Eileen Bech's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Eileen Bech has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2016 Political Courage Test.
Montana State Legislative Election 2016 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? | ||
| 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? | |||
| e) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | |||
| f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | |||
| g) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures? | |||
| h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | |||
| The right to an abortion is a now long-standing federal guarantee of personal privacy in matters that are of no concern to the body politic. This is a choice that belongs solely to the people whose bodies and physical, emotional, and spiritual values are involved. I well remember the struggle to guarantee this legal standing. Returning to the days of old would not stop abortions; it would only once again relegate them to illicit procedures of back rooms, shady deals, and life-threatening methods. | |||
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.3) State Taxes: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.
| a) Education (higher) | |||
| b) Education (K-12) | |||
| c) Environment | |||
| d) Health care | |||
| e) Law enforcement/corrections | |||
| f) Transportation/infrastructure | |||
| g) Welfare | |||
| a) Alcohol taxes | |||
| b) Cigarette taxes | |||
| c) Corporate taxes | |||
| d) Small business taxes | |||
| e) Gas/Oil taxes | |||
| f) Property taxes | |||
| g) Income taxes (low-income families) | |||
| h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | |||
| i) Income taxes (high-income families) | |||
| As a first-time candidate, I want more time to research, study, and deliberate before deciding how to change current funding levels. I believe in well-supported public education, and especially in returning to our once proud funding of higher education, which we have increasingly shifted to students through higher tuition percentages. We know we desperately need to fund infrastructure in the state. We are struggling with increasing population and social issues: we need to recognize more people are going to mean more expenditures if we are to continue to preserve our quality of life here. | |||
| According to the "Tax Foundation Facts and Figures for 2015" Montana ranks 6th in the nation in its Overall Business Tax Climate Index (1=best;50=worst); 18th Corporate Tax Climate; 20th Individual Income Tax; 3rd Sales Tax; 18th Unemployment Insurance Tax; 8th Property Tax Climate. For State and local Tax Collection per capita we rank 35th: source percentages are: Property Taxes 38.1%; General Sales 0%; Individual Income 24.9%; Corporate Income 3.7%; Other taxes 33.4%. Yet Federal Aid as percentage of our state revenues equals 37.4%, ranking us 6th. Who should pay more? less? This question, too, requires study and deliberation. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| 1) Individual | |||
| 2) Political Action Committee | |||
| 3) Corporate | |||
| 4) Political Party | |||
| b) Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | |||
| c) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | |||
| d) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | |||
| e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | |||
| Montana does have limits on contributions for state candidates and does require timely disclosure of finance information. Unfortunately these have been challenged and reduced by opponents to this reform. As a candidate, I am firmly convinced that we need stringent campaign contribution limits and disclosure provisions, especially if we want to continue to have the citizen legislative process we now have. To do otherwise removes the process from ordinary citizens and fosters a political class comprised of those who have the money to run. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| b) Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | |||
| 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) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | |||
| f) Do you support delaying the seizure of assets by law enforcement officials until after a conviction? | |||
| This is too important a topic to be addressed without input from law enforcement professionals, mental health professionals, and others who deal with crime and safety on a daily basis. I want my grandchildren safe at school, but I don't like them growing up in a police state. I want people to have the help they need with pain relief, but I don't want it to be an excuse for indiscriminate drug use. Our prisons are over-crowded: do we continue to slam offenders behind bars, or are we willing to look at ourselves to see where we can help? | |||
| a) Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | |||
| b) Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | |||
| c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | |||
| Yes | d) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| e) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | |||
| f) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | |||
| g) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | |||
| h) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | |||
| i) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | |||
| j) Should employers be able to ask about applicants' criminal history before interviewing them? | |||
| No | k) Do you support transferring the control over some federal land to the Montanan state government? | ||
| Montanans have polled overwhelmingly in favor of protecting the public in public lands. I am adamantly opposed to efforts to weaken our state and national treasures by outsourcing their management to private or appointed boards or individuals. Our problems are ones of funding and commitment to funding the needs of these lands. We cannot continue to cut budgets and expect our lands to stay healthy and able to fulfill their role in our economy and our lives. | |||
| a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | |||
| b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | |||
| 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? | ||
| f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | |||
| g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Montana high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | |||
| Education plays a vital role in our economy, in our social fabric, and in our personal lives. Part of what made our country great was its commitment over the last 100 years and more to universal free education; public schools by definition give everyone an opportunity, regardless of ability, socio-economic status, faith, culture, etc.; they are the one place where we can learn to live together. Taking taxes out for private purposes absolutely reduces the funding pubic schools receive. Making our public schools relevant, effective, and exceptional must be our constant mission. Other countries have succeeded; we can too. | |||
| a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | |||
| b) Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)? | |||
| c) Do you support state funding for improvements to Montana's energy infrastructure? | |||
| d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | |||
| e) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | |||
| Yes | f) Do you support increased regulations of the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry? | ||
| We live in a transitional age, a transitioning economy. And transitions are difficult. I support as orderly and fair a transition to the coming energy infrastructure as we can possibly afford, while easing the burdens faced by those individuals affected by it. Montana has a frontier heritage of self-reliance: we can be on the energy frontier, weaning ourselves from fossil fuels in order to protect the exceptional environmental health we in this state still have. But it will take creativity, it will take cooperation, and it will take compassion. | |||
| a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | |||
| b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | |||
| c) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | |||
| d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | |||
| I value the hunting and self-reliant heritage we are heir to as Montanans. But I hate to see us become a fearful society that resorts to believing we are safe because we own a gun. We require licenses on our cars, on our trucks, on our boats, and on our trailers; we require licenses to drive, we require licenses to fish, we require licenses to hunt: why should we not require licenses on our guns? I think it is imperative we understand and resolve the threats and the fears that make guns seem the necessary answer to personal safety. | |||
| a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | |||
| b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | |||
| c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | |||
| d) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | |||
| 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? | |||
| g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | |||
| In this, as in so much legislation, the devil is in the details; the best intentions in legislation may be skewed simply by the wording. In general, I support increasing access to affordable medical coverage. What we have now is better than what we had in many ways, but it is only a rough beginning to a better future. We require car insurance: I support requiring health insurance, but we must make it feasible financially so that it becomes an improvement not a detriment. I want to see the language and perceived outcomes before I commit to any precept. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Montana's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Montana's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Whom we choose to love and how we define our individual identity is not the business of the state. | |||
| One of my highest priorities is preserving the public's control of and access to our public lands -- that does not require any additional funding, but it does require resolve and a continuing commitment to fund their management and protection. I am committed to assuring the children of our state have access to quality public education, and that our state recognizes its obligation to adequate funding of our institutions of higher education: learning is a lifelong process, especially in today's economy. Thirdly, I want to assure that our state enacts policies that are fair to wage earners. |
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