Bruce Folken's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
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Bruce Folken has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2014 Political Courage Test.
Minnesota State Legislative Election 2014 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Choosing to have an abortion is probably one the most difficult decisions a woman would ever have to make, that choice should continue to be made available to every woman and her partner. | |||
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 Minnesota's budget.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Environment | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Slightly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | 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) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| No | a) Tapping into Minnesota'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 | ||
| Need to increase our emphasis on dealing with mental health issues at both the federal and state level. Not nearly enough is being done and because of that we are having to deal with problems at the backend in law enforcement/corrections, education, health care, and welfare. The cost of doing nothing with mental health today is too great - we need to collaborate at all levels to come up with viable solutions. | |||
| Need to close tax loopholes to insure that the taxes that are being applied are being collected. W-2 salaried and time card employees have no choice but to pay what they are being taxed. Tax rates are meaningless if the tax goes uncollected. As a former tax preparer it was apparent that tax codes have been modified to provide special interest groups and their lobbyists with numerous opportunities to avoid taxes. | |||
| Using one time gimmicks (taking money from the schools, using cigarette tax revenue, shutting down the government, etc. ) as was done during the 2010 -2012 legislative session is ineffective short term policy. | |||
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? | ||
| Campaign finance is a major issue. The Supreme Court's Citizen's United decision has caused more problems that it has solved. Large contributors can now get a tax deduction for their contributions and can hide behind a shadow organization. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Common sense law enforcement works best. Excessive penalties do not change behavior - counseling changes behavior - prison bars do not.. | |||
| 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? | ||
| 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 government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Minnesota high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Greater emphasis needs to be placed on providing educators with support in dealing with all of the new challenges related to varying languages, cultures, and family dynamics. Less time and energy spent on testing and teaching to the test and more time on actually teaching. Too much administrative time is spent on adhering to testing guidelines and not enough time spent actually teaching. Ask me about my answer re tenure.. 612 719 4711..Poorly worded question. | |||
| 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 Minnesota'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? | ||
| Conditional support for alternative energy development as long as the purpose is to actually create new energy. The government needs to insure that they are protected and covered as was too often not the case during the funding of the ethanol industry. Funding should not be used to protect large corporations from competitive forces. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| I have been robbed at gun point twice - so I get it.. We need to find a way to get guns out of the hands of people who want to hurt people. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| The introduction of the MNsure plan has opened the doors to provide more people to obtain health insurance and affordable health care. The plan eliminated the insurance companies to pick and choose customers by eliminating issues related to pre-existing conditions. Also closed the Medicaid donut hole and expanded Medicaid to more families. Numerous cases of small business owners saying they are receiving better health care at lower cost. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Minnesota's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Minnesota's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| d) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| As a former educator, education will always be a priority especially as it relates to developing a well educated work force but my top priorities will be identifying best practices for treating the wide array of mental health issues our citizens are facing today. Current health insurance needs to be improved to provide more affordable and dependable mental health care. We are currently paying to deal with mental health issues on the back end in our schools, jails, social services and healthcare. Need to restructure how we pay for these costs. Transportation will also be a major focus. |
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