Zephyr Teachout – The Anti-Fracking Candidate in New York
A while back, I had the opportunity to interview Democratic primary candidate for Governor of New York, Zephyr Teachout. She’s running against incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo. Teachout has stood out as a progressive voice against Cuomo’s too-business-friendly, anti-environmental take on Democratic politics. She’s strongly anti-fracking, while Governor Cuomo supports test sites, and claims that the science isn’t in on the controversial method of resource extraction.
Cuomo unfortunately refuses to debate her – even though she’s polling well enough to warrant recognition. In fact, he went so far as to ignore her at NYC’s Labor Day Parade. [watch the awkwardness here]
The primary is tomorrow in New York State. Teachout, while not poised to win this time, will no doubt return to New York politics in some way in the coming years. Based on this interview, I hope she does. New York politics is seen by the rest of the country as a bastion of liberal voices – realistically it’s anything but. Cuomo has cut taxes for the rich, said nothing against Wall Street, and pushed charter schools in the state. Same-sex marriage is legal here, only because money passed hands… but more on that later. For now, check out the interview below.
I’ll actually have an interview with the Directors of Disruption in the next couple of days.
Tomorrow is primary day in New York. I’ll walk a couple of blocks to my polling place, and vote for Teachout and Wu. Cuomo’s a creep; always has been. I quit a job I loved because he joined the law firm where I was a legal secretary. He created such a toxic atmosphere that I got ill, and I’m the healthiest person around.
Yesterday evening, I attended the premier of Disruption. As the filmmakers admitted, it was incomplete. It did not address the pollution from animal agriculture, or Big Ag in general, and that’s big. The People’s Climate March is in less than two weeks. I’ll be marching.