Georgia 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?
- No

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

4. Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered?
- Yes

5. Should it be illegal to knowingly perform an abortion that is based on race, color, or gender discrimination?
- Yes

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

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

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

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

10. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Budget, Spending, and Tax

1. Education (higher)
- Slightly Increase

2. Education (K-12)
- Greatly Increase

3. Environment
- Maintain Status

4. Health care
- Slightly Decrease

5. Law enforcement
- Slightly Increase

6. Transportation and highway infrastructure
- Greatly Increase

7. Welfare
- Greatly Decrease

8. Other or expanded categories
- On K-12 Education spending, I have checked "greatly increase" since we have had to cut our spending in this area over the last 2 years. We have a sizable backfill needed to a point, once this is done, then we will need to look at any additional funding at that point.

1. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status

2. Cigarette taxes
- Maintain Status

3. Corporate taxes
- Greatly Decrease

4. Gasoline taxes
- Slightly Increase

5. Property taxes
- Greatly Decrease

6. Sales taxes
- Slightly Increase

7. Income taxes (low-income families)
- Eliminate

8. Income taxes (middle-income families)
- Eliminate

9. Income taxes (high-income families)
- Eliminate

10. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer

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

2. Increasing taxes on health insurance plans
- No

3. Issuing the early release of certain non-violent offenders
- No

4. Increasing tuition rates at public universities
- Yes

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

6. Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients
- Yes

7. Privatizing certain government services
- Yes

8. Selling Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) loans to private investors
- Yes

9. Other or expanded principles
- We have already depleted the "rainy day" fund and have sold some of the loans in the GEFA portfolio to balance the budget this year. As members of the General Assembly, we furloughed ourselves 12 days this year to help with the budget also.

Campaign Finance and Government Reform

1. Individual
- Yes

2. Political Action Committee
- Yes

3. Corporate
- Yes

4. Political Party
- No

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

1. Other or expanded principles
- I have watched some of our fellow southern states as they have implemented term limits for their legislators. Most have been huge failures since so much institutional knowledge is lost. It forces members to become leaders with little to no experience and the states are suffering from it. It also allows the bureaucrats to be the ones in control and further limits the power of the citizens to have input in their state.

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 substance abuse treatment?
- Yes

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

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
- No Answer

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?
- Yes

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?
- Yes

5. Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation?
- Yes

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

7. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

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?
- No Answer

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 Georgia high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities?
- No

7. Other or expanded principles
- I left C blank. I support the principle behind merit pay for teachers, but I have yet to see a formula that I feel is fair to the classroom teacher. When I do, then yes I will support it. On E, I support that using HOPE Lottery monies and limited other sources.

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 Georgia's energy infrastructure?
- No

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

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

7. Other or expanded principles
- On F, when I see sound science that points to climate change and global warming as something that man is causing and that is not something happening naturally, then I will consider it. As for support in the other areas, these should be enterprises that should be commercially viable and not rely on gov't support.

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
- On C, I support as long as the carrier is a concealed carry permit holder.

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?
- No Answer

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 Georgia?
- No

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

8. Other or expanded principles
- On B, it depends on the type of reform.

Social

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

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

3. Do you support state funding for stem cell research?
- Yes

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 Georgia's anti-discrimination laws?
- No

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

8. Other or expanded principles
- D is not clear enough to completely answer. Are we talking about from embryos terminated for the research, or stem cells taken from umbilical cord tissue? If from umbilical cord tissue and no one is harmed in its harvest, I have no problem with this research. If it causes the taking of a life for tissue harvest, then I am very opposed to this research.

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.
- Water supply and education (funding especially). Both will require considerable funding and I am currently researching methods and sources to fund both.