Mike Blizzard's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Mike Blizzard has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2014 Political Courage Test.
Maryland State Legislative Election 2014 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? | ||
| For question C I would certainly encourage the mother to carry the baby to term in the case of rape but I understand the trauma this may cause and would oblige her request to terminate in that rare case. As a man I can never fully understand so I am reluctant to voice opinions as I will never be in that position. My hope always is that the unborn child is given a chance at his or her life that was created. | |||
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 Maryland'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 | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Slightly Decrease | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| No | a) Tapping into Maryland'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 | ||
| No | e) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| We have to begin cutting spending or else our children will be saddled with a burden of debt at not only the national level of 17.6 trillion, but also the state level. We need to freeze any spending increases and begin to find new monies by making government more efficient. We need to increase opportunities for the private sector so that we will be increasing the number of jobs and workers, thus increasing revenues that can be spent on areas of need and on tax breaks for over-burdened citizens, thus stimulating the economy for even more growth in the future. | |||
| Tax cuts will stimulate the economy and private sector giving everyone more income; even the state lawmakers who can't seem to get enough tax revenue to spend. A high tide raises all boats. | |||
| There are plenty of opportunities to handle all of the above without cuts to people who work hard. We certainly do not need to raid the rainy day fund. With all of the public sector jobs Maryland has because of D.C., if we could get the private sector jump-started and performing again through incentivizing, then we could be one of the richest states with a bright future in the country. We are far to dependent on the federal government to fuel our state economy. When the U.S. government starts to contract we are in a world of hurt. | |||
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? | ||
| On voter ID - As long as the government issued ID is made free of charge for low income people than it is not an impediment to them casting a legal ballot. We should all be able to agree on that. | |||
| 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 legalizing 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? | ||
| D. The term minor is too broad....10 year old is a minor...the answer is no. 16 year old would be yes...so in some instances. E. Again it depends on age and understanding of the issue. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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 government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| D. As long as it is across the board and the state is not empowered to pick winners and losers. No crony loans or good old boy hand-outs. G. I am not in favor of government involvement here but would consider a modest increase to match the levels it was at at the time of the last increase. A simple increase to account for cost of living adjustments since the last increase. | |||
| 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 Maryland high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| A. I like the raising of standards, but I do not like tying funding from any source to standardized test results. This encourages education systems to teach to test which is what we have now. B. Under the correct guidelines. G. If they are paying the same tax rates as legal citizens and they are trying to go to community college's which turn away nobody, then yes...but for universities which have a limited number of seats? The answer is no because a legal citizen may then lose their chance at that seat in a college or university. | |||
| 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 Maryland's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| A. Private sector will find the alternative solutions faster than public sector. E. I would almost always vote no on question E because government regulation always seems to get out of control. However if there were reasonable level set in a piece of legislation I cannot rule out the possibility that I would vote in favor or government regulation. This is a difficult area that opens Pandora's box, but business has proven it cannot govern itself in this area. | |||
| 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? | ||
| A. Guns no...weapons of mass destruction yes....I can't allow private folks to posses missile systems etc which some on the fringe of this issue would argue. I will protect all citizens rights in the Constitution. (U.S. and Maryland) | |||
| 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 Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| No | 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) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Maryland's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Maryland's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| A. Support is not the right word. It is not up to me to take away the civil rights of any citizen in the state and that includes civil unions allowing couples of same sex to wed and enjoy the same benefits that a hetero sexual couple enjoys. However I do not want to force churches to marry these couples. Churches should have the right to refuse if it violates what they believe. Everyone's rights need to be protected here. I support same-sex civil unions. C. If this is asking about Trans-gender bathroom bill I am not in favor. | |||
| I want to change how we do government...we need to get the people involved. Currently the public is apathetic. They do not believe their vote counts or will ever make a difference. Many in government take advantage of that and have made a career of politics. We hope to change this via an app we developed called Voter Power Maryland. It can be accessed at www.voterpowermaryland.com Term limits is another way to change government. Reduce spending and cut taxes which will in turn produce more tax revenue as has been proven out wherever it has been done |
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