Jim Bonner's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Alabama State Legislative Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life? | ||
| No | b) Should abortion be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| No | c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| No | d) Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| No | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| No | g) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods? | ||
| No | h) Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs? | ||
| What did the child or rape or incest do to deserve to die. The life of the mother is always at risk in pregnancy. What sense does it make to require parental notification of an illegal act. | |||
1) State SpendingIndicate 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 TaxesIndicate 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 StabilizationIndicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Alabama's budget.
| Slightly Decrease | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Slightly Increase | h) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Eliminate | g) Sales taxes (grocery) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | i) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | j) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | k) Other or expanded categories | ||
| No | a) Tapping into Alabama's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Regulating and taxing gaming proceeds | ||
| No | c) Issuing the early release of certain non-violent offenders | ||
| No | d) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| No | e) Instituting mandatory furloughs and layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Yes | g) Privatizing certain government services | ||
| When one talks of why we need government the first responses are Police, Fire, and Education. We do police and education fairly well but community fire departments go wanting. I suggest a bill creating a county fire commissioner who can coordinate grants and training for community fire departments and provide first responder services to our rural areas. | |||
| The knee jerk reaction is to increase taxes in a recession. This is not a very good idea. Taxes in general are regressive. For example the severance tax on minerals in district six is intended for roads but has been diverted to industrial parks. Empty industrial parks. I would support legislation more closely following the Mississippi model where these taxes are earmarked for loans to industry that will sign commitments to create jobs in the county the taxes were collected. When the natural resources are gone something should be in place to replace the lost jobs. | |||
| A recent example of state budget mismanagement was the two billion dollar highway infrastructure bill. This money came from the Alabama State Trust fund what came from the Oil and Gas industry. I warned on April 18 that we should keep the money in trust for disaster relief. On April 19 the Deepwater horizon blew out. Other examples include the education trust fund gambling money on wall street and the PACT program that lost half the students money in the market. I propose requiring the state to invest money inside the state and make gambling with your money, well, Illegal. | |||
c) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions to candidates for state government?
| Yes | a) Do you support limits on the number of terms for Alabama governors? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support limits on the number of terms for Alabama state legislators? | ||
| No | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| No | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 4) Political Party | ||
| No | d) Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| Yes | f) Should the Alabama Ethics Commission have the power of subpoena? | ||
| Yes | g) Should current elected officials be prohibited from holding additional state jobs? | ||
| No | h) Should Alabama hold a constitutional convention to rewrite the state constitution? | ||
| The problem of double dipping can be a sticky issue. State employees should not be allowed to draw checks for two jobs at once. State Legislators should be required to take leave anytime they are in session but they should not have to give up their livelihood when they return from Montgomery. The intent of the State Constitution was that the Senate should be in session during the fallow season. The intent was that common farmers and businessmen should make the laws that affect them. This is no different for educators like myself. Legislators can learn to serve without stealing. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| No | b) Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | ||
| No | c) Should the possession of small amounts of marijuana be decriminalized? | ||
| No | d) Do you support increasing penalties for illegal cockfighting? | ||
| Yes | e) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| Yes | f) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| The current drug court laws were intended to relieve the troubled court system. Instead it has become a revolving door for drug dealers and addicts. The dealers should do hard time. The addicts should go to lock down rehab. Counseling and outpatient substance abuse treatment does not work. Prison officials tell us that there is one thing prison does well. That is get addicts off drugs. The inmate drug treatment programs have a 70% success rate. Twice the rate of out patient counseling. The problem is of course that lawyers and counselors make too much money on the drug courts. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| All these issues require some explanation. Our current legislative agenda seems to revolve around creating sewers on goat farms and empty speculation buildings. I propose creating an expanded Alabama Industrial Bond fund to loan money to employers who will actually put people to work. Let them build the buildings they need and the plumbing they need instead of psychic searches for what might come. Build it and they will come only works in the movies. The financial assistance homeowners facing foreclosure need is a JOB. | |||
| No | a) Do you support national education standards? | ||
| No | b) Do you support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams? | ||
| No | c) Do you support using a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| No | f) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Alabama high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Charter schools should be tried on a limited experimental basis. Merit pay for teachers has problems because it leaves in the hands of the unqualified to determine who has merit, and exit exams take teaching time away for test preparation. Illegal immigrants should not be graduating from high school. Any national standard is a standard on mediocrity. | |||
| 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)? | ||
| No | c) Do you support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for improvements to Alabama's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| Global climate change is real. Just ask the Armadillos in my yard. Is it natural or man made, don't know and don't care. The problem is here none the less. Many in my party have had there heads in the sand and now they have oil on their heads. The time is now to convert to locally created energy sources. Every home must have a photovoltaic grid tie system equal to the HVAC load. We need chip mills to take advantage of our wood resources. We need ways to mix coal with wood to reduce the carbon footprint. | |||
| No | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| No | b) Do you support requiring background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support allowing individuals to carry concealed guns? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring a license for gun possession? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles | |||
| No | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| No | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| No | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| No | d) Should individuals be required to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| No | f) Do you support legalizing physician-assisted suicide in Alabama? | ||
| No | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| The medical marijuana debate has become a joke. In places where it is legal it is a big business. College students with their university ID and medical marijuana cards on one keyring is the norm and the people who advocate legalization can't complete a sentence. | |||
| No | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| No | b) Should Alabama allow same-sex couples to form civil unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support state funding for stem cell research? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the state's use of affirmative action? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Alabama's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | g) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Alabama's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| These issues are currently in the pipeline to present to the US supreme court and will likely be beyond the immediate reach of the State Lawmakers. | |||
| Priority 1) Active Job Creation. Jobs are needed that export goods or services outside the state. Electricity is the easiest product to export and it is what I know. Tax revenue must be increased by increasing income, not income tax rates. Priority 2) Illegal drugs. Draconian measures must be taken while any young people are left. Lockdown rehab is the only solution. Priority 3) Taxes. 94% of state tax revenues are earmarked for education. Of the 5.4 Billion dollars of tax money collected less than 300 million are available to essential services, rural fire protection, emergency responders, and industrial development. |
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