Connecticut State Legislative Election 2004 National Political Awareness Test

Abortion

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding abortion.

1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer

2. Abortions should always be legal.
- No Answer

3. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer

4. Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
- No Answer

5. Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer

6. Prohibit public funding of abortions and of organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
- No Answer

7. Other or expanded principles
- X

Budget, Spending, and Tax

State Budget: Indicate the funding levels (#1-6) you will support for the following general categories. Select one level per category.

1. Education (higher)
- Maintain Status

2. Education (K-12)
- Slightly Increase

3. Environment
- Slightly Increase

4. Health care
- Slightly Increase

5. Law enforcement
- Maintain Status

6. Transportation and highway infrastructure
- Maintain Status

7. Welfare
- Maintain Status

8. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer

State Taxes: Indicate the tax levels (#1-6) you will support. Select one level per tax.

1. Alcohol taxes
- Slightly Increase

2. Capital gains taxes
- No Answer

3. Cigarette taxes
- Slightly Increase

4. Corporate taxes
- Maintain Status

5. Estate taxes
- Maintain Status

6. Gasoline taxes
- Maintain Status

7. Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
- Maintain Status

8. Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
- Maintain Status

9. Property taxes
- Slightly Decrease

10. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status

11. Vehicle taxes
- Maintain Status

12. Other or expanded categories
- Slightly Increase

13. Should Internet sales be taxed?
- Yes

14. Do you support increased taxes to pay for improvements to Connecticut's commuter rail system?
- Undecided

15. Do you support increased fares to pay for improvements to Connecticut's commuter rail system?
- Undecided

16. Do you support bonding to pay for improvements to Connecticut's commuter rail system?
- Yes

17. Other or expanded principles
- X

Campaign Finance and Government Reform

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding campaign finance and government reform.

1. Do you support limiting the number of terms for Connecticut governors?
- No

2. Do you support limiting the number of terms for Connecticut state senators and representatives?
- No

Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative and gubernatorial candidates?

1. Individual
- No

2. PAC
- Yes

3. Corporate
- Yes

4. Political Parties
- No

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

6. Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns?
- Yes

7. Do you support adopting statewide standards for counting, verifying, and ensuring accuracy of votes?
- Yes

8. Do you support prohibiting the reporting of media exit polling results until all polling locations in Connecticut are closed?
- Yes

9. Should Connecticut recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- Yes

10. Should Connecticut restrict marriage to a union only between a man and a woman?
- No

11. Should Connecticut recognize same-sex marriages recognized in another state?
- Undecided

12. Should Connecticut recognize same-sex civil unions recognized in another state?
- Yes

13. Should Connecticut allow smoking in designated rooms in restaurants and bars?
- No

14. Should courts be allowed to revoke or reduce any retirement benefits for Connecticut officials who commit crimes in office?
- Yes

15. Should Connecticut create a statewide ethics code for municipal officials?
- Yes

Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative and gubernatorial candidates?

1. Other or expanded principles
- candidate access to public funding should be tied to accepting limits on campaign spending

Crime

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime.

1. Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and for hiring of additional prison staff.
- No Answer

2. Support the death penalty in Connecticut.
- No Answer

3. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- X

4. End parole for repeat violent offenders.
- X

5. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- X

6. Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
- No Answer

7. Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes.
- No Answer

8. Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
- No Answer

9. Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
- X

10. Increase funding for state and local emergency agencies to prevent and to respond to terrorist attacks.
- X

11. Support sending inmates to out-of-state prisons in order to reduce prison crowding.
- No Answer

12. Other or expanded principles
- X

Education

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.

1. Support national standards and testing of public school students.
- X

2. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any public school.
- X

3. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
- No Answer

4. Increase state funds for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure).
- No Answer

5. Increase state funds for hiring additional teachers.
- X

6. Support teacher testing and reward with merit pay.
- X

7. Endorse voluntary prayer in public schools.
- No Answer

8. Require public schools to administer high school exit exams.
- X

9. Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
- No Answer

10. Increase funding for Head Start programs.
- X

11. Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
- X

12. Support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods.
- X

13. Support abstinence-only sexual education programs.
- No Answer

14. Other or expanded principles
- X

Employment and Affirmative Action

Employment: Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment.

1. Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers and teach skills needed in today's job market.
- X

2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- No Answer

3. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
- No Answer

4. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- X

5. Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- X

6. Increase the state minimum wage.
- X

7. Bar businesses that outsource jobs from receiving government contracts and tax breaks.
- X

8. Other or expanded principles
- X

Affirmative Action: Should race, ethnicity or gender be taken into account in state agencies' decisions on:

1. Public employment
- Yes

2. State college and university admissions
- Yes

3. State contracting
- Yes

4. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Environment and Energy

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.

1. Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
- X

2. Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, and oil).
- No Answer

3. Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
- X

4. Support funding for open space preservation.
- X

5. Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
- X

6. Other or expanded principles
- X

Gun

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.

1. Maintain and strengthen the enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- X

2. Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer

3. Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer

4. Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
- No Answer

5. Require manufacturers to provide child-safety locks on guns.
- X

6. Require background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows.
- X

7. Require a license for gun possession.
- X

8. Other or expanded principles
- X

Health

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health.

1. Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
- X

2. Transfer more existing Medicaid recipients into managed care programs.
- No Answer

3. Cap the amount of non-economic damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer

4. Support patients' right to sue their HMOs.
- X

5. Support patients' right to appeal to an administrative board of specialists when services are denied.
- X

6. Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- No Answer

7. Legalize physician assisted suicide in Connecticut.
- No Answer

8. Allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
- X

9. Encourage embryonic stem cell research in Connecticut.
- X

10. Other or expanded principles
- X

Welfare and Poverty

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding welfare and poverty.

1. Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
- No Answer

2. Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
- X

3. Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
- X

4. Support current limits on benefits given to recipients if they have additional children while on welfare.
- No Answer

5. Redirect welfare funding to faith-based and community-based private organizations.
- No Answer

6. Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to extend health and child care subsidies to the working poor.
- X

7. Support marriage promotion programs for welfare recipients.
- No Answer

8. Eliminate government-funded welfare programs.
- No Answer

9. Other or expanded principles
- X

Legislative Priorities

Please explain in a total of 75 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. Recommendations of the Child Poverty Council--fund most successful, cost-effective recommendation first by reordering budget priorities.2. Extend the Quinnipiac River Linear Trail--continue this and other regional trails using alternative transportation funds combined with multiple sources, including local, state, and private.3. Insure maintenence of basic health care for vulnerable populations--reorder budget priorities.