Keith McCormic's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Keith McCormic is currently being tested through the 2020 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.
Massachusetts 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. | ||
| The abortion debate is ancient and ongoing. As members of an enlightened civilization, we should be able to move beyond fear and prejudice to discuss the full range of issues surrounding abortion in an reasonable way. We need to address these questions before our technology addresses them for us. I propose that we convene a colloquy, here in Massachusetts, paid for with private donations, in which all the interested parties can meet and discuss these many issues in a civilized manner for so long as it may take to achieve something like societal consensus. | |||
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 | |||
| Greatly Increase | i) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Slightly Decrease | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000) | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Sales taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Vehicle taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | j) Other or expanded categories | ||
| No | 1) Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| We need to move beyond the assumption that funding is caring. Many private institutions operate much more efficiently than public ones and sometimes public programs accomplish great things that no private charity could even dream of. If elected, I will, as I do now, make my judgments about appropriate funding levels on a case-by-case, program-by-program basis. I believe that it is irresponsible to commit to increasing or decrease vague, generalized categories. That kind of sloppy work is how Beacon Hill got us into this current budget crisis. | |||
| We need to greatly increase government accountability and transparency with the goal of reducing overall government spending. I believe that if we hold our elected officials responsible for their actions and insist that they treat public money as a sacred trust, we can significantly lower taxes without leaving any citizen out in the cold. | |||
| There are two state budgets, the Discretionary Budget on which the legislature votes and a Hidden Budget that they refuse to talk about. The "off-budget" spending in the Hidden Budget must be made totally transparent to allow ordinary citizens to understand the entire state budget. If we, the People, routinely vote out incumbents who "balance" the budget by borrowing from emergency savings, raising taxes and fees, and funneling discretionary spending to "off-budget" programs, we will not need to increase state revenues. | |||
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 limiting the number of terms for Massachusetts governors? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support limiting the number of terms for Massachusetts state senators and representatives? | ||
| No | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) PAC | ||
| Yes | 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 Massachusetts participate in the federal REAL ID program? | ||
| I believe in rolling term limits, in which an elected official can only serve a certain number of terms before taking a break. This encourages new people to get involved in public affairs while ensuring that trusted leaders can be called upon in case of future crises. The federal REAL ID program is inappropriate, unconstitutional, unnecessary, and overpriced. Massachusetts should not participate in the program nor should we tacitly endorse it by accepting these doctored documents as legitimate identification. | |||
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 Massachusetts. | |||
| 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) Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. | ||
| f) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults. | |||
| g) Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws. | |||
| X | h) Support hate crime legislation. | ||
| Every time we make something a crime, more people become criminals. We must limit criminal offenses to those actions that actually harm another person. Furthermore, alternate sentencing shows compassion to families of non-violent offenders, families who would be ruined by incarceration or crippling fines. Reducing the number of incarcerated criminals through a careful review of our criminal code and sentencing guidelines will not only make our streets safer, it will reduce government prison expenses substantially. | |||
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). | |||
| 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. | ||
| 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 Massachusetts to pay in-state tuition at public universities. | |||
| As an educator, I believe the No Child Left Behind and the MCAS test are causing more harm than good. I am sure that requiring a true basic skills test for graduation from public schools is a good check and balance on the system, but the MCAS is not that test. I also believe that we should give parents and teachers more direct control over individual public schools. Eventually, our public schools would become effective and efficient enough to compete for students directly with private schools for funding. | |||
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. | ||
| 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. | ||
| 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. | |||
| I believe that two basic issues are stifling our economy and convincing businesses to move jobs out of state. The first is our unusually high corporate tax rate. The second is our extensive network of confusing "red tape" regulations that slow down businesses and confuse workers. My economic recovery plan, endorsed by three prominent local economists, would make our corporate tax rate regionally competitive and streamline regulations to improve needed protections and eliminate clutter. I would also give every business that employs more people this year than last year a "double deduction" tax credit for up to three years. | |||
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. | ||
| e) Support funding for improvements to Massachusetts' 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. | ||
| X | h) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law. | ||
| As a strong conservationist, I believe in protecting our environment in a fiscally responsible, sustainable fashion the improves the relationship between humanity and our natural world. I believe in focusing alternative energy on small-scale, local projects. I believe that open space conservation should be funded in the same fashion that we buy Wildlife Management Areas. I believe that limitations on pollutants and human activity should be based on sound science and use market forces to raise funds for mitigating the actual damage those pollutants cause. We should never tax, regulate, or ban just because it makes us feel good. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.
| No | 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? | ||
| The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in 2008 that the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution protects a pre-existing, universal human right to own, carry, and use personal weapons for sporting, hunting, and self-defense. I believe in following the Constitution and would work to make sure that the laws of Massachusetts are constitutional and meaningful. Unenforceable laws, laws based on opinion rather than facts, and laws rooted in fear should never be the basis of any public policy, regardless of whether the topic at hand is guns or gardens. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health.
| 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 Massachusetts. | |||
| X | g) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes. | ||
| X | h) Support banning gifts from insurance company representatives to doctors. | ||
| Massachusetts' Landmark Health Care mandate is slowly bankrupting the state because the Patrick administration has failed to introduce competition into the process. If we are going to continue to try and enforce universal coverage, we need to provide everyone the same vast smorgasboard of options, from basic emergency care up through the total "Cadillac" packages. The price for any given plan should be the same for everyone and employers can still contribute the same way they do now. The only difference to the average person is a lot more choices, lower prices, and better coverage because of consumer choice. | |||
['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']
| Yes | a) Should Massachusetts recognize civil unions between same-sex couples? | ||
| Yes | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry? | ||
| Yes | c) Should Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts 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? | ||
| Undecided | m) Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it? | ||
| No | n) Do you support banning commercial dog racing in Massachusetts? | ||
| It is inappropriate for any government to discriminate based on race or sex. The best way to protect marriage and families it to let people, not governments, decide what it best for them. It is a basic human right to engage in discrete, internal religious observation or personal reflection, but it is inappropriate for government to suggest or mandate prayers or specific spiritual beliefs. There is already enough economic incentive for private firms to explore stem cell research without governments offering corporate welfare. As a society, we need to explore the ethical consequences of biotechnology research before the technology exists. | |||
| Balance the budget at significantly lower levels of state spending to provide more reliable levels of services to citizens on the ground, regardless of surprises or revenue shortfalls. Create jobs through my three-point economist-endorsed revitalization plan. Lower your energy costs by focusing alternative energy programs on small, locally-owned projects, like solar roofing, wind gardens, and low-impact hydropower instead of big, expensive, corporate boondoggles. | |||
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