Linwood Donelson III has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2017 Political Courage Test.
| Pro-life | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| Yes | c) Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| As to d above, I do not support public funding for non-medically necessary abortions. However, I support funding for other health initiatives that are not abortion related. | |||
1) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing New Jersey's budget.
| Yes | a) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| Yes | b) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | c) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| No | d) An income tax increase on any tax bracket | ||
| As to a above, pension benefits of those already receiving a pension should not be altered. Additionally, pension benefits of existing employees should not be altered unless the employees are given a reasonable amount of time to make adjustments to retirement plans. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| No | 1) Individual | ||
| No | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| No | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 4) Political Party | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| 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? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | f) Do you support delaying the seizure of assets by law enforcement officials until after a conviction? | ||
| As to d above, this depends on the age of the child and the level of sophistication exhibited by the child. As to f above, I would not support that unless a process was created where a determination could be made by a judge that not seizing the assets would not unduly impede the investigation or cause a risk to law enforcement or the public. | |||
| 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 expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| No | f) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support legalized state-sponsored sports betting in New Jersey? | ||
| No | h) Do you support a tax on short-term housing rentals in New Jersey? | ||
| i) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | c) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from New Jersey high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities in New Jersey? | ||
| d) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | 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 open space preservation? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| As to c above, I support regulation of emissions in that I believe regulations should be in place to ensure that air quality does not reach a level that would create a health hazard. | |||
| 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? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| No | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| No | d) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| As to d above, I do not support this because it is still currently illegal under federal law. If the federal law was changed to allow medical marijuana, then I would support d. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in New Jersey's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in New Jersey's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| d) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| The main purpose of my campaign is to make New Jersey a more affordable place to live. We are at or near the top of all states in numerous taxes. Therefore, one priority will be to reduce spending and become more efficient in spending in areas where cuts are not warranted. The second priority will be to lower taxes to increase affordability and spur economic growth. Economic growth will increase revenues that will continue to fund necessary parts of the state budget. |
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