecting the profits of private developers of renewable energy. This needs to be an all-hands-on-deck moment. Public ownership of renewables would speed up their development and reduce costs for consumers,” noted Peter LaVenia, state party co-chair.
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