NEW YORK—The Green Party candidate for governor Howie Hawkins said he will still run in November in the case of a victory for Zephyr Teachout over Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic Gubernatorial Primary in September.
“We have our differences,” Hawkins said. “She’s for partial, I’m for full public campaign financing. I think we need co-opts, public enterprises, a state bank, not just helping small business startups.”
Hawkins ran for governor in 2010, collecting 1.3 percent of the votes, enough for the Green Party to keep its ballot status for the election this year.
He was at the Tweed Courthouse on Monday to fan the flames of the Moreland scandal, in which Gov. Cuomo is alleged to have tampered with the anti-corruption commission to protect his political allies.
“This is like the chickens being watched by the foxes, and the politicians are supposed to police themselves,” he said, reminding the handful of reporters that he had denounced the Moreland Commission as inadequate from its inception.
Hawkins said that Cuomo’s interference with the commission “may prove to be a bigger crime” than Watergate
He admitted that Teachout has “taken some of the energy from our campaign,” but wished her the best of luck.
“It'll be a lot more fun debating her than Cuomo in the general election campaign,” Hawkins said. “With two progressives in the general election, it would change the dynamic.”
Teachout has campaigned as an anti-corruption maverick and a social-democratic alternative to Cuomo’s fiscal conservative platform, narrowly losing the nomination of the Working Family Party in June.
The long-shot candidate has gathered more than 45,000 signatures to get her name on the Democratic primary ballot. On Monday, the Board of Elections dismissed objections to her residency qualifications, which Teachout says comes from the Cuomo campaign.
Ramon Jimenez, the party’s candidate for attorney general, said it’s unlikely Teachout will win the primary, but grew optimistic about Hawkins’ prospects.
“There could be an indictment for Cuomo between now and November,” he said.
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