Eric Lusk's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Eric Lusk has refused to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2016 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.
Maine State Legislative Election 2008 Political Courage Test
The Political Courage Test asks candidates which items they will support if elected. It does not ask them to indicate which items they will oppose. Through extensive research of public polling data, we discovered that voters are more concerned with what candidates would support when elected to office, not what they oppose. If a candidate does not select a response to any part or all of any question, it does not necessarily indicate that the candidate is opposed to that particular item.
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding abortion.
| a) Abortions should always be illegal. | |||
| b) Abortions should always be legal. | |||
| c) Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy. | |||
| d) Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape. | |||
| e) Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered. | |||
| f) Abortions should be subject to a mandatory waiting period. | |||
| g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors. | |||
| Let's enforce the laws that are currently on the books. I believe a woman should have the right to choose and I don't see the value in churning up the legislative clock on the Abortion Issue. | |||
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.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.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (Higher) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Emergency preparedness | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Environment | ||
| e) Health care | |||
| Slightly Increase | f) Law enforcement | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Increase | i) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000) | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000) | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Sales taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Vehicle taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | j) Other or expanded categories | ||
| No | 1) Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales? | ||
| Undecided | 2) Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget? | ||
| Undecided | 3) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget? | ||
| Undecided | 4) Should state funding to local school districts be reduced to help balance the state budget? | ||
| Railways and bus systems. Expanded Point on Healthcare -- Allow people to purchase healthcare policies outside the state of Maine. That would end forcible domicile within Maine, meaning a Maine resident can purchase a policy issued from another state. This would serve to increase income tax receipts as insurance premiums would go lower. | |||
| Maine is in no position to increase or decrease | |||
| The "Rainy Day" fund is there for unexpected circumstance -- that time could be around the corner and I want legislators to struggle before spending those funds. The Legislature should balance the budget. Fee increases based upon inflation are understandable. New fees are very difficult to justify. That is a school consolidation-related question. Cutting administration needs to be seriously considered. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding campaign finance and government reform.c) Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative candidates?
| Yes | a) Do you support the current limit of terms for Maine governors? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the current limit of terms for Maine state senators and representatives? | ||
| Yes | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) PAC | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| Yes | 4) Political Parties | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| Undecided | e) Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns? | ||
| Undecided | f) Should Maine participate in the federal REAL ID program? | ||
| Support to legislative races skirts First Amendment issues. I'd need more specific data to give more specific answers. Maine needs to have a meaningful ID program so Maine ID's are accepted nationally. Maine also needs Fed funding for highways. Best not to get too rigid on this topic. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime.
| a) Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff. | |||
| b) Establish the death penalty in Maine. | |||
| X | c) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released. | ||
| X | d) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders. | ||
| e) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults. | |||
| X | f) Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws. | ||
| X | g) Support hate crime legislation. | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.
| a) Support state funding of universal pre-K programs. | |||
| b) Support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students (No Child Left Behind). | |||
| X | c) Support state education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students. | ||
| X | d) Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams. | ||
| X | e) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school. | ||
| f) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school. | |||
| g) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries. | |||
| X | h) Support using a merit pay system for teachers. | ||
| X | i) Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable. | ||
| j) Support allowing illegal immigrant high school graduates of Maine to pay in-state tuition at public universities. | |||
| Make employer tuition assitance for college completely tax-free for students. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment.
| X | a) Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers and teach skills needed in todays job market. | ||
| X | b) Reduce state government regulations on the private sector. | ||
| X | c) Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses. | ||
| X | d) Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families. | ||
| X | e) Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families. | ||
| f) Increase the state minimum wage. | |||
| g) Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will. | |||
| X | h) Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants. | ||
| X | i) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients. | ||
| X | j) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients. | ||
| Guaranteeing a minimum wage does not guarantee a job. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.
| X | a) Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology. | ||
| X | b) Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil, etc). | ||
| c) Support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops. | |||
| X | d) Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned. | ||
| X | e) Support funding for improvements to Maine's power generating and transmission facilities. | ||
| X | f) Support funding for open space preservation. | ||
| X | g) Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming. | ||
| h) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law. | |||
| For the time being, lets enforce the laws on the books for environmental code. Maine is an awfully difficult state for doing business. Let's encourage business to stay put, or move here, while utilizing existing law. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.
| Undecided | a) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Undecided | b) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | ||
| Undecided | c) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| I have to know more about existing laws to speak to background checks between private citizens and gun shows in Maine. Something about background checks between private citizens sounds too intrusive. What works in Portland may not work in other parts of the state. Permitting concealed weapons varies from state to state. Need more info. Requiring a license for rifles is one issue, handguns is another. Both are types of guns but require two types of answers, and age could enter in my position. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health.
| X | a) Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary. | ||
| b) Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government. | |||
| c) Support Dirigo Health in Maine. | |||
| X | d) Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits. | ||
| X | e) Allow patients to sue their HMOs. | ||
| X | f) Require hospitals and labs to release reports on infections that are a risk to public health, while not compromising patient confidentiality. | ||
| g) Legalize physician assisted suicide in Maine. | |||
| h) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes. | |||
| Medicinal marijuana is allowable by state law. Given various other pressing issues, that law does not merit much attention. | |||
['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']
| Undecided | a) Should Maine recognize civil unions between same-sex couples? | ||
| Undecided | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry? | ||
| Undecided | c) Should Maine provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support a moment of silence in public schools? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support voluntary prayer in public schools? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods? | ||
| No | g) Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs? | ||
| No | h) Should the state government consider race and gender in state government contracting and hiring decisions? | ||
| No | i) Do you support affirmative action in public college admissions? | ||
| Undecided | j) Should Maine continue affirmative action programs? | ||
| No | k) Do you support state funding of stem cell research? | ||
| No | l) Do you support state funding of embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| No | m) Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it? | ||
| I intend to comply with existing law should Maine have existing affirmative action programs in place. I do not propose to outlaw stem cell research of any type -- but I do not believe the state government should be getting into that business. In my view, if a state allows for emergency contraception the pharmacist is obligated to dispense it. | |||
| Specifics matter. Advocating for cheaper healthcare or more jobs means nothing without specifics. Allow Mainers to purchase health insurance outside of Maine. Virtually identical healthcare policies in New Hampshire cost 55% of their cost in Maine. Reducing insurance premiums raises state income and sales tax receipts. Drill for Natural Gas off Maine's coast and use the royalties given ME to fund State-funded tax credit for renewable and lower-fossil fuel applications. Use Natural Gas as the bridge to Alternative Energy. Insulation, solar, etc. Revitalize rail -- passenger and freight. Require organizational review before replacing state employees -- this would cut costs. | |||
Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any campaign activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.