Kansas State Legislative Election 2016 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?
- No

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?
- No

7. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures?
- No

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

9. Other or expanded principles
- Abortion is a terrible form of birth control and but available in cases of rape, incest, when the fetus will not become a viable and productive person, and when the woman's life is endangered by carrying the fetus. The impact of the Zika virus demonstrates that families and society/government as a whole are not prepared for a large influx of severely and permanently handicapped children.

Budget, Spending, & Tax

1. Tapping into Kansas's "rainy day" fund
- Yes

2. Decreasing funding for public universities
- No

3. Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions
- No

4. Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees
- No

5. Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients
- No

6. Other or expanded principles
- A majority of Legislators and two Governors have eliminated "waste" and "fat" in agency budgets. They have "robbed" the Dept. of Transportation and fee-funded agencies and they have deferred financial obligations into future years without any realistic expectation that state revenues will improve. The only viable option is to revisit the income tax reforms of 2012 and 2013 and restore tax liabilities on businesses and restore a third income tax bracket for the wealthiest Kansans. I voted against the tax reforms, voted against the sales tax increase, and voted to restore the tax on businesses and the higher income citizens.

1. Education (higher)
- Greatly Increase

2. Education (K-12)
- Greatly Increase

3. Environment
- Slightly Increase

4. Health care
- Slightly Increase

5. Law enforcement/corrections
- Greatly Increase

6. Transportation/infrastructure
- Greatly Increase

7. Welfare
- Slightly Increase

8. Other or expanded categories
- Education is the future of our state so that we have creative individuals creating jobs and educated citizens to fill those jobs. Infrastructure investments are like maintaining one's home, necessary to protect the core structure and the mission it fulfills. Expanding Medicaid/KanCare makes economic and health care sense. State employees have not had a raise in 9 years, that is irresponsible. I have supported increasing funding for education at all levels, mental health and public safety programs. I have proposed bills to fund water protection and increase renewable energy production.

1. Alcohol taxes
- Slightly Increase

2. Cigarette taxes
- Slightly Increase

3. Corporate taxes
- Slightly Increase

4. Small business taxes
- Slightly Increase

5. Gas/Oil taxes
- Maintain Status

6. Property taxes
- Slightly Increase

7. Sales taxes
- Slightly Decrease

8. Income taxes (low-income families)
- Maintain Status

9. Income taxes (mid-income families)
- Maintain Status

10. Income taxes (high-income families)
- Greatly Increase

11. Do you support applying sales taxes to all online purchases?
- Yes

12. Do you support reducing the sales tax rate on groceries?
- Yes

13. Other or expanded principles
- Reducing the sales tax on food is dependent on increasing income tax revenues to offset the loss of the $275 million revenues it produces and to meet our obligations in education, services for persons with disabilities, and the other vital services that only state government can provide.

Campaign Finance & Government Reform

1. Individual
- No

2. Political Action Committee
- Yes

3. Corporate
- Yes

4. Political Party
- Yes

5. Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits?
- Yes

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?
- Yes

1. Other or expanded principles
- I voted against requiring birth certificates to register to vote. Voluntary spending limits are ineffective and while limiting what an individual may spend from his/her own resources is likely unconstitutional, we should ensure that elections can be won by those candidates who are not wealthy. In 2012, the Kansas Judiciary redistricted the Legislature with the result being that incumbents were not favored, but that both incumbents and challengers had an equal opportunity to win the election.

Crime & Public Safety

1. Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes?
- Yes

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

5. Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police?
- No

6. Do you support delaying the seizure of assets by law enforcement officials until after a conviction?
- Yes

7. Other or expanded principles
- I struggle with the issue because mistakes can be made during the legal process. I also believe that by the heinous nature of the crime committed, some people forfeit the right to live. As a former employee of the KS Dept. of Corrections, I also know that the most difficult inmates to manage are generally those with nothing to lose, thereby putting correction officers and other inmates at risk. A 16 year old who in a fit of hormonal anger attacks a parent is not an adult; a 16 year old who robs a store and kills, is an adult.

Economic

1. Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

2. Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

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

4. Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers?
- Yes

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

6. Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits?
- Yes

7. Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation?
- Yes

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

9. Do you support an increase of the minimum wage?
- Yes

10. Should employers be able to ask about applicants' criminal history before interviewing them?
- No

11. Other or expanded principles
- Many of these questions are too broadly written and my answers would be nuanced if that option were available. For example, what government regulations should be reduced? Certainly not consumer protection or worker safety related regulations. Lowering taxes to promote economic growth can be appropriate, but by how much is an empirical question to be answered in each individual case.

Education

1. Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative?
- Yes

2. Do you support a merit pay system for teachers?
- Yes

3. Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers?
- Yes

4. Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school?
- No

5. Do you support state funding for charter schools?
- Yes

6. Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid?
- Yes

7. Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Kansas high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities?
- Yes

8. Other or expanded principles
- The term illegal immigrants above is generally not appropriate. Those children were brought to the US at very young ages by their parents. They graduated from Kansas high schools and generally are law abiding with the desire to be productive citizens. The Kansas Constitution states that we shall support a public education system. That is a system that accepts every student - those bright and not so bright, those healthy and those with disabilities. Charter schools operated by a school district should be state supported.

Environment & Energy

1. Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes

2. Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)?
- No

3. Do you support state funding for improvements to Kansas's energy infrastructure?
- No

4. Do you support state funding for open space preservation?
- Yes

5. Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes

6. Do you support increased regulations of the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry?
- No

7. Other or expanded principles
- Kansas has a very effective regulatory process for hydraulic fracturing, especially the disposal of waste water used during the fracturing process. Those regulations are a model for many other states. Developing lower carbon-emitting generation technologies requires government support initially, but that support should be reduced and eliminated as the technologies become proven and cost-effective.

Gun

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- No

2. Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
- Yes

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

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

5. Do you support allowing concealed carry on public college campuses in Kansas?
- No

6. Other or expanded principles
- I support the Second Amendment, but these questions are too broad. For example, I support an honest citizen's right to carry a concealed weapon, but I also support requiring that citizen to pass a firearms safety course that includes instruction on when they may and may not use that weapon. I do not support requiring a person to have a license to own a firearm, but believe that one should learn how to safely use whatever weapon they purchase. If a licensed firearms dealer must do a background check on a prospective customer, so too should sellers at gun shows.

Health

1. Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option?
- Yes

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 ("Obamacare")?
- Yes

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
- I believe that if the private insurance market cannot serve all persons affordably, than government should serve as a provider of last resort to protect against the costs to individuals of catastrophic illnesses. Data shows that if Medicaid/KanCare is expanded, citizen health will improve and insurance rates for all will decrease as persons without health insurance today will be able to seek care before a health crisis exists and they will no longer use the emergency room as their primary caregiver.

Social

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

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

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

4. Based on the religious beliefs of the owners, should businesses be allowed to refuse services to their employees and/or customers?
- No

5. Other or expanded principles
- I believe that all men and women are created equal and should be treated thusly by government and private citizens.

Legislative Priorities

In the following area, 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) Restore the income tax on businesses currently exempt from any liability and restore a third income tax bracket for the highest earning Kansans; 2) Expand Medicaid/KanCare to cover approximately 160,000 Kansans and thereby reduce insurance rates for privately insured Kansans; 3) Adequately fund core government responsibilities like public education, services to persons with disabilities, public safety programs, and make water and highway infrastructure investments.