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Former Member, Hurricane Recovery Committee, Louisiana State Senate
Former Vice Chair, Select Committee on Disaster Recovery, Louisiana State Senate
Former Member, Select Committee on Veterans Affairs, Louisiana State Senate
Former Member, Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, Louisiana State Senate
Executive Officer, Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, 1992
Member, Commerce, Consumer Protection, and International Affairs Committee
Member, Joint Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay
Member, Judiciary C Committee
Chair, Labor and Industrial Relations Committee
Member, Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee
Member, Select Committee on Coastal Restoration and Flood Control
Member, Select Committee on Homeland Security
Member, Select Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs
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.
- X
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. Prohibit public funding of abortions and to organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
- No Answer
7. Other or expanded principles
- Although my personal belief are that abortions should not be used as a method for birth control and should only be used in cases of rape, incest or threat to the mother's life, I do not believe it is the role of government to make this decision. This decision should be left to the woman.
1. Agriculture
- Maintain Status
2. Arts
- Maintain Status
3. Defense
- Maintain Status
4. Education
- Greatly Increase
5. Environment
- Slightly Increase
6. Homeland security
- Slightly Increase
7. International aid
- Slightly Decrease
8. Law enforcement
- Greatly Increase
9. Medical research
- Slightly Increase
10. National parks
- Maintain Status
11. Public health services
- Greatly Increase
12. Scientific research
- Slightly Increase
13. Space exploration programs
- Slightly Decrease
14. Transportation and highway infrastructure
- Greatly Increase
15. Welfare
- Maintain Status
16. Emergency preparedness
- Slightly Increase
17. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer
1. Armed Forces personnel training
- Greatly Increase
2. Intelligence operations
- Slightly Increase
3. Military hardware
- Maintain Status
4. Modernization of weaponry and equipment
- Maintain Status
5. National missile defense
- Maintain Status
6. Pay for active duty personnel
- Greatly Increase
7. Programs to improve troop retention rates
- Maintain Status
8. Research and development of new weapons
- Maintain Status
9. Troop and equipment readiness
- Greatly Increase
10. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer
1. Less than $25,000
- Slightly Decrease
2. $25,000-$75,000
- Maintain Status
3. $75,000-$150,000
- Maintain Status
4. Over $150,000
- Slightly Increase
5. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer
1. Over $40,000
- Slightly Decrease
2. Other or expanded categories
- Repeal the current tax cut with primarily favors corporations and the wealthiest Americans.
1. Alcohol taxes
- Slightly Increase
2. Capital gains taxes
- Maintain Status
3. Cigarette taxes
- Greatly Increase
4. Corporate taxes
- Slightly Increase
5. Gasoline taxes
- Maintain Status
6. Inheritance taxes
- Maintain Status
7. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer
1. Charitable contributions
- Slightly Increase
2. Child tax credit
- Slightly Increase
3. Earned income tax credit
- Slightly Increase
4. Medical expense deduction
- Slightly Increase
5. Mortgage deduction
- Maintain Status
6. Student loan credit
- Slightly Increase
7. Other or expanded categories
- No Answer
1. Do you support the permanent repeal of the federal estate tax?
- No
2. Do you support making President Bush's tax cuts permanent?
- No
3. Discuss your proposals for balancing the federal budget. (75 words or less. Please use an attached page if the space below is not adequate.)
- Repeal President Bush's tax cut for the wealthiest American and enact budget reforms, which would properly balance foreign and domestic spending programs.
4. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Support public taxpayer funding for federal candidates who comply with campaign spending limits.
- X
2. Increase the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns.
- X
3. Prohibit Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions to candidates for federal office.
- No Answer
4. Allow unregulated soft money campaign contributions to political parties or committees.
- No Answer
5. Remove all contribution limits on federal campaigns and parties.
- No Answer
6. Require Section 527 organizations to register with the Federal Election Commission as Political Action Committees.
- X
7. Do you support instant run-off voting?
- No Answer
8. Should Election Day be a national holiday?
- No
9. Do you support a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between a man and woman?
- No
10. Other or expanded principles
- While it is my personal belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, I do believe in domestic partnerships for all citizens. I do not believe this is a matter on which the government, especially the federal government should legislate.
