Bill Rutherford'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.
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Bill Rutherford has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2016 Political Courage Test.
Idaho 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? | ||
| Planned Parenthood spends 90% of their budget on Prevention and Education. They do more than any organization in this country to prevent the need for abortions and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted disease. If someone is truly against abortion and sexually transmitted diseases, they should give their support to organizations like Planned Parenthood. Ignorance is our worst enemy. | |||
1) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Idaho'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 Idaho'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 | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Environment | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Small business taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Sales taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | j) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| No | k) Do you support applying sales taxes to all online purchases? | ||
| l) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Idaho's legislature needs to reduce and/or eliminate Corporate Sales Tax Exemptions and reduce unnecessary overhead cost in the state's budget. The state loses $300M to $500M per year due to these sales tax exemptions and another $300M to $600M in excess overhead cost. Its the legislature's job to oversee the expenditure of state funds. | |||
| Our public defender fund needs 80% more money ($25M) to meet our constitutional requirements. | |||
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? | ||
| Claims of wide spread voter fraud are totally unsubstantiated. Our problem is getting people to vote and we should be addressing how to make this easier, not more difficult. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| The death penalty in this country is reserved for those who could not afford to pay for their own attorney. 90% of death-row inmates were defended by a public defender. I don't see this inequity ever being rectified so I don't support the death penalty even though certain offenders certainly deserve it. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| a - Investing in infrastructure, Education and Public Safety helps to attract economic growth and benefits everyone. | |||
| No | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| Yes | 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 Idaho high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| b - when you start signaling out people for rewards there are consequences that may be negative and counter-productive. Its hard to answer this question unless I know how the program really works and if its been proven to be effective and overall well accepted. c - Idaho lawmakers eliminated Tenure for teachers. I think tenure added to a teacher's job security and allowed them to be more willing to speak out against policies that may be counter-productive. This benefits the students. d- we need to support our neighborhood schools and stop fragmenting our public education system | |||
| 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 Idaho'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? | ||
| f - I also support restoring property rights to individuals who don't want this work on their property. Local government should be allowed to regulate this. a, b - these activities need to stay in the private market and succeed or fail on their own merits. They are either competitive or they aren't. Environmental regulations need to control the impact on the environment. c - Infrastructure improvements that benefit everyone should be publicly funded. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| d - As a minimum anyone who carries a gun should demonstrate that they know how to handle, clean and properly store a gun for their own safety as well the safety of others. We make people get licenses to drive cars in order to protect themselves and the public so why not do the same for guns? | |||
| 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? | ||
| c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | |||
| Yes | d) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| 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? | ||
| c - I don't know what this is - no comment at this time | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Idaho's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Idaho's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| d) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Political Reform 1.Women's Rights 2. Campaign Finance - 3. Represent everyone 4. Living Wages - Local Control 5. Rule of Law - stop lawsuits 6. Public Defender System 7. Water Quality, Public Lands 8. Stop Discrimination Education 1. Teacher Shortage -Support Teachers 2. Investigate attempts to privatize our public schools. 3. Support Local School Boards 4. Reduce Corporate Sales Tax Exemptions - 5. Reduce Education Budget Overhead Cost - 6. Properly Administer State Contracts 7. Transparency in Charter Schools Health Care 1.Veteran Health Care 2.Protect our Children 3. Medical Care for all - Medi-Gap solution 4. Medically Underserved and Medicare. |
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