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Randy Jackson's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

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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.

Randy Jackson refused to tell citizens where he stands on any of the issues addressed in the 2010 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart, national media, and prominent political leaders.

What is the Political Courage Test?
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.

Colorado 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.
X d) Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
X e) Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
f) Abortions should be subject to a mandatory waiting period.
X g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
h) Other or expanded principles

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.

a) Education (Higher)
b) Education (K-12)
c) Emergency preparedness
d) Environment
e) Health care
f) Law enforcement
g) Transportation and highway infrastructure
h) Welfare
Maintain Status a) Alcohol taxes
Maintain Status b) Cigarette taxes
Eliminate c) Corporate taxes
Eliminate d) Gasoline taxes
Eliminate e) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
Eliminate f) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
Greatly Increase g) Sales taxes
Maintain Status h) Vehicle taxes
Yes 1) Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
Yes 2) Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget?
No 3) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
I understand the first order of business is to reduce the unnecessary bureaucratic friction, which is dragging down our economic advancement and leaving precious little for our public support systems. I stand for promoting the fair and equal opportunity for all Coloradoans to succeed under the economic justice of balanced government.
I stand for moving to a sales and excise tax model. We should use more fees or user-fees to fund the remuneration of services, but they should be transparent enough so as to not become political smokescreens for additional taxes. For example, I stand for abolishing the motor fuel tax and moving the funding of public roads to a tolling system.
Ideally we should not use "rainy day" funds to balance the state budget, but then again, what else are they for? As stated above; any fees or user-fees should fund the remuneration of services, but be transparent enough so as to not become political smokescreens for additional taxes.

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 Colorado governors?
Yes b) Do you support the current limit of terms for Colorado state senators and representatives?
No 1) Individual
No 2) PAC
No 3) Corporate
No 4) Political Parties
Yes d) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
No e) Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns?
No f) Should Colorado participate in the federal REAL ID program?
Funding a campaign falls under the freedom of speech. The goal of a campaign is to get a message out to improve the likelihood of getting elected. Limiting campaign funding is really just limiting the message and limiting the message is in essence limiting the freedom of speech. Nothing can be said or done, which will be beneficial to a campaign, unless the citizens can be persuaded to believe it. However, purchasing a political puppet is a different story, but so is a politician purchasing voters by promising them entitlements from the public treasury.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime.

X a) Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff.
X b) Support the death penalty in Colorado.
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.
X 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.
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.
X f) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
X g) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
X h) Support using a merit pay system for teachers.
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 Colorado to pay in-state tuition at public universities.
k) Other or expanded principles

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment.

a) Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers and teach skills needed in today's job market.
X b) Reduce state government regulations on the private sector.
c) Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
d) Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families.
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.
j) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
X k) Prohibit union membership and dues being a condition of employment (right-to-work laws).
l) Other or expanded principles

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 Colorado's power generating and transmission facilities.
f) Support funding for open space preservation.
g) Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
h) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
I support using the severance tax for environmental clean up. I support restructuring the system by moving the charges from a flat rate to a percentage of the present value being extracted. I also support streamlining the appropriation of the severance taxes by distributing it to agencies and local communities based on their allotted percentage stemming from predetermined parameters.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.

Yes a) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
Yes b) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns?
No c) Should a license be required for gun possession?
No d) Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
No e) Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
I think Amendment 22 needs to be revisted and repair the faulty definitions in the gun show regulation law. I support leaving the background checks up to the FBI's "Instant Check" system and would support it to include mental illnesses.

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.
X c) Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
X d) Allow patients to sue their HMOs.
X e) Require hospitals and labs to release reports on infections that are a risk to public health, while not compromising patient confidentiality.
f) Legalize physician assisted suicide in Colorado.
g) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
h) Other or expanded principles

['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']

No a) Should Colorado recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
No b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry?
No c) Should Colorado 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?
Yes 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?
No j) Should Colorado 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?
Homosexuality is a sexual orientation. If any sexual orientation deserves vested rights under civil law then incest, bestiality, and adultery would all be deserving of vested rights. Same sex arrangements are more appropriately governed under contract law, because they do not have the natural rights of procreation. Regarding f & g: The local school boards should determine the sex-education curriculum.
Reduce regulatory duplicities and the unnecessary bureaucratic friction, which is dragging down our economic advancement and leaving precious little for our public support systems. This would be accomplished, in part, by streamlining the funding processes and implementing more user fees, such as tolls, versus the inefficiencies of indirect taxing. Reduce recidivism by improving rehabilitation methods for drug and alchol related crimes by discouraging the use of jails and encouraging community and religious support, which seek to improve restorative justice measures. Improve educational choice and improve the metrics of educational testing by focusing on individual assessment and individual education plans.

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