By MARK JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer
August 22, 2006, 3:19 PM EDT
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Five Green Party candidates running for statewide office filed signature petitions with election officials to get on the November ballot, even as the party's gubernatorial candidate acknowledged Tuesday he has no chance at victory.
"There's no chance of winning, but we will be victorious because we'll tell the truth," said Malachy McCourt, an actor, author, and broadcast personality. "We're not bound by corporate corruption because we don't take money from the corporations."
McCourt is the white-haired brother and sometimes collaborator of "Angela's Ashes" author Frank McCourt. Malachy McCourt will face Republican John Faso and one of two Democrats, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer or Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, in the November election. Recent polls show Spitzer with wide leads over all of them.
"They've all been bought, they've all been purchased for various prices. All the other people, the Republicans and the Democrats," said McCourt, who turns 75 next month.
Democratic Party spokesman Blake Zeff declined to comment and a spokesman for the state Republicans did not immediately return calls for comment.
Besides the governor's race, the Green Party is running candidates for U.S. Senate, state attorney general, comptroller, lieutenant governor, and for one seat in the U.S. House. The party delivered petitions with about 30,000 signatures supporting its slate to the state Board of Elections.
"When you think of coming from a slum in Limerick, Ireland and then all of the sudden you're in Albany, New York, filing to be governor of the state, you say there's some sort of humor coming on high here. And I will indulge fully in all of that," said McCourt.
If McCourt receives 50,000 votes for governor, the Green Party will not have to file petitions to get on the ballot next time. McCourt said there was "no doubt" he would get that many votes.
"There is such lack of faith in the Republican, we may be runners up," he said.
The party's Senate candidate, Howie Hawkins of Syracuse, is challenging Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton over her support for the war in Iraq. Hawkins, a UPS worker and former Marine, is calling for the immediate return of U.S.
troops from the Middle East and for the impeachment of President Bush.
Rachel Treichler is running for attorney general. A lawyer in New York since 1982, she worked for two New York City law firms, then set up her own practice in 1989. Treichler now lives on an organic farm in Hammondsport.
Julia Willebrand, a former school teacher and environmental activist living in New York City, is the party's candidate for comptroller. Alison Duncan, a pre-med student at City College of New York and audiovisual technician in the Crowne Plaza Manhattan hotel, is the party's lieutenant governor candidate.
Jim Brown, a Long Beach librarian, is running for the Green Party against Republican Congressman Peter King in the 3rd Congressional District covering parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties. King is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
Associated Press Writer
August 22, 2006, 3:19 PM EDT
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Five Green Party candidates running for statewide office filed signature petitions with election officials to get on the November ballot, even as the party's gubernatorial candidate acknowledged Tuesday he has no chance at victory.
"There's no chance of winning, but we will be victorious because we'll tell the truth," said Malachy McCourt, an actor, author, and broadcast personality. "We're not bound by corporate corruption because we don't take money from the corporations."
McCourt is the white-haired brother and sometimes collaborator of "Angela's Ashes" author Frank McCourt. Malachy McCourt will face Republican John Faso and one of two Democrats, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer or Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, in the November election. Recent polls show Spitzer with wide leads over all of them.
"They've all been bought, they've all been purchased for various prices. All the other people, the Republicans and the Democrats," said McCourt, who turns 75 next month.
Democratic Party spokesman Blake Zeff declined to comment and a spokesman for the state Republicans did not immediately return calls for comment.
Besides the governor's race, the Green Party is running candidates for U.S. Senate, state attorney general, comptroller, lieutenant governor, and for one seat in the U.S. House. The party delivered petitions with about 30,000 signatures supporting its slate to the state Board of Elections.
"When you think of coming from a slum in Limerick, Ireland and then all of the sudden you're in Albany, New York, filing to be governor of the state, you say there's some sort of humor coming on high here. And I will indulge fully in all of that," said McCourt.
If McCourt receives 50,000 votes for governor, the Green Party will not have to file petitions to get on the ballot next time. McCourt said there was "no doubt" he would get that many votes.
"There is such lack of faith in the Republican, we may be runners up," he said.
The party's Senate candidate, Howie Hawkins of Syracuse, is challenging Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton over her support for the war in Iraq. Hawkins, a UPS worker and former Marine, is calling for the immediate return of U.S.
troops from the Middle East and for the impeachment of President Bush.
Rachel Treichler is running for attorney general. A lawyer in New York since 1982, she worked for two New York City law firms, then set up her own practice in 1989. Treichler now lives on an organic farm in Hammondsport.
Julia Willebrand, a former school teacher and environmental activist living in New York City, is the party's candidate for comptroller. Alison Duncan, a pre-med student at City College of New York and audiovisual technician in the Crowne Plaza Manhattan hotel, is the party's lieutenant governor candidate.
Jim Brown, a Long Beach librarian, is running for the Green Party against Republican Congressman Peter King in the 3rd Congressional District covering parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties. King is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
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