Maine State Legislative Election 2014 Political Courage Test

Abortion & Reproductive

1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice

2. Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy?
- Yes

3. Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape?
- Yes

4. Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered?
- Yes

5. Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor?
- Yes

6. Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor?
- Yes

7. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures?
- Yes

8. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions?
- No

9. Other or expanded principles
- For question b), believe abortions occurring after the first trimester should be permissible in cases when the life of a woman is endangered.

Budget, Spending, & Tax

1. Education (higher)
- Slightly Decrease

2. Education (K-12)
- Slightly Increase

3. Environment
- Slightly Decrease

4. Health care
- Maintain Status

5. Law enforcement/corrections
- Slightly Decrease

6. Transportation/infrastructure
- Slightly Increase

7. Welfare
- Slightly Decrease

8. Other or expanded categories
- Your survey makes the assumption that money spent on these items is spent wisely and on programs that are operating effectively. I believe it is possible to increase the effectiveness of State money spent by eliminating administrative oversight by State Agencies. In education for instance, rather than the State developing a program to assist RSU's in purchasing computers for every classroom, which requires an expensive administrative and grant writing process, I believe funds should be distributed directly to RSU's and directed and spent at the discretion of local School Boards and superintendents.

1. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status

2. Cigarette taxes
- Slightly Decrease

3. Corporate taxes
- Slightly Decrease

4. Gas/Oil taxes
- Slightly Decrease

5. Property taxes
- Slightly Decrease

6. Sales taxes
- Slightly Increase

7. Income taxes (low-income families)
- Slightly Decrease

8. Income taxes (mid-income families)
- Slightly Decrease

9. Income taxes (high-income families)
- Slightly Decrease

10. Other or expanded principles
- First, property taxes are determined by the level of spending initiated by municipal Town Councils and School Boards, which is outside the control of the State. Believe Municipalities should not look to the State for assistance in terms of bad spending habits. Second, in general, believe taxes which which apply to Maine visitors as well as Maine residents should be increased while taxes that are more applicable to Maine residents should be decreased, i.e. lower income taxes and increased sales tax. Also believe Maine's Homestead Exemption levels should be increased to favor and encourage Maine residency.

1. Tapping into Maine's "rainy day" fund
- No

2. Increasing tuition rates at public universities
- Yes

3. Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining
- Yes

4. Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions
- Yes

5. Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees
- Yes

6. Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients
- Yes

7. Other or expanded principles
- Poorly written question. The Federal debt stands at over 17 trillion dollars. Anyone who believes we can continue to spend money at those levels is mistaken. Inevitably, the Federal Government must cut spending and those cuts will pass through to Maine and its Municipalities. Legislators have an obligation to address those pending cuts now by first, limiting spending on discretionary items and second, placing all items, including those above, on the block. Waterville, for instance, spent several million on a new police station despite having other suitable alternatives at 10% of that cost. Poor use of taxpayer funds.

Campaign Finance & Government Reform

1. Individual
- Yes

2. Political Action Committee
- Yes

3. Corporate
- Yes

4. Political Party
- No

5. Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits?
- No

6. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes

7. Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting?
- Yes

8. Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls?
- No

1. Other or expanded principles
- Question e), I do support the creation of a national voter data base to ensure that municipal voter registrars can verify that a voter has not registered/ voted by absentee ballot in another District or State. This has become increasingly important, as same day voter registration and absentee ballot usage has increased over the past decade, to protect our nation against voter fraud. Currently, if a voter has voted by absentee in say Florida and walks into the polling station in Waterville, Maine to vote on election day, there is no way for the registrar to challenge that illegal activity.

Crime & Public Safety

1. Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes?
- No

2. Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment?
- Yes

3. Do you support legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana?
- Yes

4. Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult?
- No Answer

5. Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges?
- No Answer

6. Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police?
- Yes

7. Other or expanded principles
- For a) Despite my belief that the death penalty is justifiable in certain crimes, I do not believe in the infallibility of the State in rendering judgements. Answer is therefore no. I don't know how to answer d) and e) as they are written. For d) believe this should be at the prosecutors discretion in extreme cases only. For e) the answer is yes but not with the penalties attached to adults engaged in the same activity (sex offender registry, etc.) Believe first offense should be a misdemeanor and penalty designed to instruct minors in the danger of the activity.

