John Wang's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
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John Wang 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-life | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | |||
| 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? | ||
| As someone who suffered under a regime in China who stripped us of the right to have children in general, I believe in the freedom to have children and that every life is sacred. | |||
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.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Environment | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Sales taxes | ||
| a) Tapping into Tennessee's "rainy day" fund | |||
| b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | |||
| c) Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining | |||
| d) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | |||
| e) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | |||
| f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | |||
| I believe that we should be focusing on giving control of Education back to parents, students, and the local government while at the same time working to increase jobs, improve the economy, and decrease the amount of fraud that occurs within the welfare system. | |||
| I will work to decrease taxes in all regards as I don't believe it is fair to the hardworking people of Tennessee who are just trying to work hard and put food on the table. Increasing taxes on the people of the 53rd District is not the answer to solving our problems. | |||
| Other. I would cut fraud, waste and abuse to balance the Tennessee budget. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| 1) Individual | |||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| 4) Political Party | |||
| 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? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | c) Do you support legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | |||
| 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? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| 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 Tennessee high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| No | e) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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? | ||
| f) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | |||
| No | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| No | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| My top two priorities if elected would be as follows: 1. ECONOMY & JOBS: To ensure our economy flourishes, lowering taxes is vital. We must not allow hard-working families to bear the burden. I will create and sponsor innovative legislation that will attract businesses to the district. 2. EDUCATION: With the right education,anything is possible. Our education system is broken and I have a simple strategy to fix it: Keep education close to home and increase market competition by giving tax credits to parents who choose not send their children to public schools. These issues wouldn't require any additional funding. |
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