Mike Schmidt's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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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.
Wisconsin State Legislative Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Parental Notification/consent is a difficult subject to answer either yes or no. Legislation needs to take into account situations where notification/consent is not in the best interest of the minor (e.g. abusive households, cases of incest or rape, etc.). | |||
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.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Slightly Increase | 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 | ||
| h) Other or expanded categories: | |||
| Slightly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | 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) | ||
| Eliminate | j) Other or expanded categories: | ||
| 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 | ||
| Deductions and tax credits need to be revamped and perhaps eliminated. The problem with taxes is not the rates, but rather the credits and deductions that are taken. | |||
| We need, as a state, to recommit to the principles of justice and compassion for the less fortunate. We also need to remember that the work involved in state programs needs to be done by employees that are compensated in a fair and equitable manner. | |||
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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support limiting recall elections in Wisconsin? | ||
| If money equals speech, then speech is not equal for all citizens of our state. The infusion of out of state money into our state's campaigns should be an embarrassment for the candidates who take it. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| The state and local police have enough on their plate enforcing local & state laws without the added burden of enforcing federal laws. That said, if someone is arrested on a state or local charge, I don't see the harm of doing an immigration check/coordinating with federal immigration officials. | |||
| No | a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | 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 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? | ||
| In my opinion, government regulations are usually created in response to issues caused by non-regulation (e.g. Clean Water Act, Federal Pure Drug & Cosemetic Act, etc.). Government needs to act with the best interest of the majority of citizens in mind-if that is good for the private sector, that's fine. | |||
| 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) Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| These are all very complex issues that are beyond a simple yes or no answer, so I have answered them in the general direction I lean, not necessarily the way I would vote all of the time | |||
| 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? | ||
| regarding regulations: again, regulations are the result of reaction to problems created by a lack of regulation. We cannot sell out our environmental heritage for a short term economic gain at the cost of the environment. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | c) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| I don't believe that more guns make us safer. If they did, the United States would be the safest nation on earth. That clearly isn't the case. I choose to not live in the fear of other people with guns and ask that others respect that choice. If you feel you want/need a gun in your home and/or for hunting, I don't have a problem with that. Hunters help us to manage our wildlife populations and should continue to do so, but it is obvious that we need to do something to help prevent the wrong people from obtaining weapons. | |||
| 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? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| priority 1 would be working toward energy independence for the state. We need as a state to encourage & develop our own resources to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels that need to be imported into Wisconsin. priority 2 would be working with educators & parents to improve our public schools to be the best in the nation. The current adversarial approach we have will not work. We need to develop a high quality system to evaluate teachers and need to compensate the best fairly. |
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