West Virginia State Legislative Election 2010 Political Courage Test

Abortion and Reproductive

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

2. Should abortion be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy?
- Yes

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?
- Yes

6. Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor?
- Yes

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

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

9. Other or expanded principles
- G) I answer No to this question because I am worried that these abstinence, contraceptives and HIV/STD methods/programs might be taught to grade school children, and that would not be appropriate.

Budget, Spending, and Tax

1. Education (higher)
- Maintain Status

2. Education (K-12)
- Maintain Status

3. Environment
- Maintain Status

4. Health care
- Maintain Status

5. Law enforcement
- Slightly Increase

6. Transportation and highway infrastructure
- Maintain Status

7. Welfare
- Greatly Decrease

8. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer

1. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status

2. Cigarette taxes
- Maintain Status

3. Corporate taxes
- Slightly Decrease

4. Gasoline taxes
- Slightly Decrease

5. Property taxes
- Slightly Decrease

6. Sales taxes
- Slightly Decrease

7. Income taxes (low-income families)
- Maintain Status

8. Income taxes (middle-income families)
- Maintain Status

9. Income taxes (high-income families)
- Maintain Status

10. Other or expanded categories
- Slightly Decrease

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

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

3. Increasing tuition rates at public universities
- No

4. Instituting mandatory furloughs and layoffs for state employees
- Yes

5. Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients
- No

6. Privatizing certain government services
- Yes

7. Other or expanded principles
- I answered yes to letter "b" only if they were not repeat offenders. I interpreted the question as a first time offender only.

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?
- No

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 drug/alcohol treatment?
- No

3. Should the possession of small amounts of marijuana be decriminalized?
- No

4. Should minors accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as adults?
- Yes

5. Should minors who send 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
- I answered no to letter "e" because of the interpretation of the word sexually-explicit.

Economic

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

2. Do you support stricter safety regulations for the mining industry?
- No

3. Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers?
- No

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

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?
- No

7. Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure?
- No

8. Other or expanded principles
- f) I answered no because government creates no wealth of its own. Everything it has, it has to get from you and me, one way or another. Government can tax, can borrow money, and finally, it can inflate by means of credit-market manipulation. Government cannot create jobs by spending money, period.

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?
- Yes

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

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

6. Should illegal immigrants who graduate from West Virginia high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities?
- No

7. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Environment and Energy

1. Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy?
- No

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?
- No

4. Do you support state funding for improvements to West Virginia's energy infrastructure?
- No

5. Do you support state funding for open space preservation?
- No

6. Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change?
- No

7. Other or expanded principles
- e) Each property owner in WV pays an assessment on their property tax bill for farmland preservation. As a taxpayer, I am already subsidizing open space preservation by paying a fee on my property tax bill each year. I do not support any additional state funding by the taxpayers of WV.

Gun

1. Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- No

2. Do you support requiring background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
- No

3. Do you support allowing individuals to carry concealed guns?
- Yes

4. Do you support requiring a license for gun possession?
- No

5. Other or expanded principles
- I strongly believe in gun rights and gun ownership, and I will never be persuaded to give them up for any reason.

Health

1. Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option?
- No

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?
- No

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

6. Do you support legalizing physician-assisted suicide in West Virginia?
- No

7. Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes?
- No

8. Do you support increasing West Virginia's tax on beer to expand substance abuse programs?
- No

9. Other or expanded principles
- a) I do not support government mandated health insurance. Anyone who thinks a government takeover of the health-care system will improve quality of care has only to look at the health-care programs that the government already runs: The Veterans Administration is overwhelmed with problems, Medicaid is notorious for providing poor quality at a high cost, and Medicare has huge gaps in coverage.

Social

1. Should marriage only be between one man and one woman?
- Yes

2. Should West Virginia allow same-sex couples to form civil unions?
- No

3. Do you support state funding for stem cell research?
- No Answer

4. Do you support state funding for embryonic stem cell research?
- No

5. Do you support the state's use of affirmative action?
- No

6. Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in West Virginia's anti-discrimination laws?
- No

7. Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in West Virginia's anti-discrimination laws?
- No

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.
- Throughout my campaign, I have made a series of promises: prevent wasteful spending, reducing the size of our state government, and reduce the tax burden on the citizens and businesses of this state. I am firmly committed to these promises and will fight hard for all WV residents. My message is simple: I will not be part of that mentality that just keeps spending our money without worrying how the bills are going to be paid. Together we will protect our interests, and together we will put a stop to the out of control spending in Charleston.