North Dakota 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.
- X

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.
- No Answer

8. Other or expanded principles
- While I would not desire to have a family member endure the decision of an abortion, I do not believe it is right to remove the ability to have an abortion performed safely under the care of a physician. I am hesitant to support abortions after the second trimester, however I fully support a woman's right to seek an abortion if the decision is right for her. I encourage counseling before and after to ensure that the mother and/or family is given appropriate information and attention.

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)
- Greatly Increase

2. Education (K-12)
- Greatly Increase

3. Emergency preparedness
- Maintain Status

4. Environment
- Slightly Increase

5. Health care
- Slightly Increase

6. Law enforcement
- Maintain Status

7. Transportation and Highway infrastructure
- Slightly Increase

8. Welfare
- Maintain Status

9. Other or expanded categories
- North Dakota should restore 70% of K-12 funding to public schools to give property tax relief to our residents. Higher education should be funded in the form of making college affordable and encouraging graduates to stay in North Dakota. Environmental funding should be for energy investments and health care should be an affordable option for all families.

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
- Slightly Increase

2. Cigarette taxes
- Greatly Increase

3. Corporate taxes
- Maintain Status

4. Gasoline taxes
- Maintain Status

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

6. Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
- Maintain Status

7. Property taxes
- Slightly Decrease

8. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status

9. Vehicle taxes
- Maintain Status

10. Other or expanded categories
- Property tax reduction is done by increasing K-12 funding from the state and reducing the amount of money school districts need to levy via property taxes. A comprehensive tax evaluation should be conducted between our state and the Federal government to ensure that taxes do not place a heavier burden on lower income families.

11. Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
- Undecided

12. Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget?
- No

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

14. Other or expanded principles
- Rainy day funds should not be used to balance the budget, but investing a portion of North Dakota's annual income to a trust fund is an option I am open to explore. This endowment could then be used as an alternative source of funds for future operating expenses. I do not support the current initiated measure for creating an oil-tax trust fund, but would be more receptive of the idea with some alterations.

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 North Dakota governors?
- No

2. Do you support limiting the number of terms for North Dakota state senators and representatives?
- No

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

1. Individual
- Undecided

2. PAC
- Undecided

3. Corporate
- Yes

4. Political Parties
- Undecided

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 North Dakota participate in the federal REAL ID program?
- No

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

1. Other or expanded principles
- North Dakota does not currently have individual or PAC restrictions that are overbearing. Unless there is a substantial problem noted with the current system, I see no reason in making changes to state campaign financing. I am willing to re-examine this issue if it becomes a problem to North Dakota voters.

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 North Dakota.
- No Answer

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.
- X

5. Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
- X

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.
- X

9. Other or expanded principles
- The most extreme issue on this list is the decriminalization of marijuana. I believe that use and abuse of illegal drugs is wrong and should be punished. However, recreational use and carrying of small amounts of marijuana should not lead to serving time in a correctional facility. This leads to higher costs to society and can be better handled by alternative penalties to those found guilty.

Education

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

1. Support state funding of universal pre-K programs.
- X

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.
- 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.
- No Answer

7. Provide state funding to increase 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 North Dakota to pay in-state tuition at public universities.
- No Answer

11. Other or expanded principles
- I believe highly in making education affordable for all families within North Dakota. Standardized tests are difficult to administer and are biased to a majority of the students (while alienating a large minority with disabilities, alternative learning styles and backgrounds.) Merit pay systems encourage inflation of grades and take the attention away from the student's well-being.

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.
- X

2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector.
- No Answer

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.
- X

6. Include sexual orientation in North Dakota's anti-discrimination laws.
- X

7. Include gender identity in North Dakota's anti-discrimination laws.
- X

8. Increase the state minimum wage.
- X

9. Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will.
- X

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. Support Workforce Safety and Insurance remaining an independent entity.
- No Answer

14. Support giving the governor control of Workforce Safety and Insurance.
- X

15. Support giving the insurance commissioner control of Workforce Safety and Insurance.
- X

16. Other or expanded principles
- Many of these issues come with qualifiers and need further clarification. Child-care is an added expense that keeps many low and middle income parents from working full time. Welfare is a system that is necessary to assist under- and unemployed workers, but should be utilized as a means of properly placing workers back into the employment sector. I believe in creating jobs that pay a living wage, offer benefits and give families the opportunity to thrive and live happily within our state.

Environment and Energy

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.

1. Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
- X

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 North Dakota's power generating and transmission facilities.
- X

6. Support funding for open space preservation.
- X

7. Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
- X

8. Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
- X

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?
- Yes

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?
- Undecided

6. Other or expanded principles
- All Americans are born with the right to carry and operate firearms. I believe that this right should be preserved for those who have proven that they can safely operate a firearm and have not acted in a way to revoke this right. I believe that automatic firearms are excessive for civilian use, and understand that many of these questions do not differentiate between rifles and handguns. I reserve interpretation of my opinions, but believe that the fundamental right to purchase and carry firearms should be preserved, with some restrictions on types and subject to background checks.

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.
- No Answer

3. Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer

4. Allow patients to sue their HMOs.
- X

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 North Dakota.
- No Answer

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

8. Other or expanded principles
- I remain undecided on the issue of physician-assisted suicide in North Dakota.

Social

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

1. Should North Dakota recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- Yes

2. Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry?
- Yes

3. Should North Dakota provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples?
- Yes

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

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

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

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

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 North Dakota continue affirmative action programs?
- Yes

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

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

13. Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it?
- No

14. Other or expanded principles
- It is my belief that the term "marriage" is a religious recognition of a civil-union. I believe that we should recognize the legal union between two people, regardless of sex or gender. If the couple chooses to seek religious recognition of their union, then the decision remains in the hands of the religious institution and not up to the state. I believe that race and gender should not create penalty or advantage in hiring decisions, and remain undecided when affirmative action is considered in higher education. I currently lean to support the status quo on this issue.

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.
- I believe in the fundamental right that all Americans are entitled to a fair and proper education. As society demands more from our students, we should provide the resources to make obtaining a college degree possible for all citizens. We need to ensure living wage jobs are available for all workers and make health benefits an affordable option for all families. I would like to see innovation in our government for harnessing our current resources and promoting our state's interests across the country. North Dakota should preserve our land, become energy independent and explore alternatives to fund state programs.