Denise MacMartin'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.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
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Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Denise MacMartin has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2020 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.
Vermont State Legislative Election 2018 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | 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? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| d) Other or expanded principles: | |||
Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Vermont's budget.
| Yes | a) Should the education budget be funded by a new education income tax instead of property taxes? | ||
| No | b) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| No | c) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees? | ||
| No | d) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients? | ||
| Yes | e) An income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| Taxation and regulation of the cannabis market may provide additional revenue and should be explored. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support any limits on campaign contributions to state candidates? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| b) Vermont has regulations for these contributions and I support those regulations. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes? | ||
| c) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | |||
| No | d) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| c) "Minor" covers a large age range, and Vermont has recently changed how minors are prosecuted. I want to see how this change is implemented and whether its intention is met or it leads to unexpected issues before deciding if we need to return to the practice of prosecuting minors as adults in some cases. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| b) Do you support lowering state taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | |||
| c) Do you support reducing state government regulations on the private sector? | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Vermont? | ||
| g) Should Vermont breweries be permitted to terminate distribution agreements with beverage distributors for no cause? | |||
| b) Generally, no. But it would depend on the specific plan. c) There are many regulations so while I may favor reducing one or more I cannot say Yes or No in general. g) I am not informed enough about this issue to have a position at this time. | |||
| a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Vermont? | |||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Vermont high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| a) All or in part? Any time the federal standards change? I have a lot of questions about how this would work, although I am not totally opposed to some standardization. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| d) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| a) Generally, I support some gun safety regulations, depending on the specific regulations. We need more unbiased research on this issue in order to make fully informed decisions. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Vermont's health care programs? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | ||
| No | e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| c) I support universal healthcare, which would eliminate this question. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Vermont's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Vermont's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Vermont state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| c) These efforts should be in the form of first looking at pay gaps in state positions. There should not be the creation of laws that cannot be enforced or that do not really address the issue but that give the appearance of doing so. | |||
| My top three priorities are: 1) accessible and affordable childcare; 2) student loan debt relief; and 3) raising the minimum wage. All of these are concerned with economic opportunity and removing barriers to individuals and families fully participating in the workforce and their communities. In many cases, repurposing of existing resources can be part of the solution. In other cases, any investment in terms of funding would be returned in increased revenue. All of these would address our concerns of retaining and attracting younger workers. |
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