POLITICS ON THE HUDSON

Green Party candidate knocks Astorino for 'patronage games'

Jon Campbell
jcampbell1@gannett.com

The Green Party's candidate for governor is criticizing Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino after a politically connected aide resigned following a drunken driving arrest.

Howie Hawkins, the two-time Green Party nominee, pounced on the news Wednesday that Hugh Fox had tendered his resignation Tuesday, a day after he was involved in a five-car crash in his county vehicle.

Fox, who is also the Westchester County Conservative Party chairman, was a $105,000-a-year aide to Astorino, who is the Republican candidate for governor. Fox was also collecting a $90,000-a-year pension from his time as a firefighter after Astorino's office successfully obtained a waiver, The Journal News reported.

Hawkins questioned whether Fox's hiring was a patronage hire.

“You have Cuomo trying to intimidate witnesses in the Moreland Commission scandal, you got Astorino using tax funded jobs to reward his supporters," Hawkins said in a statement Wednesday. "Both claim they are the anti-corruption candidates. They really are just foxes wanting to guard the hen house. To clean up corruption, we need a clean sweep in Albany and bring in the Greens."

Jessica Proud, a spokeswoman for Astorino's campaign, declined comment.

Hawkins was also the Green Party's candidate in 2010, when he garnered more than 50,000 votes -- enough to keep the Greens on the ballot for four years. He will again be on the ballot this fall.

(Photo by Brian Howard / The Journal News)