Economic

1. Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector?
- Yes

2. Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers?
- No

3. Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits?
- No

4. Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation?
- No

5. Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No

6. Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure?
- No

7. Do you support an increase of the minimum wage?
- No

8. Other or expanded principles
- For b), I doubt the effectiveness of these programs. Individual businesses are the best suited for these tasks and should be responsible for training their own workforces. For d)- f) these items sound good on paper but when put into practice, result in unfair practices that benefit one industry or individual over another. For g) it's hard to argue the current minimum wage is sufficient to live on. That said, many business owners are working 60-80 hours per week for less than the minimum wage (they are losing money). Addressing inflation is a better solution for owner and employee alike.

Education

1. Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative?
- No

2. Do you support a merit pay system for teachers?
- No

3. Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers?
- No

4. Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school?
- Yes

5. Do you support state funding for charter schools?
- No

6. Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid?
- No

7. Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Maine high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities?
- No

8. Other or expanded principles
- In my own business, as governmental regulation has grown, so too has the time I have to spend away from my business. The time taken to review the ever changing regulatory structure passed down by Washington and Augusta has a direct effect on our ability to do our jobs. The same is true of education, i.e. Common Core Standards, which neither teachers nor parents have a firm understanding of. Teachers are too often blamed (teachers are failing) for what is in reality a regulatory problem, that takes time away from their work of inspiring their students to achieve their goals.

Environment & Energy

1. Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy?
- Yes

2. Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)?
- Yes

3. Do you support state funding for improvements to Maine's energy infrastructure?
- Yes

4. Do you support state funding for open space preservation?
- No

5. Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions?
- No

6. Other or expanded principles
- For a), for development of Maine's hydro-power resources only. For a), b) and c), believe funding should be used to provide necessary infrastructure for such projects to occur, not in providing subsidies that favor one energy source over another. For e), while I support regulations that control pollution, I cannot support the current levels of restriction the EPA is seeking to impose. It would be better to spend our federal resources on R&D of alternative technology with the goal of bringing that technology to a point it can compete with traditional sources on a dollar for dollar basis.

Gun

1. Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- No

2. Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
- No

3. Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns?
- Yes

4. Should a license be required for gun possession?
- No

5. Other or expanded principles
- Believe you left out the words "law abiding citizens" in these questions. Please assume those words exist for the answers provided.

Health

1. Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option?
- No

2. Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform?
- Yes

3. Do you support interstate health insurance compacts?
- Yes

4. Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act?
- No

5. Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance?
- No

6. Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits?
- Yes

7. Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes?
- Yes

8. Other or expanded principles
- Rising health care costs are a reflection of the complexity of the health care delivery system in the U.S. The ACA adds to that regulatory complexity and will not solve the problem of rising costs. Subsidizing health care that is unaffordable to most Americans will only make health care unaffordable for the entire nation. We must first focus on simplifying the delivery system and reducing costs. Once that is accomplished, providing health care to all Americans will be an attainable goal. As worthwhile a goal as this is, we must ensure we take the first step in the right direction.

Social

1. Do you support same-sex marriage?
- Yes

2. Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Maine's anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes

3. Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Maine's anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes

4. Other or expanded principles
- For a), b) and c), so long as these inclusions provide an exemption for religious institutions to opt out if the inclusion is contrary to the beliefs of their faith.

Legislative Priorities

In the following area, on an attached page, or via e-mail, please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- 1) Sponsor a bill to eliminate the 10% ethanol requirement for fuel in Maine. Bill would could contain provision that requires passage of similar bill by 25 other State Legislatures. Passage of this bill would provide immediate relief at the food store for all Maine residents by eliminating the inflationary pressure on food prices caused by ethanol. Would also lower expenses for State food assistance programs. 2) Legalize marijuana and direct excise tax proceeds toward funding education at the 55% State Mandated level. 3) Change Municipal Revenue Sharing laws to allow more State control over funds wastefully spent by Municipalities.