1. Support the use of the death penalty for federal crimes.
- No Answer
2. Eliminate the use of the death penalty for federal crimes.
- No Answer
3. Support programs to provide prison inmates with educational, vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- X
4. Support programs to provide prison inmates with drug and alcohol addiction treatment.
- X
5. Reduce prison sentences for those who commit non-violent crimes.
- No Answer
6. Require that crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, and disability be prosecuted as federal hate crimes.
- X
7. Impose stricter penalties for those convicted of corporate crimes.
- X
8. Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
- No Answer
9. Other or expanded principles
- Sex offenders and child sex offenders should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible under the United States Constitution.
1. Support mandatory jail sentences for selling illegal drugs.
- X
2. Expand federally sponsored drug education and drug treatment programs.
- X
3. Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
- No Answer
4. Allow doctors to recommend marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
- X
5. Increase border security to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.
- X
6. Eliminate federal funding for programs associated with the "war on drugs."
- No Answer
7. Support a federal law to standardize testing and penalties for steroid use in professional sports.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- Strengthen enforcement for major illegal drug producers in order to attack drugs at the source. Additionally increase efforts in drug education, and other anti-drug initiatives, particularly in early education.
1. Support national standards for and testing of public school students.
- No Answer
2. Allow parents to use vouchers, (equal opportunity scholarships) to send their children to any public school.
- X
3. Allow parents to use vouchers, (equal opportunity scholarships) to send their children to any private or religious school.
- No Answer
4. Allow teachers and professionals to receive authorization and funding to establish charter schools.
- X
5. Reward teachers with merit pay for working in low-income schools.
- X
6. Increase funding for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings, infrastructure, technology).
- X
7. Support affirmative action in public college admissions.
- X
8. Increase funding of programs such as Pell grants and Stafford loans to help students pay for college.
- X
9. Support federal tax incentives to help families save for college.
- X
10. Other or expanded principles
- The federal government must increase its financial investment and devote more political capital to improving education.
1. Increase funding for national job-training programs that re-train displaced workers or teach skills needed in today's job market.
- X
2. Reduce government regulation of the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- X
3. Provide tax credits or grants to businesses that offer child care services to employees.
- X
4. Encourage employers to offer flex-time scheduling, comp-time, and unpaid leave for family emergencies.
- X
5. Eliminate all federal programs designed to reduce unemployment.
- No Answer
6. Increase the federal minimum wage.
- X
7. Support the right of workers to strike without fear of being permanently replaced.
- X
8. Include sexual orientation in federal anti-discrimination laws.
- X
9. Other or expanded principles
- Such programs should be are vitally important and should be targeted to qualififed persons and businesses where a history of discrimination has been documented.
1. The federal government should consider race and gender in government contracting decisions.
- No Answer
2. The federal government should discontinue affirmative action programs.
- No Answer
3. The federal government should continue affirmative action programs.
- X
4. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Strengthen the regulation and enforcement of the Clean Water Act.
- X
2. Strengthen the regulation and enforcement of the Clean Air Act.
- X
3. Support Clear Skies Act to reduce power plant emissions by setting a national cap on pollutants.
- X
4. Require states to compensate citizens when environmental regulations limit uses of privately-owned land.
- No Answer
5. Relax logging restrictions on federal lands.
- No Answer
6. Relax standards on federal lands to allow increased recreational usage.
- No Answer
7. Support increased development of traditional energy resources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil).
- X
8. Strengthen emission controls and fuel efficiency standards on all gasoline and diesel-powered engines, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles.
- X
9. Support opening a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration.
- No Answer
10. Encourage further development and use of alternative fuels to reduce pollution.
- X
11. Support the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel.
- X
12. Allow energy producers to trade pollution credits.
- X
13. Support the Kyoto Protocol to limit global warming.
- No Answer
14. Other or expanded principles
- We must recognize the importance of and protect our environment. It is essential that the United States lead through example not only at home but in the world arena.
1. Reauthorize the ban on the sale or transfer of semi-automatic guns, except those used for hunting.
- No Answer
2. Maintain and strengthen the current level of enforcement of existing federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- X
3. Ease federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
4. Repeal federal restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
5. Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
- No Answer
6. Require background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows.
- X
7. Require a license for gun possession.
- X
8. Other or expanded principles
- While government should respect the rights of able, law-abiding citizens to possess firearms, government has an equal, if not greater obligation to ensure that strong regulations are in place to protect the American public from criminals and others who can be demonstrated should not carry firearms.
