Tennessee State Legislative Election 2018 Political Courage Test

Abortion & Reproductive

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

2. Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape?
- No

3. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions?
- Yes

4. Other or expanded principles
- I believe that a woman's body and soul are hers to do with as she legally chooses. However, no citizen has the unfettered right to intentionally harm another human being or otherwise impinge upon another's rights. Because I am convinced that human life begins at conception, I cannot philosophically support unregulated abortion choices regardless of whether the pregnancy is uncomfortable, inconvenient, expensive, embarrassing or otherwise undesirable. Especially, if the pregnancy involves no threat to the mother's life, there is no way, logically or morally, that abortion can be defended as grounds for intentionally terminating the existence of another human being

Budget, Spending, & Tax

1. Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions?
- No

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

3. Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients?
- No

4. Other or expanded principles
- When I first ran for office in 2010, Tennessee's unemployment rate was 9.9% and Anderson County was 10.7%. The Haslam Administration, my colleagues and I cut more than $800 million in annual, recurring, state spending, shrank state government payrolls by nearly 10%, and balanced the budget every year without any new debt. As a result, Tennessee's unemployment number earlier this year was 3.5% compared to the national average of 4.9%... Moreover, Tennessee achieved its lowest unemployment rate in history last year. Over 400,000 net new private sector jobs created since 2011 have the most Tennesseans working in our state's history!

Campaign Finance & Government Reform

1. Do you support any limits on campaign contributions to state candidates?
- Yes

2. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes

3. Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting?
- No

4. Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls?
- Yes

5. Other or expanded principles
- I support a principle, commonly known as the rule of law that has guided our nation for over two centuries. Our Constitutions, the Federal and then the state are the law of land. No one, including a government official, at any level, from the President or Governor on down to the tax collector or dogcatcher, is above the requirements and sanctions of the law. Furthermore, political dissatisfaction and economic hardship at home do not generate de facto rights for foreigners to blatantly transgress our borders and our laws.

Crime & Public Safety

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

2. Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- No

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

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

5. Other or expanded principles
- For item c) above, the determination of criminal responsibility is, and should be, a decsion of the court on a case by case basis. There is no blanket solution that can cover all eventualities. Highway fatalities are down over 18% from their 50-year average. Additionally, domestic violence offenses are down 13% since 2010. Furthermore, prescriptions have shown a 14% decrease in morphine milligrams dispensed and a 50% decrease in doctor shopping.

Economic

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Other or expanded principles
- Tennessee ranks as one of the lowest debt states in the nation even funding our pension plan at more than 94%, the third best pension system in the US. Moreover, Tennessee is also the lowest taxed state per capita in terms of personal income in the nation. Additionally, our roads continue to rank in the top five nationally with zero road debt. Site Selection magazine's annual Prosperity Cup placed Tennessee 2nd place nationally. CNBC ranked our state 2nd in the country for transportation/road quality and 2nd in lowest in cost of living. Bankrate.com named us the #1 state for retirement.

Education

1. Do you support adopting federal education standards in Tennessee?
- No

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

3. Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Tennessee high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities?
- No

4. Other or expanded principles
- Since 2011, Tennessee's K-12 student performance ranking has moved from 49th to 35th nationwide. Moreover, Tennessee's high school graduation rate has risen to 89.5%, well above the national average of 84%. Recently, on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) testing, Tennessee fourth graders went from 46th to 34th in math and from 41st to 34th in reading. Additionally, Tennessee eighth graders went from 45th to 35th in math and from 41st to 38th in reading. Furthermore, our state has logged the fastest improving student NAEP test scores, not just in the entire country, but in the history of that test.

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 government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions?
- No

3. Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives?
- Yes

4. Other or expanded principles
- The anthropogenic climate change theory, as a scientific theory, fails to meet criteria for explanation of all evidence, testability and falsification. Consequently, I will neither support unwarranted regulatory restrictions and taxes nor excessively squander public monies based solely on this theory. However, from a political perspective, achieving reductions in atmospheric carbon emissions is possible without relying on climate change theories. Focus should be on carbon-free technologies such as small, modular, light water and molten salt reactors that enhance prosperity, job-creation, national security and other goals while reducing atmospheric carbon as side benefit.

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?
- No

3. Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom?
- Yes

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

5. Other or expanded principles
- I have sworn a sacred oath on multiple occasions to support both, the US Constitution, and the Tennessee Constitution. In the case of the US Constitution this oath includes both the Second and the Fourteenth Amendments. Additionally, for the Tennessee Constitution, it includes Article I, Section 26. With these constitutional parameters as guidance, it would impossible for me to support unwarranted restrictions on firearms without violating my oath.

Health

1. Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse?
- Yes

2. Do you support Medicaid expansion through Tennessee's health care programs?
- No

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

4. Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia?
- No

5. Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations?
- No

6. Other or expanded principles
- Healthcare should be available to all. Health insurance (not to be conflated with healthcare) should be available through the marketplace, competitively sold across state lines with portability from job to job. Moreover, subsidized high-risk, health insurance pools should be available where individual medical conditions justify such. Additionally, tax-sheltered, medical savings accounts and medical expense cooperatives should also be encouraged. Furthermore, healthcare costs can be further reduced with more tort reform in the medical malpractice arena. Fraud, waste and abuse in Medicaid must be vigorously pursued and eliminated. Beyond this, work requirements, where humanely feasible, should be instituted for Medicaid recipients.

Social

1. Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws?
- No

2. Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws?
- No

3. Do you support greater efforts by Tennessee state government in closing the pay gap between men and women?
- No

4. Should Tennessee permit localities to adopt "Sanctuary City" immigration policies?
- No

5. Other or expanded principles
- I have sponsored and co-sponsored a number of bills aimed at protecting religious liberties. One such bill last session required ordinary words such as mother, father, husband and wife to be used in our legal system without being distorted to match some radical agenda. I strongly support the First Amendment to the US Constitution and Article I, Section 3 of the Tennessee Constitution which guarantee freedom of conscience and religion at both the federal and state levels. Consequently, my advocacy for religious liberty is to craft constitutionally valid laws that will forestall the judiciary from legislating from the bench.

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. Building Tennessee's economy and jobs2. Improving education for our children3. Making smaller, more effective government4. Making government more open and responsive to its citizens5. Recognizing the important sacrifice of our nation's veterans 6. Supporting Second Amendment Rights and Tennessee Constitution, Article I, Section 267. Insuring that Tennessee remains one of the lowest debt and lowest taxed states in the US Funding to support these priorities, like all funding to support all legislation, must come from the revenue receipts of the state. I do not anticipate any increase in taxes to support these priorities.