Jeff LaFrance's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Jeff LaFrance has demonstrated Political Courage by telling citizens where he stands on the issues he may face if elected.
Hawaii 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? | ||
| G. Public funds for an emergency basis only, not for convenience. Abortion is a personal decision, one the government should not legislate. the government should stay out of the nanny and conscience business. The Constitution does not authorize the government operate in this area. | |||
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 Hawaii's budget.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Decrease | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Eliminate | e) Property taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | 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) Do you support expanding the film and television tax credit? | ||
| No | a) Tapping into Hawaii's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| Yes | c) Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining | ||
| Yes | 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 | ||
| A. Education needs to be reformed, not more money spent. E. law enforcement should not be used for traffic flagmen on construction sites. | |||
| Raising taxes on job producers and small businesses hurts our economy, and produces a net negative result. Should the Bush tax cuts be allowed to expire we will all be severely impacted. Since when did we start penalizing success, and making claim to other people's money? We operated our country for over century without resorting to robbery to sustain an out of control government. The size and appetite of our government is not sustainable. It is Time for the government to join weight watchers. | |||
| The rainy day fund is for emergencies only, not because politicians cannot control their spending habits. I am not for reducing medicaid benefits, I am in favor of reducing fraud, waste, and abuse. | |||
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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Requiring identification has nothing to do with race, but has everything to do with preventing voter fraud. We can afford to provide identification for free to the poor, but we cannot afford voter fraud to continue anymore. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Public officials and officers of the law should be fired immediately when they violate their Oath to protect and defend the Constitution and the laws of our republic. Public officials and law enforcement should not be allowed to cherry pick which laws they will or will not enforce, and this goes for every official including the President of the United states. No one is above the laws of this nation. We are either a nation of laws, or we will become a banana republic. | |||
| 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| C. Unsure if expanded access to unemployment benefits is needed, I will have to do more research on this issue. F. I do not believe the Constitution provides for the government to intervene in this area. I do believe charity organizations could be more active, and tax deductions for charitable giving should be restored so charity will be done by good will not a socialist forced contribution government program of redistribution of wealth. Bank financial assistance (bail outs) should never have happened, or should again. We cannot immorally mortgage our children's future ever again. | |||
| 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 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? | ||
| No | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Hawaii high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| The government should not have a monopoly on education. Charter schools have proven to produce better results and are in most cases more cost effective. Our present system is producing poor results and the one size fits all approach is not effective. We need to return to local control of our education system and be able to hold educators accountable for their failures, as well as reward them for their successes if they achieve it. As the system exists it is an utter failure. Hawaii spends more per student, but has one of the lowest ratings. | |||
| 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)? | ||
| No | c) Do you support state funding for improvements to Hawaii's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| No | e) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| The State should not interfere in the private business sector. It should not be in the speculation business at all. The State exists for specific purposes and private enterprise is not one of them. I do not believe the government should be involved in climate manipulation and carbon credit swap schemes should be halted immediately. We should not rush into subjects until science that supports it is completed properly. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| B. I have not heard any credible evidence that restricting gun ownership has reduced crime. I do have credible evidence that disarming the general public has significant negative results on personal safety. One only has to look at what happened in China, Germany, and Russia to find evidence that a disarmed populace can lead to communist like control of entire populations. The second amendment should always remain one of our god given rights, not a privilege by government, which can be revoked at any time. If you don't like guns, don't buy one. Defend yourself with a stick or rock. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| I cannot understand how a government can claim control over health insurance through the commerce clause since it did not cross state lines. Tort reform is one of the main reasons we have high medical costs. The government should not be in the car business or the health care business. If we were to remove government from the equation costs would go down as a result. More government is a major source of the problem, and is certainly not the answer. Stopping fraud, waste, and abuse should be the first order of business yet gets little attention paid to it. | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| Yes | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Hawaii's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Hawaii's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Marriage as I understand it is a religious concept, and government has no business meddling in religion. Civil unions are an acceptable contract option. As for making special laws for certain segments of our population, I am entirely against it. We all should be protected by law equally without special treatment for race, sex, or religion. It is a form of discrimination to make special laws for any particular group. Discrimination in any form is entirely unacceptable. | |||
| 1. Education is in desperate need of reform. 2. HECO/HELCO monopoly needs to be eliminated. Low cost geothermal energy implemented. Private industry will provide the funds, no public funds needed. Supplying our power through geothermal would result in spectacular local economic growth, keep billions of dollars circulating in our local economy instead of buying foreign oil. 3. Revitalization of our local farming industry. We import 70% or more of our food from places like China, which should have stopped as soon as they tainted our baby and pet food. More Low interest farm loans need to be made available. |
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