New Hampshire State Legislative Election 2008 Political Courage Test

Abortion

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

1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- X

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
- I am open to reasoned discussion when the life of the woman is endangered. The fear that this exception would become an abused loophole has caused a hardening of positions on this aspect of the issue. "Endangered" should mean a high probability of death or serious harm.

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)
- Maintain Status

2. Education (K-12)
- Maintain Status

3. Emergency preparedness
- Greatly Increase

4. Environment
- Maintain Status

5. Health care
- Maintain Status

6. Law enforcement
- Maintain Status

7. Transportation and Highway infrastructure
- Greatly Increase

8. Welfare
- Greatly Decrease

9. Other or expanded categories
- There are items within the various categories I might wish to increase or decrease. Whereas the question looked at the issues from an overarching view, the answers were similarily broad.

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
- Slightly Decrease

3. Corporate taxes
- Maintain Status

4. Gasoline taxes
- Slightly Decrease

5. Property taxes
- Greatly Decrease

6. Vehicle taxes
- Slightly Decrease

7. Other or expanded categories
- As the budget was increased 17.5% last session, I intend to look to trimming and waste elimination in many areas which should allow for a reduction in taxes.

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

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

10. Other or expanded principles
- CUT SPENDING !!!! Also, we need to prevent the bonding of expenses to balance the budget as occurred this past session. Also, in the private sector managers are required to manage, including increasing output while decreasing spending. Hold public sector managers to the same standards to which private sector managers are held.

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 New Hampshire governors?
- Yes

2. Do you support limiting the number of terms for New Hampshire state senators and representatives?
- Yes

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

1. Individual
- Yes

2. PAC
- Yes

3. Corporate
- Yes

4. Political Parties
- Yes

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. Should New Hampshire participate in the federal REAL ID program?
- Undecided

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

1. Other or expanded principles
- As someone who has worked to combat illegal immigration, I understand that a secure ID is a necessity in curbing this problem. I also understand that a secure ID is important to national security to protect us from those who would harm us. However, as someone who fears government intrusion on privacy and personal freedoms, I am concerned the existence of such an ID may lead to govermental abuses. Thus my being undecided on the issue.

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. Support the death penalty in New Hampshire.
- X

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

4. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- No Answer

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

6. Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
- X

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
- Relative to marijuana, I first would like to see medical uses legalized. Why? Because I asked doctors and most agreed. In more human terms, I could not stand beween a terminally ill person and something that would ease their pain. Relative to hate crimes, I believe "All men (and women) are created equal." Hates crime legislation creates classes of victims and makes "thoughts" an element of the crime. Actions, not thoughts, should be what people are punished for.

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).
- No Answer

3. Support state education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students.
- No Answer

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

8. Support using a merit pay system for teachers.
- X

9. Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
- No Answer

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

11. Other or expanded principles
- Local control of education should be the cornerstone of our educational system. Local school boards should decide. We also need to embrace results-oriented education techniques such as charter schools and move away from bureaucratic controls.

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.
- No Answer

4. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- No Answer

5. Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- No Answer

6. Include gender identity in New Hampshire's anti-discrimination laws.
- No Answer

7. Increase the state minimum wage.
- No Answer

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

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

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

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

12. 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.
- X

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

6. Support funding for open space preservation.
- X

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
- While I support environmental protection, it must be implemented using COMMON SENSE! Tax dollars should not be used to subsidize otherwise inefficient forms of energy generation. In addition, government should not be mandating programs that increase costs on an already overburdened taxpayer.

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?
- No

4. Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- No Answer

5. Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- No Answer

6. Other or expanded principles
- The choices for items D & E are inappropriate. "YES" means you support present levels, whereas "NO" doesn't discern whether you want "more" or "less" restriction. I lean toward LESS restrictions on the people's 2nd amendment rights.

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. 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.
- X

6. Legalize physician assisted suicide in New Hampshire.
- No Answer

7. Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
- X

8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Social

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

1. Should New Hampshire continue to recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- Undecided

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

3. Should New Hampshire 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?
- Undecided

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?
- No

10. Should New Hampshire continue affirmative action programs?
- No

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

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
- No Answer

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.
- The top priority for any New Hampshire legislator has to be the projected budget deficit which could reach as high as $400 million dollars. Last session's budget increase was an unconscionable and unsustainable 17.5%. Revenues, even after the bonding expense items, were still not sufficient. Thus rollbacks in expenses must happen. In addition, the $100 million additional cost of the lavish education adequacy definition cannot stand.