Amaryllis Thomas' Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Due to a later filing deadline, a lack of contact information, or other circumstances delaying entry into our database, Amaryllis Thomas was not directly invited to take the 2014 Political Courage Test. Amaryllis Thomas is still welcome to submit the test at any time.
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.
Michigan 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? | ||
| No | h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| No | i) Do you support increased licensing restrictions for abortion providers? | ||
| Women's health is a topic for the woman and her health provider to discuss and to be able to choose the best solutions to any issues keeping in mind the sanctity of life of both the woman and fetus. | |||
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 Michigan's budget.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Greatly Increase | c) Environment | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Health care | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Slightly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Greatly Increase | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| No | j) Do you support requiring a two-thirds vote of the legislature in order to approve all future tax increases? | ||
| No | a) Tapping into Michigan'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 | ||
| Yes | e) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| The taxing structure is unbalanced. I support an overall increase of personal income tax, and to do away with specialized taxing....on pensions, retirements, eliminating health care for elderly veterans, and am against supporting more loop-holes for the most wealthy. | |||
| What I object to is the way the republicans have willfully, arrogantly and repeatedly violated our State Constitution like a bunch of bullies when it comes to immediate effect. | |||
| Retirees have been promised their pensions and it is unethical what the current legislation has done to the pension systems and retirement systems for educators. If the state wants to reduce employees, they can do so through negotiations - not by bullies. | |||
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 | ||
| 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? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| No | f) Do you support Michigan's emergency manager law? | ||
| With the use of PACs, the entire political process has become a process whereas candidates can be simply bought for the highest price which allows special interests to dictate government rules - rules that favor the special interests and most often discriminates against the poor and less fortunate in our society - this will lead to fascism and, possibly, civil war. | |||
| 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 decriminalizing 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Take our prisoners and put them on chain-gangs or work-release to work on public projects. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | 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 increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support a constitutional amendment affirming a right to collective bargaining in Michigan? | ||
| No | h) Do you support construction of a new bridge across the Detroit River to Canada? | ||
| No | i) Should Michigan allow more casinos? | ||
| If a person is unable to find work after "x" time, they given the opportunity to work on public works projects to reimburse the state for additional unemployment benefits. Collective bargining protects workers from abusive corporate managers as our history has clearly shown! | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | d) Do you support replacing pension plans for new teachers with 401(k)-style retirement plans? | ||
| No | e) Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school? | ||
| No | f) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | h) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Michigan high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| c) tenure can work, but there needs to be less steps required to get rid of ineffective teac whers. Also, the local superintendents need to be hired/fired by the State Board of Ed - not by local politics of local boards of ed who often play 'games' with this position. h) if illegal immigrants - IF finish high school with a diplomia, they should be give full citizenship status (while IN high school, they are required to take a curriculum course specifically aimed at citizenship). | |||
| Yes | 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 state funding for improvements to Michigan's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| Climate change is killing us.............slowly. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Our current laws are sufficient. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support establishing a state-run health insurance exchange? | ||
| 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? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| No | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Michigan's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Michigan's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
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