Doug Lee's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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Doug Lee has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2014 Political Courage Test.
New York State Legislative Election 2014 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| I am pro-life but respect individual freedom. Individual freedom comes with individual responsibility. The woman should not go through this decision alone. Anyone fathering a child should be a father to the child, should bear equal responsibility and therefore share all the joy and pain . | |||
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 New York's budget.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| No | a) Tapping into New York'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 | ||
| For environment, need strategic plan for capital improvements on sewage plants as they are deteriorating, and frequent sewage spills occurred in rain storms, causing continued degradation of water quality. Instead of spending more money on welfare, we need to create jobs so we have less people on welfare. Make NY truly business friendly. | |||
| Don't increase taxes. Cut spending instead. NY spent over $200 million on prime time TV add for Startup NY. Save that money and cut taxes for everybody. Stop giving tax breaks only to fancy startups - take care of our mom and pop shops too. We wasted $700 million on common core. We are proposing $2 billion to give computers to schools - let's be more prudent and find out what our individual schools really need. | |||
| No need to cut services. We can increase revenue by genuinely helping businesses. It takes two years to start a fast food restaurant due to red tape. Let's have the IDAs help simplify business building process. We have rich natural gas resources that can be developed safely. Pennsylvania developed gas and its economy is blooming with a lot of jobs created. Contamination cases are overblown by media. Solar panel manufacturing, in contrast, is an extremely polluting process and that's why we ship manufacturing to Asia. Four parts of toxic waste is produced for every part of panel material. | |||
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 spending should be moderated as increased spending does not correspond to better communication of what a candidate represents. The voting process should be facilitated to encourage greater participation of eligible voters, as long as eligibility can be reasonably assured. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | e) Do you support enacting legislation raising the age for adult criminal prosecution from 16 years old? | ||
| Yes | f) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| No | g) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| I am prolife but support capital punishment in extreme cases. I support use of marijuana for medical reasons, but not leisure use. While some may argue that its use is no more detrimental than alcohol, its use is less conspicuous and therefore more difficult to control. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | g) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| Regulations need to be streamlined to spur economic development. Stop squandering on solar subsidies. The $750 million subsidy to solar panel factory in Buffalo and another billion on wind farms and solar farms only increase tax burden and utility rates, and toxic manufacturing waste only adds to global pollution. Allow gas drilling as it will spur economy, reduce tax burden for Nassau County, and create jobs across state. Businesses will grow once punitive regulatory burden is reduced, and when tax burden is reduced. Jobs will be created as businesses grow, so no reason to add spending for benefits. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from New York high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Common core processes developed by contractors instead of our own educators only serve to disrupt our existing systems. Teachers need to be recognized for their performance and dedication, but not by inflexible external criteria that are arbitrary and ill conceived. We have primary responsibility on our own citizens. We may take care of others in need as resources are available, but not at the detriment of our own people. | |||
| 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 New York'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? | ||
| Provide funding for alternative energy research. Stop funding on solar farms and wind farms. The technology is immature and extremely polluting. The systems are expensive and inefficient. The subsidies result in more global pollution with little energy produced. Rate increases result, add to already high energy costs. Solar panel production uses energy mostly from coal, and is inefficient so does not help carbon footprint. The manufacturing process produces copious amounts of toxic waste which is a problem for safe storage, and has already caused severe pollution in manufacturing countries. Natural gas production would pay for itself and needs no subsidy. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| Gun ownership is a right that comes with responsibility. Firearms safety training should be a prerequisite before any firearms purchase. License should be required for handguns but not long arms. Secure safekeeping should be a requirement. I do not support the SAFE act as it puts emphasis on cosmetics, and not address real world gun violence. It emphasizes on "assault" rifles. Fact is vast majority of gun crimes are committed with illegal handguns which the SAFE act does not address. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| No | d) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Ordinary and customary healthcare should be provided for every citizen. The baseline should be established based on commonly available treatment and technology, and what the community considered to be the right balance for revenue versus expense. Any treatment above and beyond the ordinary should be the responsibility of the individual, and covered by optional insurance. Outrageous legal settlements disrupts healthcare service for everyone and need to be avoided. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in New York's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in New York's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| I support equality regardless of gender, religion, race, or sexual orientation. Marriage provides commitment and bonding and is conducive to a stable community. | |||
| 1. Redirect industrial development agency efforts to streamlining business regulations and coordinating business development support efforts. Help cut taxes and energy costs for all businesses instead of just the glamorous few. 2. Stop wasting tax dollars, such as prime time TV ads for startup NY, solar farms that generate limited energy but cause global pollution, the Buffalo solar panel plant that costs 750 million dollars, and the 70o million in the faulty implementation of Common Core. 3. Allow responsible development of natural gas for jobs and economy. It has the best safety and environmental record amongst all alternatives. |
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