Jeremy Baker's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Jeremy Baker has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2016 Political Courage Test.
Michigan 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| No | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| No | g) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures? | ||
| No | h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| I do believe in personal choices and all the consequences that come with those choices. I believe that the decision belongs to the mother, the father, and the doctor. I do believe that this decision should be made a priority and not put off till the last minute as the decision affects the life of a child. I do support a time limit on abortions at the 50% viability date in order to press the importance of making the decision in a timely, responsible manner. | |||
1) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Michigan'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 Michigan's "rainy day" fund | ||
| Yes | 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) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Small business taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | g) Sales taxes | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | i) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | j) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Yes | k) Do you support applying sales taxes to all online purchases? | ||
| Too much funding for public universities goes to subsidizing NCAA sports. I support restricting the use of tax payer dollars expressly for tuition and room/board. I do not believe in cutting state employee salaries/pensions in general; however, I do support reducing elected members salaries if outside income exceeds the salary of the office being held. Serving as an elected official is privilege and not a means to make you wealthier. | |||
| Higher education needs to do a better job making sure that tax payer money goes to actual education and not subsidizing NCAA and similar programs. As for all other areas, I feel that there is adequate allocated dollars but far too much wasted full spending and/or inappropriate down stream distribution of funds. By eliminating waste and better allocating funds, we can do a much better job preforming the duties required of the state government without increasing taxes. | |||
| I believe in eliminating the income tax from as many people as possible. Let them keep more of their money, let them save more of their money. As our current system of government requires tax revenue, I instead support a slight increase in sales tax to offset the lost revenue of eliminating income tax. Tax what they spend, not what they earn is what I believe is the better economical way to handle tax revenue. | |||
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 | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| I do support a government-issued photo id, an that id should be issued for free with no hassle. A number of optional proofs of eligibility should be used. Everyone should be able to vote, but without securing the process, how can anyone trust the validity of the results. I also feel that spending limits should be set as a value per citizen represented. I have run my campaign through hard work and minimum spending. Campaigns should not be run with lots of spending and minimum hard work. | |||
| 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Minors accused of certain violent crimes that show will/intent/premeditation should absolutely be tried as adults. I believe that we need to do a better job with reasonable and equal sentencing. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| No | i) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| No | j) Should employers be able to ask about applicants' criminal history before interviewing them? | ||
| Government's roll is not to create jobs. Economic growth happens when people have more money to spend, and the quickest way to accomplish that is to let the middle/lower class keep more/all of their money. Some incentives to the private sector to prompt job growth can be a powerful tool; however, we need to curb/stop corporate subsidies, especially for companies that would fail without the subsidy. | |||
| 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| No | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Michigan high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Yes | h) Should the state of Michigan continue to oversee the Detroit public school system? | ||
| I do not support public funding for for-profit charter schools. Tax dollars should not be used to fill anyone's pocket. The same goes for the vouchers. I would support voucher use only for non-profit schools. I support stat providing college students with financial aid when that aid goes directly to tuition and room/board, but not to subsidizing for-profit venues such as NCAA sports. I understand that our Immigration system is broken and is in desperate need of fixing, but as it stands, illegal immigrants need to become legal immigrants if they want the benefits of the citizens. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| 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 Michigan'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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support increased regulations of the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support extending the mandate that 10% of Michigan's energy comes from renewable energy sources? | ||
| I feel that regulation of greenhouse gas emissions should be put in place, with the private industry left to develop their own solutions. When the government mandates solutions to problems, they stifle creativity and artificially increase the cost of doing business. When faced with problems, the private industry is much better at finding cost conscious solutions. This goes for renewable energy as well. Instead of telling industries how to achieve the 10% renewable mandate, let them find their own solution to the problem. They will find the most cost effective way to tackle it. | |||
| 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? | ||
| I am a strong believer in the 2nd amendment, and a huge supporter of the national right to constitutional carry movement. I am however a realist when it comes to all things, and I do recognize that some people have lost their rights to own a fire arm (prior firearm crimes) and to prevent these people from acquiring fire arms, background checks must be done. They already received due process. I support Blind background checks however, checks that do not generate a list. No one has a right to know what anyone else does with their personal lives. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| The answer to providing health care to low income families isn't mandating that every person purchases health care and than subsidizing health care with tax dollars. Expanded medicaid solved the problem without using tax dollars to line the insurance companies pockets. We need more competition with the insurance industry to bring prices down, and remove the mandate to purchase. When everyone is required to buy something, you can charge whatever you want for the service. Insurance companies are getting richer and 20 million more people have health insurance, but 80 million people can't afford to use it. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Michigan's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Michigan's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| It is 2016. It is time for everyone to realize that we are all the same. A persons being gay has no ill effect on anyone's life. It does not infringe on anyone's rights and as such can not be infringed upon. People being attacked for being LGBT is no different then being attacked for being black, Jewish, or a woman. We realized this was wrong along time ago. It is time for everyone to get on board, and stop pretending that any other human is subhuman. We are all the same. | |||
| I want a more aggressive plan to fix the Flint Water Crisis. 15 years is too long to wait for safe drinking water, and the city is doing an inadequate job fixing the issue. I want the state to take over the project, get more contractors in, and solve this problem in less than 2 years, because even two years is too long. I also want to see reform in our criminal justice system, and increased transparency in government spending. |
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