West Virginia State Legislative Election 2008 Political Courage 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.
- X

6. Abortions should be subject to a mandatory waiting period.
- X

7. Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
- X

8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Budget and Tax

State Budget: Indicate what state funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.

1. Education (Higher)
- Slightly Increase

2. Education (K-12)
- Slightly Increase

3. Emergency preparedness
- Maintain Status

4. Environment
- Maintain Status

5. Health care
- Maintain Status

6. Law enforcement
- Slightly Increase

7. Transportation and Highway infrastructure
- Slightly Increase

8. Welfare
- Slightly Decrease

9. Other or expanded categories
- Regarding welfare, the state can maintain the current level of service by doing more to eliminate waste and fraud.

State Taxes: Indicate what state tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.

1. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status

2. Cigarette taxes
- Maintain Status

3. Corporate taxes
- Greatly Decrease

4. Gasoline taxes
- Greatly Decrease

5. Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
- Slightly Decrease

6. Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
- Slightly Decrease

7. Property taxes
- Slightly Decrease

8. Sales taxes
- Slightly Decrease

9. Vehicle taxes
- Greatly Decrease

10. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer

11. Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
- No

12. Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget?
- Yes

13. Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
- No

14. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Campaign Finance and Government Reform

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

1. Do you support the current limit of terms for West Virginia governors?
- Yes

2. Do you support limiting the number of terms for West Virginia state senators and delegates?
- No

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

1. Individual
- No

2. PAC
- No

3. Corporate
- No

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?
- No

7. Should West Virginia participate in the federal REAL ID program?
- Undecided

8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Crime

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

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

2. Establish the death penalty in West Virginia.
- X

3. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- No Answer

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

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

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

7. Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws.
- X

8. Support hate crime legislation.
- No Answer

9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Education

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

1. Support state funding of universal pre-K programs.
- No Answer

2. Support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students (No Child Left Behind).
- X

3. Support state education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students.
- X

4. Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams.
- No Answer

5. Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school.
- X

6. Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
- X

7. Require school districts to use excess school aid exclusively for raising teacher salaries.
- X

8. Support using a merit pay system for teachers.
- No Answer

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

10. Support allowing illegal immigrant high school graduates of West Virginia to pay in-state tuition at public universities.
- No Answer

11. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

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.
- No Answer

2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector.
- X

3. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
- X

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.
- No Answer

6. Include sexual orientation in West Virginia's anti-discrimination laws.
- No Answer

7. Include gender identity in West Virgina's anti-discrimination laws.
- No Answer

8. Increase the state minimum wage.
- No Answer

9. Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will.
- No Answer

10. Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
- X

11. Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
- X

12. Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
- No Answer

13. 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.
- No Answer

2. Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil, etc).
- X

3. Support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops.
- No Answer

4. Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
- No Answer

5. Support funding for improvements to West Virginia's power generating and transmission facilities.
- No Answer

6. Support funding for open space preservation.
- No Answer

7. Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
- No Answer

8. Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
- No Answer

9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Gun

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

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

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

3. Should a license be required for gun possession?
- Yes

4. Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- Yes

5. Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- Yes

6. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

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.
- No Answer

2. Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- X

3. Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- X

4. Allow patients to sue their HMOs.
- No Answer

5. Require hospitals and labs to release reports on infections that are a risk to public health, while not compromising patient confidentiality.
- No Answer

6. Legalize physician assisted suicide in West Virginia.
- No Answer

7. Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
- No Answer

8. Support a statewide public smoking ban.
- No Answer

9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Social

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.

1. Should West Virginia recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- No

2. Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry?
- No

3. Should West Virginia provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples?
- No

4. Do you support a moment of silence in public schools?
- Yes

5. Do you support voluntary prayer in public schools?
- Yes

6. Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods?
- No

7. Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs?
- Yes

8. Should the state government consider race and gender in state government contracting and hiring decisions?
- No

9. Do you support affirmative action in public college admissions?
- Undecided

10. Should West Virginia continue affirmative action programs?
- Undecided

11. Do you support state funding of stem cell research?
- Yes

12. Do you support state funding of embryonic stem cell research?
- No

13. Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it?
- Yes

14. Other or expanded principles
- Regarding affirmative action, it is time we recognize that our society has moved into a new generation that should require all students to compete strictly on their own, equal merits, rather than factoring in race.

Legislative Priorities

1. 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.
- Reduce and eliminate business taxes that have stifled growth in West Virginia. The new jobs that will emerge will create new taxpayers who will more than make up the revenue difference. Maximize the potential of the energy industry in West Virginia. Our state should be the energy capital of the world.Return accountability and integrity to state government. End the cycle of cronyism and favoritism that has led to a good old boy network and has put the interests of politicians ahead of the interests of the average West Virginian.