Mark Lester'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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Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Due to a later filing deadline, a lack of contact information, or other circumstances delaying entry into our database, Mark Lester was not directly invited to take the 2014 Political Courage Test. Mark Lester is still welcome to submit the test at any time.
Issue Positions
For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2014.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "We need to return to the Clinton-era tax rates for our wealthiest citizens." (www.lesterforcongress.com)
- The United States leads the world in research with great universities and research institutes like Alabama'sSouthern Research Institute. Over the past few years research budgets have been cut and cut again. To maintain our competitive advantage, we must properly fund research and support STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). (www.lesterforcongress.com)
- The United States spends less of a percentage of its GDP on infrastructure than China or Europe. To continue to do so is a recipe for economic disaster. We must invest more resources in roads, bridges, and hundreds of other areas to ensure we give our children an even stronger nation than our parents gave us. (www.lesterforcongress.com)
- "Education is the best investment that our country can make in its future. As a teacher, I know full well the power of education and its tremendous ability to change lives. To be effective, education must start at an early age, with initiatives like Head Start and year-round, free lunch programs empowering students to do their best. We also need to stop squeezing the middle class, which is making it impossible for parents to provide a higher education for their children. Finally, we should pay greater scrutiny to private, for-profit universities, so as to ensure that they are providing quality education, not just burdensome debt." (www.lesterforcongress.com)
- We need to focus more of our resources on renewable energy such as solar and wind. We should end subsidies for oil and coal. There will be costs, but in the long run, it will cut costs of production and make our economy more competitive. Also, shifting to "21st Century energy" will lessen our dependence on foreign energy and address the dangers of climate change that endanger our health. (www.lesterforcongress.com)
- "By being good stewards of our environment, we will strengthen our nation's health, national security, and economy. We need to ensure that we have effective protections for our environment. Let's face it, the science is unmistakable: our planet is experiencing climate change. Climate change not only threatens agricultural production, but it also risks more floods and droughts. We must address such developments by taking advantage of "21st Century Energy" sources." (www.lesterforcongress.com)
- "This does not mean that there can be no discussion as to how guns may be safely used. Reasonable requirements that protect our safety, many of which are supported by law enforcement officials, such as vigorous background screenings to purchase guns (including people at gun shows), the sharing of firearm trace information, and the prohibition of assault rifles and extended magazines, should be considered." (www.lesterforcongress.com)
- "We need to quit making health care a partisan issue. Talking about the wholesale repeal of the Affordable Care Act doesn't work to solve the real problems that plague our health care system." (www.lesterforcongress.com)
- "The United States is a nation of immigrants. We need a comprehensive national policy that upholds existing laws and secures our borders, while also providing a fair path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants." (www.lesterforcongress.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- America must continue its democratic leadership role in the world. We must prevent Iran from obtaining the capability of producing nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them. We should continue political, military, economic, diplomatic and other efforts against Al Qaeda and ISIS. Most importantly, while we want to be fair, we need to support the State of Israel, always remembering it is a nation that shares our values of liberty, pluralism, and the rule of law. (www.lesterforcongress.com)
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