Neil Patel's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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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.
Ohio State Legislative Election 2014 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| Yes | c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| Yes | d) Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| Neil believes all innocent life is precious and should be protected. The state should use family planning, adoption, and contraception as ways of promoting every reasonable alternative to abortion. A positive state role in women?s reproductive health doesn?t have to contradict the pro-life cause. Abortion restrictions will only carry it so far; we need to also focus on finding ways to reduce its demand. This kind of policy has the potential to reduce the number of abortions in Ohio while promoting women?s reproductive health at the same time. | |||
1) State Spending:Using the key, indicate what state funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category; you may use a number more than once.2) State Taxes:Using the key, indicate what state tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category; you may use a number more than once.3) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Ohio's budget.
| Slightly Increase | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Health care | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| h) Other or expanded categories: | |||
| Slightly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| No | a) Tapping into Ohio's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| No | c) Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining | ||
| No | d) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| No | e) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Neil believes that raising sales taxes and property taxes in order to give the wealthy an income tax break is bad economics. Sales taxes and property taxes should be lowered in order to spur economic activity and help the housing market recover, because home vacancies are a big threat to Ohio's economic health. We should also offer selective tax breaks to companies that can offer Ohioans the best employment opportunities given their talents. | |||
| Enough of these steps have been taken by the current administration. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| Yes | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| Yes | 4) Political Party | ||
| Yes | b) Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | ||
| No | c) Do you support legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| Yes | e) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| No | c) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| No | b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| Yes | c) Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers? | ||
| Yes | d) Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Ohio high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| School choice is a way to push public schools to improve while allowing for local control of public education. But Neil supports this only if we increase the frequency with which voucher schools must be evaluated for charter renewal, create more holistic measures of performance, and hold those who authorize charter funds accountable for the schools receiving them (while giving the authorizers more power to audit or close schools when performance is lacking). Parents must also be informed by an independent evaluator of how both the school and their children are performing in relation to the rest of the state. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support state funding for improvements to Ohio's energy infrastructure? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| No | e) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | c) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| Neil is an NRA member. | |||
| No | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| Neil agrees with Governor Kasich on this issue. He doesn?t support Obamacare but agrees with the governor?s decision to expand Medicaid in the state. This will help the poorest Ohioans become healthier and therefore more productive taxpayers without hurting our state?s budget. And, whether or not Ohio expanded Medicaid will not prevent the law from being repealed or struck down in court. | |||
| No | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Ohio's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Ohio's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Neil's biggest legislative priority is making sure Ohio is going to be as competitive as possible with the rest of the world for the jobs of tomorrow. To do this, Neil supports tougher and more holistic academic standards that will measure and help improve students' ability to succeed in the real world--in addition to expanding technical programs in growing industrial fields. Charter schools must be more effectively regulated (and closed when ineffective) to create educational diversity and academic competition without risking tax dollars. Neil also wants to use tax incentives and improved infrastructure to attract booming industries to the state. |
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