Michael Walsh's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Michael Walsh has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2014 Political Courage Test.
Tennessee State Legislative Election 2014 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| -Isolated instances may occur when abortions post-1st trimester are needed for minors and others. -Parental permission/notification should be handled on a case by case basis. There could be situations when a minor seeking or needing an abortion could be placed in harm's way by involving the parents. | |||
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 Tennessee's budget.
| Slightly Increase | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Environment | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Health care | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Slightly Increase | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Yes | a) Tapping into Tennessee'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 | ||
| -With the current knowledge of how quickly children's brains start imprinting, I believe mandatory funding should occur for pre-K education for programs similar to HeadStart. -Tennessee's failure to expand its Medicaid/TennCare program has left thousands of Tennesseans without any affordable healthcare and removed the safety net anticipated when the Affordable Care Act was made law. | |||
| -sales taxes create a disproportionate burden for low-income, fixed-income, and working families' income. -corporations should carry a more proportionate share of the tax burden. -gas and oil, and property taxes impact most significantly on working families' income and their wages have not significantly risen in over 30 years (adjusting for inflation). | |||
| -tuition rates should not be increased unless interest rates on student loans were at a minimal level. -State employees receive extremely small, if any, salary increases on an annual basis. -the elimination of collective bargaining and unions is part of the reasons why wages have not risen for decades. -reducing medicaid benefits only further increases the burden that low-income Tennesseans already carry. | |||
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? | ||
| -the reform of campaign financing laws and the elimination of "dark" money in campaigns should become a high priority for the General Assembly. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| -a "yes" or "no" answer regarding capital punishment is extremely difficult to state because there are so many extenuating and mitigating circumstances involved. -there should be alternative ways of dealing with perpetrators of 'victim-less' crimes and non-violent offenders. -the prosecution of minors accused of violent crimes should be dealt with on a case by case basis. | |||
| 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? | ||
| -State funded job-training programs should be considered part of Tennessee's education system as much as K-12 education. -incentives are given to corporations to locate in Tennessee and incentives for job creation are equally as appropriate. -working families are certainly as deserving of assistance as failing corporations and banks. -wages for working families have been static for over 3 decades and this Nation is one of the few developed nations that does not have laws covering minimum wages. They should more accurately be referred to as living wages. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Tennessee high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| -the theory of having educational standards that do not vary from one State to another is certainly desirable. How it is achieved should be given extremely close scrutiny. -it seems as though the system of vouchers and Charter Schools depletes the funds available for public education systems and consequently would decrease the quality of the public education system. -Children brought to this country as minors with no control over their circumstances should not be punished. It would be pointless to penalize the educated child or place further educational chances beyond their reach. | |||
| 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 Tennessee'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? | ||
| -it is pointless to continue to underwrite corporations that do not work to decrease their carbon footprint when there are alternative sources of energy that minimize their impact on 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| -reforming gun laws is way overdue. It is ridiculous to think that the registration and licensing of guns will lead to the government knocking down citizen's doors and removing their guns. -hunting is a time honored sport and in these days it is also the only means of some families having food on their table. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| No | 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 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? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| -with the amount of evidence showing that homosexuality is not a "chosen life-style" but a function of genetic makeup, i.e., a person is born that way, there is no reason why there should be any discrimination or anything less than full equality at all level of their lives. | |||
| I feel that health, education and jobs are so intertwined with each other that they constitute a Gordian knot. Actions taken in one area impact the other areas. Without Medicaid/TennCare expansion, Tennessee has passed up $2.5 million a day. This directly affected jobs and healthcare. Studies by Tennessee universities have shown the positive impacts that expansion would have accomplished. Many Tennesseans that I have been in touch with in my district feel that the Governor and many members of the General Assembly have lost sight of why they are in office and they no longer relate to Tennessee's working families. |
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