Michigan State Legislative Election 2014 Political Courage Test

Abortion & Reproductive

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

2. Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy?
- No

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?
- No

6. Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor?
- No

7. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures?
- No

8. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions?
- No

9. Other or expanded principles
- This is intensely personal --the government should stay out of it.

Budget, Spending, & Tax

1. Education (higher)
- Maintain Status

2. Education (K-12)
- Maintain Status

3. Environment
- Maintain Status

4. Health care
- Maintain Status

5. Law enforcement/corrections
- Maintain Status

6. Transportation/infrastructure
- Greatly Increase

7. Welfare
- Maintain Status

8. Other or expanded categories
- Advocate a 2% tax and spend hike-all roads. Require colleges to operate at 1975 cost level adjusted for inflation. Visit my website paulsecrestforstatesenate.com for my seventeen issues.There may be some savings for colleges, prisons, and health care. These should be spent on pre k-12 education, and the rainy day fund. Federal spending will collapse when interest rates return to average levels--all states will need a safety net.

1. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status

2. Cigarette taxes
- Maintain Status

3. Corporate taxes
- Maintain Status

4. Gas/Oil taxes
- Greatly Increase

5. Property taxes
- Maintain Status

6. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status

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

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

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

10. Other or expanded principles
- See above--maintain status quo except for a road tax--$.30/gallon, registration the same--index gas tax for inflation. There also must be a clause adding a little per gallon every time the average mileage of Michigan's car fleet increases. This is the lowest cost way to maintain roads. It allows the optimal asphalt/concrete mix. Current funding allows for only high cost emergency fixes. All other state taxes are naturally indexed for inflation-it is incredible the gas tax was not indexed for inflation long ago.

1. Tapping into Michigan's "rainy day" fund
- No

2. Increasing tuition rates at public universities
- No

3. Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining
- No

4. Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions
- No

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

6. Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients
- No

7. Other or expanded principles
- We are currently running a surplus. Unlike the Federal government, Michigan must balance its budget. While I indicated "no", I am not in favor of raising any taxes except the gas tax, which conceivably put all the items above -none are off-limits in an emergency-I will make cuts before raising any taxes except the gas tax.

8. Do you support providing financial assistance to Detroit's city pension system from the State of Michigan's "rainy day" fund?
- No

Campaign Finance & 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?
- Yes

6. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes

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

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

9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Crime & 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 substance abuse treatment?
- Yes

3. Do you support legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana?
- Yes

4. Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult?
- Yes

5. Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges?
- Yes

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

7. Other or expanded principles
- We need the toughest E-verify (employers must confirm they are employing citizens) in the nation. The legislature needs to mimic Missouri--it passed a series of tough measures in 2009, and has been able to hold onto its working class jobs.

Economic

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

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

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

4. Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation?
- No

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

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

7. Do you support an increase of the minimum wage?
- Yes

8. Other or expanded principles
- Minimum wage-states must be careful with the minimum wage or they offshore jobs or invite illegal labor. States need federal help to get the minimum wage raised to $13/hour--US productivity will allow the increase. Will propose:1) immediate raise to $9/hour.2) raise to $11/hour if federal government reduces the number of people in the country from 11 million to 250,000.3) raise to $13/hour if the government establishes a wealthy nation free trade zone (EU, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zeeland) with a 40% tariffs reviewed every five years. Reduced as other countries become more prosperous.

Education

1. Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative?
- Yes

2. Do you support a merit pay system for teachers?
- No

3. Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers?
- Yes

4. Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school?
- No

5. Do you support state funding for charter schools?
- No

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

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

8. Other or expanded principles
- Time will tell with Common Core. Just went to parent night and social studies is trying it. Not sure the average teacher will be able to teach it--it is a difficult concept to teach. The state has a very good overall k-12 education system. Michigan has the 14th best combined ACT/SAT scores--Deseret News June 2012.Massive schools of choice and for profit charter schools are upending the system. 48 districts are in financial trouble--just clawing students from each other.Ask a supporter of competition in k-12 education how it can possibly make sense.

Environment & 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 state funding for improvements to Michigan's energy infrastructure?
- No

4. Do you support state funding for open space preservation?
- Yes

5. Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions?
- No

6. Other or expanded principles
- See preserving farmland in my website. Preserve 75% of farmland south of Clare, MI through a constitutional amendment.You cannot predict technology. Companies are spending billions to convert the huge, brand new natural gas import facilities into export facilities because of fracking.The green lobby is never satisfied. Carbon dioxide has been reduced by 97% at coal plants, so the EPA rewards the industry with new regulations which will eliminate new coal power plant construction.See my Great Lakes Ice cover graph (30 years of data) under my government subsidies tab.

Gun

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

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

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

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

5. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Health

1. Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option?
- Yes

2. Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform?
- No

3. Do you support interstate health insurance compacts?
- No

4. Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act?
- Yes

5. Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance?
- Yes

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

7. Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes?
- Yes

8. Other or expanded principles
- We are quickly moving towards a single payer system. Obamacare simply recognized that the cost of health care was a problem. It is not addressing costs and is essentially unfunded. The employer penalties do not come close to the cost of the subsidies. We must attack the costs one by one starting with malpractice-take lawyers entirely out of the system.America's health care cost are double Europe and triple Japan's and we live 5 and 9 years less.Health care costs will be addressed in a few years. Employers will dump health care and interest rates will rise.

Social

1. Do you support same-sex marriage?
- No

2. Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions?
- Yes

3. Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Michigan's anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes

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

5. Other or expanded principles
- Same sex marriage should be decided by the voters in a Presidential election year. We live in a democracy-judges should not be overriding voters on clear cut issues like affirmative action and same-sex marriage.

Legislative Priorities

In the following area, on an attached page, or via e-mail, 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.
- Schools-Oppose any expansion of charter schools or school choice. Competition makes better sports teams, and in some cases, business make better and cheaper products, but it doesn't work in K-12 education. Students live in districts, schools exist in communities and there is an existing teacher pool-have not heard a good competition case.Roads-$.30/gallon gas tax hike and then indexed for inflation-keep registration costs the same. I have talked to top Oakland County Road Commission officials-they are efficient businesspeople.Working class jobs-need strongest E-verify (employers must verify citizenship) in the nation. 20,000 of the district's 30,000 manual labor jobs are vulnerable.