For Immediate Release: June 9th, 2023
Contact: climate@socialists.nyc

STATEMENT: On End of Justin Driscoll’s NYPA Nomination

We Dumped Driscoll. Now The Real Work Begins

NEW YORK, NY – A month ago, we passed the biggest Green New Deal program in US history, the Build Public Renewables Act.

Today we stopped Governor Hochul’s last-ditch attempt to slow it down, foiling her nomination of Republican Justin Driscoll as President of the New York Power Authority.

Appointments like these are not normally something most people even hear about, let alone fight by the thousands. Albany’s establishment thrives in this obscurity, keeping key functions that affect the very shape of our future hidden in shadows.

Over the last week, we did not just bring the light to this process: we brought fire. As smoke filled the skies, New Yorkers flooded Senators’ phones demanding a visionary NYPA leader to match the vision of the law we just enacted.

Together we stood up to honor the wishes of longtime civil rights leader and NYPA operator Shirley Hamilton, who empowered us to reveal the true depths of Driscoll’s heinous record. It is clear from the Senate’s refusal to consider Driscoll’s nomination that his term is politically dead, and that he is unfit for the role. Justin Driscoll must step down now, or the Governor should have the good grace to do it for him, while we do what Shirley hoped for: find a leader who will make NYPA a true engine of justice, the way it was intended to be.

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ABOUT NYC-DSA: New York City Democratic Socialists is the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America—the largest socialist organization in the United States with over 85,000 members. NYC-DSA is run by its 6,000+ members and activists who are working together to build a democratic socialist organization in the five boroughs.