Mark Bedell's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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Mark Bedell has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2016 Political Courage Test.
Maine 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| 1st trimester ONLY in any case. Where I put "yes" above I meant 1st trimester only and I am against any public funding of abortion of any kind. | |||
1) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Maine's budget.2) State Spending: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.
| No | a) Tapping into Maine's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Decreasing funding for public universities | ||
| No | c) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| No | d) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | e) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Slightly Decrease | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Environment | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| Slightly Decrease | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Small business taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | g) Sales taxes | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | i) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | j) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Yes | k) Do you support applying sales taxes to all online purchases? | ||
| None of these are necessary. There are plenty of other areas to cut. The best thing is to create more income by lowering the corporate tax rate and inciting more manufacturing companies to Maine. | |||
| As far as education goes, I'd like decentralize it and have far more local control. Each municipality can choose their system of education and also allow school choice. The State's involvement should be far less and the Fed should not have a say at all except for standardized testing. | |||
| As I wrote above, we need to attract businesses back to this state, manufacturing, tech, motion picture, etc... | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| No | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| No | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support maintaining the provisions of the Maine Clean Election Act? | ||
| Question (d) It's not that I think the parties should handle redistricting.... I just don't think we should redistrict at all. I am running a "clean elections" campaign now. It is NOT a perfect system. I got the $5,000 and that is enough for any small district campaign. Some are urging me to go for more but I am not. I will likely be sending some back. I would love to get all the money out of politics. It has caused all the corruption we are dealing with now. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support delaying the seizure of assets by law enforcement officials until after a conviction? | ||
| No | g) Do you support additional funding for programs intended to reduce drug addiction in Maine? | ||
| Question (b): I DO support alternatives to incarceration but not those. Mandatory and supervised work, yes. Parole, yes. Question (d): Yes... in SOME cases. Question (g): If we come up with a system that actually works then sure I would consider increasing the funding... but so far, it does not seem to be working very well. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | d) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| No | e) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | h) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| No | i) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| Yes | j) Should employers be able to ask about applicants' criminal history before interviewing them? | ||
| Question (d): I am FOR that program.... just not for INCREASED funding. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| No | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Maine high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| illegal immigrants are illegal. They should receive no benefits whatsoever. Questions (e) and (f): please keep in mind my earlier comments on education. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| 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 Maine'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? | ||
| No | f) Do you support increased regulations of the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Question (b): AT gun shows, yes. A background check should be required. However, all this nonsense about needing to go through an FFL dealer in order to hand a gun down to your son or daughter, no. That's just crazy. | |||
| 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 ("Obamacare")? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Maine's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Maine's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| When same sex marriage was on the ballot in Maine I voted for it. It is a state's right. But the Supreme Court ruling that shoved this down the throats of every state is wrong and un-Constitutional. | |||
| Lowering corporate income taxes and easing regulations on business in order to attract businesses to Maine. Tax incentives for big budget films shot in Maine. Tax breaks and lowering corporate taxes does not need to be "paid for". They will bring in far more money and if we don't do it... we won't get any of their money because they won't come here. I am also a proud member of the NRA and I will defend gun rights. |
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