Dave Wiester's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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Dave Wiester has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Minnesota State Legislative Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support legalizing abortion when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| Abortion should only be allowed in cases where a pregnant person wants to have an abortion. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| Yes | b) In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| c) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| a) Do you support a limit on campaign contributions to state candidates? | |||
| b) Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | |||
| Yes | c) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| Yes | f) Should Minnesota move toward a ranked-choice voting system? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| b) Should an individual under 18 accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | |||
| No | c) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the use of private prisons in Minnesota? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the legalization of recreational marijuana? | ||
| Marijuana should be relegalized and all past marijuana convictions should be expunged. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | b) Do you support lowering state income taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | |||
| No | d) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Minnesota? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring employers to provide paid family leave? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| When the minimum wage is increased, the state should provide a short-term wage subsidy for small businesses to help them adjust to the increased expense. Amazon, Target, & Wal-Mart can afford to pay living wages. Mom & Pop businesses might have more challenges. The wage subsidy for small businesses should replace the current expenditures we finance for welfare and food stamps provided to employees of big businesses that are too greedy to pay a living wage. We must also reduce regulatory barriers against building more affordable housing. Without enough affordable housing, the minimum wage needed will continue to rise. | |||
| a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Minnesota? | |||
| b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | |||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Minnesota? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Minnesota high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Colorado raised $1 billion in tax revenue over its first 5 years of legal marijuana. Much of that goes to education there. Minnesota should also relegalize marijuana and use the tax revenue from it to improve education. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state regulations on fuel economy standards? | ||
| Even if fossil fuels were not contributing to climate change (they are), the fact that their emissions are harmful to human health and the fact that they're non-renewable are adequate reasons for phasing them out. Hemp is one of multiple plants that can be used as a source of bio-diesel fuel. It's much less polluting than petroleum, it's renewable, and the CO2 released by burning it is less than the CO2 absorbed by the plants that it's derived from. If a pipeline of biodiesel fuel leaks into a river, it's much easier to clean up than oil. | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | |||
| Yes | c) Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom after passing gun safety training? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| Increase funding for public defenders and replace cash bail by releasing suspects with GPS-trackable ankle monitors. This should reduce the number of people who get wrongfully convicted of crimes and, thus, needlessly lose their gun rights. We need to improve implicit bias training in the criminal justice system so that People of Color can exercise their gun rights without getting arrested or shot. I support financial aid for people who have trouble affording the class and fee for getting a carry permit. The state should provide guns to people who cannot afford them. I oppose any gun or magazine ban. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Minnesota's health care programs? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | ||
| I'm in favor of just about anything that health insurance companies are against. They have done for the image of capitalism what the Westboro Baptist Church has done for the image of Christianity. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Minnesota's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Minnesota's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Minnesota state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support expanding anti-discrimination laws to include hair textures and protective hairstyles? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support legislation that prohibits sexual orientation conversion therapy for individuals under the age of 18? | ||
| Parents who kick their minor children out of their homes for being GLBT should be required to provide financial support for the estranged kids. | |||
| Increase funding for public defenders and replace cash bail with releasing suspects with GPS-trackable ankle monitors so as to reduce wrongful convictions of poor people. Companies using prison labor in Minnesota should be required to provide living wage jobs to at least 50% of ex-cons who worked on those companies' projects. Eliminate local ordinances that zone out multi-unit housing so that more affordable housing can be built. Relegalize adult sex work. People with pedophilic urges who haven't offended yet should be allowed to enroll in sex offender rehabilitation so as to prevent them from harming kids. | |||
| Relegalize marijuana and expunge past convictions for it. This would allow a popular commodity to be taxed and reduce the money currently spent on prosecution and incarceration. People with expunged records may have more economic opportunities and expand the tax base. |
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