NY: Howie Hawkins Urges Governor-Elect to Support Campaign Finance Reform and Proportional Representation

From the Green Party of NY:

Howie Hawkins, the former Green Party candidate for Governor, urged Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo to make Public Campaign Financing and Proportional Representation the centerpieces of a broad ethics reform package that should be adopted during the first weeks of the legislative session.

“We need Public Campaign Financing to end the pay-to-play culture that dominates the State Capitol, as witnessed by the ongoing scandals with the State Comptroller’s office and pension funds. Now is the time to finally stop the sale of lawmakers to the highest bidder. And while we strongly support an independent Nonpartisan Redistricting Commission to end the partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts, we want that commission charged with drawing up multi-member districts to implement Proportional Representation, which is the electoral system in almost every democracy on this planet,” said Hawkins. 

The Green Party will hold its first statewide meeting this weekend since having re-established their ballot line after Hawkins and Gloria Mattera received more than 50,000 votes for Governor and Lt. Governor. Hawkins said that Cuomo should push the Legislature to enact sweeping reforms before he releases his state budget at the end of January. . . .

Republican Party Partially Adopts Proportional Representation in Allocation of Presidential Delegates

From Ballot Access News:

On August 6, the Republican National Committee changed the party’s bylaws on presidential primaries.  The author of the plan had worked with Democratic Party officials, so that the  two major parties now agree on the timing of presidential primaries and caucuses.  This makes it very likely that state legislatures next year will pass bills, making the changes desired by both major parties.

Both parties agree that four particular states, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, are the only ones that can hold caucuses or primaries earlier than March 1. . . . Republicans also passed a rule that only affects the Republican Party.  States that hold caucuses or presidential primaries in March must assign use proportional representation to allocate delegates.  Thus, if a presidential candidate polls 22% of the vote cast in a March presidential primary, he or she will be awarded 22% of the state’s delegates.

It ain't much, but it's something.