John Anthony La Pietra's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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John Anthony La Pietra has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Michigan State Legislative Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support legalizing abortion when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| I'm concerned about your wording change in part b); abortion IS legal, and I support keeping it legal. This election cycle, I helped connect the Green Party of Michigan with the Pledge to Repeal campaign that stimulated resistance to the failed D&E ban petition drive. I also believe abortion should be safe and available for all women, without financial or geographical barriers. I hope abortion becomes rarer because pregnancies that do occur are wanted, women feel able (and are able) to care for their children, and strong support care is available both before and after birth. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| b) In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | |||
| b): There's only one bracket; Michigan's constitution prohibits graduated income tax. But we can make the tax more progressive (and collect as much) by raising that flat rate, boosting standard deductions, and restoring exemptions. c): We should limit deductions from corporate income for executive compensation expenses to a multiple of the lowest rate a company pays anyone, and have corporations disclose all forms of executive compensation as a condition for deducting any of it. Public money constitutionally created by Congress under the "Greening the Dollar" program would help State and local governments balance their budgets and meet the people's needs. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a limit on campaign contributions to state candidates? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| No | f) Do you support limiting the governor's power to declare a state of emergency? | ||
| a/b): I don't accept contributions from either type of organization, or more than $100 from any actual person. c): I favor fully non-partisan or at least omni-partisan redistricting for Federal, state, and county offices. I hope Michigan's new commission is a step forward, but it's bi-partisan: biased in favor of giving the "major" parties too much veto power over the citizens in the process. f): I can live with the limits already in state law. However, to help Michigan rise from dead last in public integrity, I'd prefer much more transparency in telling the people the reasons for emergency standards/rules/etc. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| No | b) Should an individual under 18 accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the use of private prisons in Michigan? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support banning the use of cellphones and other handheld communication devices while driving? | ||
| c): I support sanctuary and asylum rights. e): I support judicial discretion in sentencing. g): I'm launching an online conversation on reforming/defunding/"zero-based-budgeting" the police (and other law/regulation enforcers). No room here for all the ideas I've collected already, but I hope we can start discussing them within a week. I also support: community control; restorative justice; demilitarizing LEO equipment, practices, training, and mindset; expunging marijuana-possession convictions; strict limits on asset seizures, with compensating innocent targets for damages. I oppose: cruel and unusual punishments; special rights/privileges for LEOs (sharing them with citizens would be one way to protect and serve us). | |||
| a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | |||
| No | b) Do you support lowering state income taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Michigan? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring employers to provide paid family leave? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| a): Michigan government was instituted for the people's "equal benefit, security and protection." Our "Greening the Dollar" policy will create more public money for in-state and local public purposes -- including better economic health for our communities. (Though any cancer patient can tell you faster growth is not always healthier.) d): First test paid elected officers, and subsidized businesses (well, top management). g): Relief should be focused on SUSTAINABLE job protection. This priority should benefit smaller and local businesses, which are more vital to their communities but also more likely to lack essential economic reserves and fail permanently without help. | |||
| a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Michigan? | |||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Michigan? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Michigan high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support allowing college athletes to be compensated for the use of their name, image, and likeness? | ||
| a): Some. Ideally, the Federal role is to set solid standards, then help states and local schools meet them, within their own situations but not burdened by unequal or inequitable social or financial restrictions. c): Who can doubt teachers deserve maximum support given their indispensable role in getting us all through the COVID crisis? OTOH, many teachers might put an even higher priority on safe conditions for all -- and on increased support for students. d): It's worth mentioning that national Green Party positions on education are written by actual front-line teachers. See some of the results here: https://www.gp.org/the_green_party_on_education | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support prohibiting the distribution of bottled water from the Great Lakes watershed outside the watershed? | ||
| Two of the Green Party's Ten Key Values are Ecological Wisdom and Sustainability/Future Focus. We must protect the Great Lakes our state takes its nickname from -- and the rest of Michigan's water, plus air and soil and other public trusts. The 63rd District includes Marshall, my home and the home of the Kalamazoo River disaster. I reject Enbridge's #TunnelVision, and support shutting down Line 5. We must also ban fracking and frack wastes; deal with PFAS; reduce resource consumption (using progressive rates); improve conservation and efficiency; and boost renewables in consideration of the future generations we hope will follow. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| No | c) Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom after passing gun safety training? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| Violence, with and without guns, is a problem in our society. We should all learn how to use non-violent tools to dissolve conflicts and solve problems. The Constitutional provision for a well-regulated militia dovetails with the idea of responsible gun ownership to suggest designing gun regulations to assure responsibility. We should require documented training of how and when to handle, store, use, and not use guns. People who carry or used gun irresponsibly merit more restrictions. And those armed by society (police, other LEOs, the military) should be held to higher standards, or face losing their power and their guns. | |||
| a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | |||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Michigan's health care programs? | ||
| No | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | |||
| No | e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | ||
| a): Prevention is easier to sustain, but treatment (in or out of specialized facilities) for those already suffering is clearly necessary. c): I support Universal Health Care: everybody in, nobody out (except some gatekeeping insurance-industry profit-seekers). d): If there's evidence it's their own uninfluenced choice. e): Those with sincerely held religious beliefs will hold to them, and can also be held to responsibility for their choices. f): That kind of support for employees would merit extraordinary relief support from the government. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Michigan's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Michigan's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Michigan state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| Race and class and gender/orientation are social issues. To the Greens, so is justice. So is making sure that economics is community-based, health care is universal, diversity is respected, essential workers are paid and treated comparably to their worth (in today's economic climate), and democracy is working on the grassroots level -- FOR the People. You can see some of my views on various social issues on my "politician page" on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jalp4thePeople/ If you can't find something about an issue you care about, ask me. | |||
| Today's crises show we're all (99%) essential to each other. For government OF the People to work FOR the People, we need representatives who know how to help it work. Together, we can take our power back from the politicians and build open, accountable government to fulfill the needs discussed above -- and more: * Systems for food and housing (plus taxes, justice, and health) that serve the needs of the 99% before the 1%'s whims. * Sustainable, fairly funded transportation, infrastructure, and utilities. * Elections that are countable, recountable, and accountable; fair for all, and free (NOT for sale). | |||
| Michigan is LAST in state government accountability: https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/11/09/18427/michigan-gets-f-grade-2015-state-integrity-investigation My top priority is adapting other states' ideas to help us see whether our representatives are doing what we need, and helping us help each other. The office I seek belongs to the People of the 63rd District. I won't hide from your questions in it, or misuse it to promote myself. I'll work to represent you and your interests. I'll support justice for all ahead of unjust laws or orders, protect your life and liberty ahead of fat cats' property. With your votes, I'll be one voice for all of us. |
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