1. Providing health care is not a responsibility of the federal government.
- No Answer
2. Implement a universal health care program to guarantee coverage to all Americans regardless of income.
- X
3. Expand eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts.
- X
4. Establish limits on the amount of punitive damages awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer
5. Support expanding prescription drug coverage under Medicare.
- X
6. Offer tax credits to individuals and small businesses to offset the cost of insurance coverage.
- X
7. Support automatic enrollment of children in federal health care programs such as CHIP and Medicaid.
- X
8. Support stem cell research on existing lines of stem cells.
- X
9. Allow laboratories to create new lines of stem cells for additional research.
- No Answer
10. Other or expanded principles
- Health care costs are becoming unaffordable for our middle class. The federal government must address the urgent need to improving health care coverage, including prescription drug benefits, for every citizen.
1. Decrease the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country.
- X
2. Establish English as the official national language.
- X
3. Support a temporary worker program that would enable illegal immigrants to work in the United States legally.
- No Answer
4. Relax restrictions barring legal immigrants from using government funded social programs (e.g. public housing, food stamps).
- No Answer
5. Support amnesty for illegal immigrants already working in the United States.
- No Answer
6. Other or expanded principles
- There are some merits to considering proposals for an amnesty program for illegal immigrants who meet certain conditions. However, any such program must not be applied retroactively. All illegal aliens must first apply for reentry in accordance with provisions of the law.
1. Aid should be granted to countries when extraordinary circumstances cause disaster and threaten civilian lives.
- X
2. Aid should be granted to countries when it is in the security interests of the United States.
- X
3. Aid should be eliminated for any nation with documented human rights abuses.
- X
4. International Aid programs should be scaled back and eventually eliminated.
- No Answer
5. Other or expanded principles
- As the only remaining Superpower, the United States has the obligation and responsibility to provide leadership and guidance in concert with our international partners.
1. Should the United States continue to provide leadership in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process?
- Yes
2. Should the United States support the creation of a Palestinian state?
- Yes
3. Should the United States withdraw its troops from Iraq?
- Yes
4. Should the United States send more troops to Iraq?
- No
5. Discuss your proposals for an exit strategy in Iraq. (75 words or less. Please use an attached page if the space below is not adequate.)
- Our plan should be to immediately institute an plan accelerating focus on providing training for Iraqi forces to police themselves, and the establishment for a corresponding firm schedule for the withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces.
6. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Should the United States use diplomatic and economic pressure to encourage North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program?
- Yes
2. Should the United States use military force to dismantle the North Korean nuclear weapons program?
- No
3. Should the United States remove the North Korean government from power?
- No
4. Should the United States increase financial support to Afghanistan?
- No
5. Should the United States increase military support to Afghanistan?
- Yes
6. Other or expanded principles
- The United States should exhaust all diplomatic resources and tools, including the United Nations before engaging in the use of military force.
1. Should the United States maintain its financial support of the United Nations?
- Yes
2. Should the United States decrease its financial support of the United Nations?
- No
3. Should the United States commit troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions?
- Yes
4. Other or expanded principles
- Federal government policy must include an articulated and consistent approach to issues vital to international interests, domestic security and humanitarian causes.
5. Should the United States lift the travel ban to Cuba?
- No
6. Should the United States increase its financial support to Colombia to combat "the war on drugs?"
- Yes
7. Should aid to African nations for AIDS prevention programs fund distribution of contraceptives?
- Yes
8. Should aid to African nations for AIDS prevention programs fund abstinence education?
- Yes
1. Do you support the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)?
- Yes
2. Do you support the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)?
- Yes
3. Do you support the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)?
- Undecided
4. Do you support continued U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO)?
- Yes
5. Should a nation's human rights record affect its normal trade relations (most favored nation) status with the United States?
