Carol Tempel's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Office:
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Carol Tempel has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2018 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.
South Carolina State Legislative Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | |||
| 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? | ||
| e) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | |||
| f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | |||
| g) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures? | |||
| h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | |||
| Women and men should be able to seek guidance from their doctor and make medical decisions affecting their health without government interference. I support age appropriate comprehensive health education with parental consent. | |||
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 South Carolina's budget.4) Public Pensions:To mitigate South Carolina's public pension shortfall, do you support:
| Greatly 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 | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| h) Other or expanded categories: | |||
| Slightly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| No | a) Tapping into South Carolina's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| No | c) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | d) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| No | a) Reducing benefits of current state employees? | ||
| b) Ending the Teacher and Employee Retention Incentive (TERI) program for future employees? | |||
| No | c) Reducing cost-of-living adjustments for current and future employees? | ||
| No | d) Requiring state employees to work longer before retiring? | ||
| Yes | e) Increasing employee contributions by current and future employees? | ||
| No | f) Preventing employees from factoring unused sick and vacation days into benefit calculations? | ||
| A comprehensive plan to review the tax code must be developed in SC. A study commission produced a Tax Re-Alignment plan that has not been given serious consideration. We need to fund what we value as core services for the people. There should be consideration of a progressive sales tax for motor vehicle purchases instead of the current $300 cap for all makes/models of cars. | |||
| Increased efforts need to be made to collect past-due taxes. The salaries of the governor's staff need to be comparable to other state employees. Millions of dollars in fines for failure to implement programs should not be allowed to waste our state resources (e.g. 25 years of fines for not implementing the "deadbeat Dads" database). | |||
| The TERI program was intended to retain qualified teachers in the classroom to meet the teacher shortage. Employees who want to work beyond the regular retirement service should be able to do so if their work performance is outstanding and helps to meet shortages in the workforce. The retirement system could benefit and be more sustainable if all state employees participate in the program; greater transparency is needed on the investments and administration of the retirement system. | |||
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 | ||
| 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? | ||
| e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | |||
| Individuals should be able to give as much to candidates as PAC?s, Corporations, and Political Parties. Overall, the cost for campaigns has become too costly. Redistricting practices should keep communities of interest together rather than gerrymandering districts for expected political outcomes. Current active voters should be exempt from the new photo ID law. The photo ID program needs to be phased in and separated from other "add-on" issues (e.g. early voting, absentee voting, state issued ID's, college students, etc.). We should have practices that promote citizen participation in the voting process. | |||
| 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? | ||
| c) Do you support decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | |||
| d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | |||
| 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? | ||
| People should be able to live in safe communities, with good law enforcement, and neighborhood watch programs. Healthy and safe communities are the result of better education which leads to well-paying jobs and the means to provide food, shelter, and health care. | |||
| a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | |||
| No | b) Do you support efforts to increase limits on unions in South Carolina? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| d) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | |||
| Yes | e) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| g) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | |||
| What regulations are being considered for the private sector? We need to find ways to get people back to work as quickly as possible. Often workers will not take a job because their unemployment benefits would be cut or the job would pay less than the unemployment benefits. Having a way to allow workers to get back into the workforce by making up the difference between income earned for work and unemployment benefits during the allotted time period, could be an incentive for workers to take a new job. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | |||
| c) Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers? | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from South Carolina high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | |||
| Public Education is vital to the success of our state. Evaluation systems for teachers must be fair; good teachers do not necessarily perform better because of merit pay. Effective teachers must be supported professionally, receive living wages, have reasonable class sizes, work in safe, well-maintained buildings, provided with the resources needed for good instruction, and be respected by the community. The student accountability systems need to provide teachers with information in an ongoing, timely way to be used for instruction. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| 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 opening South Carolina's waters to offshore drilling? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for improvements to South Carolina'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? | ||
| Air and water safety must be protected. Alternative energy sources must be considered and implemented. Creating jobs that won't negatively impact the environment or the health of its citizens is important. | |||
| 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? | ||
| c) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | |||
| d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | |||
| All purchases should be subject to background checks and a waiting period. Assault weapons should be banned. | |||
| Yes | 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 requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Currently 60% of bankruptcies in the country result from medical costs resulting in unemployment, health-related issues, and foreclosures. | |||
| a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | |||
| Yes | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in South Carolina's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in South Carolina's anti-discrimination laws? | |||
| We, as citizens of the United States of America, are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, country of birth, or religious beliefs. | |||
| EDUCATION: evaluate the SC educational funding system. SC needs consistent funding to pay teachers fairly, ensure safe schools, and provide educational programs with the greatest impact for increasing student achievement and high quality jobs. We must do away with the notion of providing a minimally adequate education. RE-EVALUATE THE TAX CODE: eliminate loopholes and out of date and special interest taxes LEGISLATIVE REFORM: address the ethics practices in the legislature; shorten the legislative session to increase efficiency and encourage broader participation of citizens; and fix the confusing SC legislation that eliminated over 200 candidates from the 2012 ballot. |
Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any campaign activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.