Jim Ward's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Jim Ward has demonstrated Political Courage by telling citizens where he stands on the issues he may face if elected.
Wisconsin 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Being raised Catholic I believe in the sanctity of life. I believe that abortions should allowed in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is involved. I support the Affordable Health Care Act and one important part of it is that birth control is now free. I support teaching comprehensive sex education and it worked because Wisconsin's teen pregnancy rate is in the decline. I also believe that adoption is a viable option for unwanted pregnancies. | |||
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 Wisconsin's budget.
| Slightly Increase | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Increase | 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: | |||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | 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) | ||
| Yes | a) Tapping into Wisconsin's Budget Stabilization Fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| No | c) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| No | d) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | e) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| I will work to close the Las Vegas loophole in which the state is losing over $40 million of revenue over a 2 year period. I will also work to streamline the tax code and to make sure that corporations pay their fair share. When they don't pay their fair share all this does is increase the tax burden on working class families. I also support raising taxes on incomes of over $250,000. I would support a slight increase in cigarettes with that money going directly into the states health care system. | |||
| I support the contributions that public employees made under Act 10 towards their health care and pension. I believe that they way to balance the budget is by making changes to the tax code. | |||
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 | ||
| 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| No | f) Do you support limiting recall elections in Wisconsin? | ||
| I believe their needs to be major changes to campaign finance reform in order to ensure that we have a healthy democracy. I also support full disclosure of so called "issue ads" or soft money. We deserve the right to know who is supporting these ads. I also support the WI Clean Elections bill that supports public financing of campaigns so that the focus can be on ideas & not just fund raising. I also strongly support indepedent redistricting and term limits. Term limits should be serving 12 years in either house. We have too many career politicians. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| I believe that prison should be for violent criminals, rapists, pedophiles, and all serious crimes. Prisons being one of the largest costs for our government we should look to alternatives to decrease costs and still ensure public safety. Many low level drug offenders and minor crimes, instead of going to jail and costing taxpayers a lot of money could instead be under house and GPS monitoring. We have the technology for them to be fully monitored at all times, just look at the technology in phones today. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support using public funds to construct a high speed rail line in Wisconsin? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| No | h) Do you support the elimination of public worker collective bargaining? | ||
| I primary focus of mine will be to increase job training programs to retrain displaced workers. Unfortunately many of the jobs that were lost will not be coming back. We need to make sure that workers have the necessary skills in order to compete in a global economy. Unlike the last legislative cycle I believe that tax credits to companies should be directly tied to job creation instead of just corporate handouts. I fully support the right to collective bargaining. High speed rail is heavily invested in Europe and countries growing like China and Wisconsin made a mistake last session. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| No | b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Wisconsin high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Unfortunately Wisconsin leads the nation in cuts to education. This has had a negative impact in schools across the state. It has led to increased class sizes and cuts to specials like gym, art, music and athletic programs. It has also led to the elimination of some gifted and talented programs. I believe that an investment in education is an investment in our future. Education is the gateway to the middle class and upward mobility. Voucher schools have shown no increase in student achievement. Lifting the income cap on vouchers was a major mistake last session. | |||
| 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 Wisconsin'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? | ||
| No | f) Do you support eliminating some regulations on mining in northern Wisconsin in order to stimulate local economic development? | ||
| I believe that in order for the mining bill to have been successful all sides should have sat down at the beginning. The mining company, environmental groups, Native Americans and the people living in the area are all stakeholders and I believe they could have reached an agreement instead of the heavy handed approach that did not work. Alternative energy is a growth market for businesses. Developing more alternative energy sources makes us less dependent on one source. I also think we need to phase out nuclear energy. The plants are old and nuclear energy is heavily subsidized by government. | |||
| No | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| I fully support the 2nd Amendment and the right for citizens to own guns. I also believe that most gun owners are law abiding citizens. I believe that existing gun laws need to be fully used on criminals who break the law. I would increase the penalty for staw purchases in which people knowing buy a gun for a felon. | |||
| 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| The United States is the only industrialized country that does not offer a public option. Health care costs are the number one reason why people file for bankruptcy. Every year our health care deductables increase and we rank 37th out of all the countries of the world by the World Health Organization. I fully support the Affordable Care Act and believe our state is making a mistake by not creating the health care exchanges. These exchanges would immediately help small business owners and people who buy their own insurance. I would like to see a state run health care system. | |||
| No | 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 Wisconsin's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Wisconsin's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| I support equal rights and fairness across the board. We should allow marriage equality. | |||
| My priorities are: Job creation: I support job education training for those who have been laid off, strengthening the Buy Wisconsin Program and supporting small businesses. Tax credits need to be tied to job creation. Education: I will work to restore the over $1 billion cut from education. Transparency: WI Clean Elections bill that provides voluntary grants to qualified candidates , independent redistricing, term limits, full campaign finance disclosure including issue ads, and the ALEC accountablity act that decreases the influence of special interests that draft and push model legislation To finance: close the Las Vegas loophole, streamline tax code |
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