- Yes
6. Do you support the trade embargo against Cuba?
- Yes
7. Should trade agreements include provisions to address environmental concerns and to protect workers' rights?
- Yes
8. Other or expanded principles
- As the economy becomes more global, it is imperative that Amrica remains competitive and a full partner in world trade negotiations. However, any trade agreeement must maintain the security of American jobs and protection of wages. Also, we cannot trade economic interests for human rights and must insist that fair trade include fair consideration for human and employee rights.
1. Do you support using military tribunals to try suspected terrorists when ordinary civilian courts are deemed inappropriate or impractical?
- Yes
2. Should the United States grant law enforcement agencies greater discretion to read mail and email, tap phones, and conduct random searches to prevent future terrorist attacks?
- No
3. Should the United States hold foreign states accountable for terrorists who operate in their country?
- Yes
4. Should the federal government increase funding to states and cities for homeland security?
- Yes
5. Do you support the prohibition of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of prisoners in U.S. custody?
- Yes
6. Do you support a policy of pre-emptive military strikes against countries deemed to be a threat to U.S. national security?
- No
7. Other or expanded principles
- As the United States continues its war on terroism, it is vitally important that we maintain basic Americn ideas and rights. Pursuit of security cannot compromise the rights granted our citizens by the Constitution.
1. Allow workers to invest a portion of their payroll tax in private accounts which they manage themselves.
- X
2. Allow workers to invest a portion of their payroll tax in private accounts managed by private firms contracted by the government.
- X
3. Invest a portion of Social Security assets collectively in stocks and bonds instead of United States Treasury securities.
- No Answer
4. Increase the payroll tax to better finance Social Security in its current form.
- No Answer
5. Lower the annual cost-of-living increases.
- No Answer
6. Raise the retirement age for individual eligibility to receive full Social Security benefits.
- No Answer
7. Other of expanded principles
- We must stop government raids of the system. Social Security is a promise made to every American who pays into the system and we must honor this committment.
1. Collect taxes on commercial Internet transactions.
- No Answer
2. Continue the moratorium on Internet taxation.
- X
3. Implement government regulation of Internet content.
- No Answer
4. Support government mandates to curtail violent and sexual content on television.
- X
5. Support strict penalties for Internet crimes (e.g. hacking, identity theft, worms/viruses).
- X
6. Support legislation to detail how personal information can be collected and used on the Internet.
- No Answer
7. Regulating the Internet is not a responsibility of the federal government.
- X
8. Other or expanded principles
- Technology must be supported to encourage it to flourish However, the federal government should be the arbiter of internet content. We must give parents the tools necessary to limit access to sites inappropriate for children.
1. Require welfare recipients to spend at least 40 hours a week in a combination of work and training programs.
- X
2. Increase funding for child care programs.
- X
3. Continue to give states and local governments flexibility in and responsibility for welfare programs through federal block grants.
- X
4. Direct federal poverty aid through religious, community-based, or other non-profit organizations.
- No Answer
5. Abolish all federal welfare programs.
- No Answer
6. Support housing assistance for welfare recipients.
- X
7. Other or expanded principles
- The federal govenment needs to establish a safety net to ensure every American has the basic necessities of life. We must begin to include inititates in affordable, quality child care and, when needed, parenting skills training to assist successful transition from welfare to the working environment.
On an attached page, disk, or via email, please explain in a total of 75 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.
- RECOVERYOne of the lessons we have learned from Hurricane Katrina is just how unprepared all levels of government are when responding to a catastrophic, natural or man-made disaster. Further, when such events result in long-term recovery, there are no long-term recovery policy, plans or agencies sufficiently funded, or staffed to effectively and efficiently assist local communities in their recovery and rebuilding. Certainly present climate changes and threats of terrorism should mandate the creation and implementation of this type of initiative that may be funded through elimination of financial, personnel and material waste seen in the current method of disaster response.
HEALTH CAREProviding affordable health care, including prescritption drug benefits, remains a pressing concern for many Americans and will be increasing in importance as "Baby Boom" era Americans continue to grow older.
EDUCATIONCreating an environment where education is valued and properly supported at all levels of government and by every level of society is critical to the growth of the nation. The federal government must incrase its financial investment and devote more political capital to improving education, especially access to quality education in low-income neighborhoods.
Type: bill Chamber: upper
Type: resolution Chamber: upper
Type: resolution Chamber: upper
