Green Party Seems Green with Envy

By LOVASHNI KHALIKAPRASAD

Halloween is not over as yet. At least, for one protester.

As residents went out to vote on Tuesday some onlookers, reporters, and police officers spent part of their afternoon watching protesters gather in front of The New York Times building in Manhattan to encourage people to vote for candidates from the Green Party.

Among the protesters was a woman dressed in a red cat suit costume with a pair of black high heels, holding up a sign saying, “Cuomo Makes Deals with the Devils.”

Professional protester and ice skating instructor, Marni Halasa, showed her support for the Green Party candidate for governor, Howie Hawkins, as she danced and greeted onlookers with red  posters criticizing  Cuomo in her hands.

But why in front of the Times?

“I chose the New York Times because I felt they sold out on that and the public needs to understand corruption,” said Halasa, who organized the event. She said that the Times wrote an editorial against endorsing Cuomo and now, a month later, “they did a schizophrenic and endorsed him.”

On October 21, the Times wrote an editorial endorsing Cuomo.

Green Party supporters seemed envious of the coverage.

“The New York Times has not covered our campaign,” said Brian Jones,  the party’s candidate for lieutenant governor.
“It’s just Cuomo-Astorino, Cuomo Astorino.  It has the effect of making it a black net for small parties that don’t have million dollar backers. We don’t have the same reach, in terms of reaching voters. We rely on the mainstream media to report on us, at least to mention us.”

It would be easy  to overlook Hawkins, yet, say his backers,  the underdog moved up almost 10 percent in the polls recently.

“A Green Party candidate has never gotten this far and that’s a big story,” Jones said.

In 2010, the UPS truck worker and member of the Teamsters union received only one percent of votes. On average, someone like Hawkins, would earn about five percent of votes in the elections.

“We’re polling above that, and that’s not news? None of this is news?” Jones said.

The newspaper declined comment on the protest. “I don’t need their approval,” said Halasa.