Susan Sneed's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Susan Sneed submitted the 2020 Political Courage Test after the official deadline.
Tennessee State Legislative Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support legalizing abortion when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | |||
| Women's health is at risk in Tennessee. We have too many uninsured women who will not receive adequate pre-natal care and we have high postpartum maternal death rates compared to other states. Healthy girls and women make healthy workers, partners, mothers, and leaders. Women should be empowered to get the healthcare they and their doctors deem necessary. Any decision to abort a pregnancy is a tragedy, usually occasioned by difficult (often tragic) circumstances. That decision is between a woman her faith, her partner and her doctor. Further, men's preventative options must be expanded so they too have good choices. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| Yes | b) In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| The economy doesn't work the same way for all Tennesseans. Paying the "fair share" falls on the middle class. High wealth individuals often know how to avoid and defer taxes. A luxury tax on purchases like yachts and other high priced goods would at least begin to offer revenue to the state and tax those who can afford such goods. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a limit on campaign contributions to state candidates? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| As to the question of supporting regulation of "indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions" I dispute lumping unions in with corporations. Because corporations are controlled by boards of directors and unions are controlled by membership putting these two in the same category creates a false equivalence. For that reason I had do answer no. I do believe that there should be more regulation on corporate campaign contributions. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| No | b) Should an individual under 18 accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the use of private prisons in Tennessee? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| I find the imprisonment of human beings as a private enterprise to be morally reprehensible. The argument that somehow private prisons will be "better" because of efficiencies created by the market and competition, begs the question of what a "better" prison is. We certainly have not seen "better" prisons during COVID. The privatized prisons in TN have been hotbeds of the virus. If a privatized prison is a "better" prison it then becomes clear that the measure for "better" doesn't take the well-being of the imprisoned into the equation. For that reason such an industry is morally bankrupt. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | b) Do you support lowering state income taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Tennessee? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring employers to provide paid family leave? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| My support for state support to businesses and corporations extends to smaller TN businesses, not chains like Ruth Chris, Walmart, Hobby Lobby. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Tennessee? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Tennessee? | ||
| Yes | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Tennessee high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring transgender athletes to compete in intramural and interscholastic sports that match their biological sex? | ||
| No | f) Do you support allowing college athletes to be compensated for the use of their name, image and likeness? | ||
| It's crucial to clarify the term "charter schools." I am responding to this question as if this term means any school that would take monies out of the public education system "following" a student who chose to go to that school. I do not support the ESA, voucher project pushed by Governor Lee. As to "Immigrants unlawfully present in the US who graduate from Tennessee high schools" most probably have parents who have worked and paid taxes in Tennessee, thus they have contributed to the state and federal economy and should be able to participate as citizens in state institutions. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| Tennessee can only benefit from investment in renewable energy. There are several sources for renewable energy in our great state. We have an abundance of biomass and more that adequate solar in much of the state, as well as the knowledge and technology to utilize an perfect processes for the delivery of renewable energy. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| No | c) Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom after passing gun safety training? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| I reject the false equivalence between "gun control" legislation and "gun safety" legislation. I support gun safety. Gun safety comprises basic practices like: live fire training before granting a permit, locked storage of firearms, storage of firearms in a separate location from ammunition. There are several ways the state might make the presence of firearms in the state safer. On simple example would be to require liability insurance on a gun, just as we require liability insurance on a car would be one way to incentivize gun safety. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Tennessee's health care programs? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| No | d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | ||
| The need for Medicaid expansion has been proven in state after state for the last ten years. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Tennessee's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Tennessee state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| Paying men more than women is an offense against the competence of all workers. | |||
| My campaign core principles are to work for the common good. Our lives as Tennesseans are all connected, as the COVID-19 crisis has made plain. My values are from my faith and from common sense as well. I believe in the maxim "Love your neighbor as yourself." Someone put it simply "We all do better when we all do better." The common good involves our health, our education, and the ability of all to succeed with commitment and hard work. Unfortunately in Tennessee right now not all are able to afford access to good healthcare. | |||
| My top priorities include all Tennesseans having access to the foundational good of health and healthcare. We have to have hospitals and people with coverage to pay their bills for TN to survive this pandemic. Medicaid Expansion, bringing our federal tax dollars home will pay for our health. Supporting public schools and teachers can be achieved by fixing the broken formula through which we fund education. Raising the minimum wage will also create a virtuous cycle as consumers have more money in their pockets more TN businesses will thrive. This too has been proven in states like ours. |
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