Richard Rivette's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Richard Rivette has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2020 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
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.
North Carolina State Legislative Election 2012 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? | ||
| I add the cases for exception because none of us can understand the pain that must accompany that decision. Unless we are the victim, I don't believe we can judge them. This is between themselves and God. | |||
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 North Carolina's budget.
| Slightly Increase | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Environment | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Health care | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Other or expanded categories: | ||
| Eliminate | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Eliminate | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Eliminate | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| No | j) Should North Carolina increase its sales tax to support education programs? | ||
| No | a) Tapping into North Carolina's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| Yes | c) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| Yes | d) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | e) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| State spending will not be an issue once we recover our economy and have increased revenues. My plan includes detailed fraud recovery from every public sector project, which now totals over $3 billion annually. By recovering these funds we can add 20,000 new teachers at a decent pay rate, increase all teacher pay, cut college tuition by as much as half, and fasttrack our road and bridge projects, ALL without raising taxes. | |||
| Completely eliminate the tax code as it exists and with it remove all lobbying because there is nothing left to lobby over in the way of tax breaks. Enact that FAIR tax whereby everyone gets a prebate check of the sales tax up to the poverty level. Consumers are only taxed on purchases. Poor people, seniors and students will not pay any tax because they won�t have the buying power to qualify for taxes. Middle class pay similar to now, and wealthy pay more. With no income taxes, the incentive to save, invest and build companies and jobs skyrockets. | |||
| With fraud recovery we would not have to reduce services. I also believe no public sector employee should earn more than their private sector counterpart. Public sector workers for the most part do not produce product and cannot be profitable. They are an expense and we must limit the attractiveness of becoming a government worker with much better jobs available in the private sector economy. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| No | 1) Individual | ||
| No | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| No | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Should a referendum among affected residents be required for annexation approval? | ||
| You must produce ID for driving, boarding an airplane, registering at a doctor, applying for a job, at the pharmacy, for bank transactions, applying to school, for store credit, establishing utilities, purchasing a car, registration, outpatient testing, obtaining Medicaid or Medicare, voting in a union, writing a check, using a credit card, buying car insurance, using the library, and more. Voter ID is not racist, or unusual. 30,000 dead people were identified on state rolls this month. Supply valid IDs to those without, for free. Now they have a valid ID for all uses and all votes are secure. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | e) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| We can't continue to have a third of prison population sent there for nothing more than possession of marijuana. This is getting ridiculous. It begins a vicious cycle. If employers want to drug test and not hire users then that is their decision. But as a former defense investigator on capital crimes, I have seen the devastation caused when kids get caught up in the system for something as minor as smoking a joint. Get them rehab counseling but not prison. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| I support crafting tax policy and improving schools with better energy policy to attract both domestic and foreign manufacturers. With good paying, career jobs and increased growth in all sectors, we will lead to full employment. We won't need most of the programs funded at current levels because we will have solved the unemployment crisis. When you are unemployed, you are 100% unemployed, not 10% or 14% or the figure they make up that day. Let's get everyone back to work, and we do that with thoughtful rules in this state. | |||
| No | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| No | c) Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers? | ||
| Yes | d) Should corporal punishment be allowed in public schools? | ||
| Yes | e) Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| No | h) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from North Carolina high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Please see my entire education plan to reform the schools, improve performance and put all parents in charge with flexible school vouchers to send their child wherever they determine is best. Online at www.voterivette.com under �Schools�. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| No | 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 legalizing hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" in North Carolina? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for improvements to North Carolina's energy infrastructure? | ||
| No | e) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| No | f) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| We need to completely overhaul energy production in North Carolina by opening all available methods and stop overregulation. Let the consumer and producer market dictate costs and methods which best meet our needs. Further, I would like a moratorium on all energy development taxation to obtain the resources we need to grow our economy. Stop siphoning off tax dollars. The diesel tax alone impacts food transportation costs and makes working families pay more for groceries unnecessarily. Taxes on these items only get passed along to those least able to afford them. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| The other amendments exist because of the second amendment. The right to protect oneself should never be compromised. The government has shown it is not able to help even in emergencies most of the time. That leaves you, or your family member, to defend your lives. Today alone, countless millions of reasonable, responsible non-criminal gun owners shot nobody, murdered no one, and cause no mayhem by carrying and owning a lawful firearm. Stop criminalizing good people. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| All 1800 insurance companies should be able to compete in our state, not just the six we have in place. When you can offer pared own plans that are catastrophic with riders instead of all the required items we are forced to buy, we can cut rates in half immediately. With increased competition we could see premiums at 25% of what they are now, for better plans with wider coverage for all. We don?t need a massive new bureaucracy, we just need some common sense adjustments like allowing pre-existing conditions and students up to 24 to be covered. | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage between one man and one woman be the only domestic legal union recognized in North Carolina? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in North Carolina's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in North Carolina's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Anyone who is a victim of a crime has been hurt the same by their attacker. All crimes are hate crimes. It is my belief that the hatred of one person against another allows these people to act and harm you. We do not need extra penalties for one group over another. If you are violently attacked I would hope the perpetrator would go to prison for a long time. | |||
| Education - fund more teachers all at higher pay and eliminate much administration. Infrastructure - build more and make more repairs in a timely manner. Tax Policy - eliminate all income taxes and focus on a FAIR tax so poor truly pay nothing and the state can grow our business base. Energy Development - gain independence, confidence and the ability to grow what we need in NC. You can achieve most of the above by enforcing existing laws and enabling departments to recover state funds lost through $3 billion plus in fraud each year. Without raising taxes further. |
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