Washington State Legislative Election 2010 Political Courage Test

Abortion and Reproductive

1. Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life?
- Pro-choice

2. Should abortion be legal only within 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?
- No

6. Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor?
- No

7. Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods?
- Yes

8. Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs?
- No

9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Budget, Spending, and Tax

1. Education (higher)
- Greatly Increase

2. Education (K-12)
- Greatly Increase

3. Environment
- Greatly Increase

4. Health care
- Slightly Increase

5. Law enforcement
- Slightly Increase

6. Transportation and highway infrastructure
- Greatly Increase

7. Welfare
- Slightly Increase

8. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer

1. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status

2. Cigarette taxes
- Maintain Status

3. Corporate taxes
- Greatly Increase

4. Gasoline taxes
- Greatly Increase

5. Property taxes
- Slightly Decrease

6. Sales taxes
- Slightly Decrease

7. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer

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

2. Instituting an income tax on high-earners
- Yes

3. Extending the suspension of Initiative 960, the Taxpayer Protection Act
- Yes

4. Issuing the early release of certain non-violent offenders
- Yes

5. Increasing tuition rates at public universities
- Yes

6. Instituting mandatory furloughs and layoffs for state employees
- No

7. Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients
- No

8. Privatizing certain government services
- No

9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Campaign Finance and Government Reform

1. Individual
- Yes

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. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Crime and 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. Should the possession of small amounts of marijuana be decriminalized?
- Yes

4. Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult?
- Yes

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

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

7. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Economic

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

2. Do you support the privatization of liquor sales?
- No

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

4. Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits?
- Yes

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

6. Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation?
- Yes

7. Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure?
- Yes

8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Education

1. Do you support national education standards?
- No

2. Do you support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams?
- Yes

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

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

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

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

7. Other or expanded principles
- I would not support a stand-alone merit pay system for teachers. I would support incentive funds for schools that perform above standards and then make those higher funds available for collective bargaining. We have to move beyond punitive systems and on to reward systems. Socio-economics of families is the number one predictor of student achievement. Schools and teachers should be challenged to overcome it (and rewarded when they do) but not be punished when they can't.

Environment and 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)?
- No

3. Do you support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops?
- Yes

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

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

6. Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change?
- Yes

7. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Gun

1. Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- Yes

2. Do you support requiring background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
- Yes

3. Do you support allowing individuals to carry concealed guns?
- No

4. Do you support requiring a license for gun possession?
- Yes

5. Do you support a ban on assault weapons?
- Yes

6. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

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. Should individuals be required to purchase health care insurance?
- Yes

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

6. Do you support continuing to allow physician-assisted suicide in Washington?
- Yes

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

8. Other or expanded principles
- I would only support the requirement that individuals purchase health insurance in a comprehensive reform effort. Lowering costs will require a broader insurance pool; this will require the traditionally healthier folks (young) to join a plan (the federal plan does this). Once again, a far better way to do this would be to adopt a comprehensive publicly funded basic health plan and then allow individuals or businesses to purchase supplemental benefits above the basic plan.

Social

1. Should marriage only be between one man and one woman?
- No

2. Should Washington continue to allow same-sex couples to form domestic partnerships?
- Yes

3. Do you support state funding for stem cell research?
- Yes

4. Do you support state funding for embryonic stem cell research?
- Yes

5. Do you support the state's use of affirmative action?
- Yes

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

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

8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Legislative Priorities

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.
- Education (early lerning, K-12, and higher education)Basic human services (the social safety net)Environmental protectionWe should pay for this with comprehensive tax reform that nets an additional $2.5 billion per year by indexing State and Local government spending to it's forty-year average of GDP (approximately 10.6% of State-GDP). We have let government spending slip well below 10% and now vital public services are at risk. Reforms would include a lowering of state property taxes, lowering B&O taxes but introducing corporate profit taxes and personal income taxes.