Christopher Matthews' Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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Christopher Matthews has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Idaho State Legislative Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| On the issue of abortion, we need to focus more on ways we can work within the law to lower abortions through prevention of unwanted pregnancies by providing evidence based education and providing contraceptives. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| No | b) In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| No | c) In order to reduce property taxes, do you support increasing the Idaho sales tax? | ||
| We can find better ways to reduce property taxes than increasing sales tax which puts a greater financial strain on our working class. We can form a committee to investigate potential waste in our state government and review tax exemptions to save and generate revenue to help relieve the burden on our property owners and pay our public servants and educators a fair and competitive wage. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a limit 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| I support an opt in vote by mail option as well. One that also is accountable to potential voter fraud and takes people off of the mail in option if they miss 2 consecutive elections. I also believe firmly that we need to get money out of politics so that our elected officials can focus on good governance as opposed to raising funds for their next election. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | 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 Idaho? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support lowering state income 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 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 Idaho? | ||
| 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? | ||
| I believe we should be working towards building a robust Middle Class and evaluating regulations that our hindering economic growth for our local economies and local businesses. I am dedicated to giving local business the support and incentives necessary to compete with larger corporations. If we are to talk about raising the minimum wage, we need to protect our small businesses that will have a harder time paying greater wages, we can give these small businesses greater tax breaks to help. I believe the minimum wage should be linked to the consumer price index. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Idaho? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Idaho? | ||
| No | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Idaho high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| We have to be competitive with Teacher's Salaries, we don't have to pay the most but we have to give our teachers more incentive not to cross the border and make a better financial decision for their family thereby reducing the number of good teachers staying in Idaho. | |||
| 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? | ||
| d) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Idaho's health care programs? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| I fully support access to affordable quality Healthcare. That said, I do believe in personal responsibility, so mandating people require Health Insurance is not something Government should be enforcing. We should be focused on finding ways to make the cost of Healthcare as affordable as possible so people don't fear going into debt to get the treatment they need. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Idaho's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Idaho's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Idaho state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support legislation that prohibits sexual orientation conversion therapy for individuals under the age of 18? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support inclusion of the Equal Rights Amendment in the state constitution? | ||
| Equal rights under the law means every citizen regardless of age, sexual orientation, religious views, etc. deserve the same treatment and the same rights as every other law abiding citizen. | |||
| Priority one is meeting our Constitutional obligation to fund Education at the state level. Secondly, we need to repeal the Grocery Tax. Third we need to expand Trade Schools to fill the skilled workers gap. | |||
| We can fund Education at the state level in many different ways. One that shows promise is review and identification of tax exemptions that have no sunset and do not benefit our state economy or the people of Idaho, there is the potential to generate enough revenue to pay for Education at the state level through this. Another way we could pay for Education is through Legalizing Marijuana and implementing a modest excise tax to generate new revenue for the state, create jobs and build an industry that will boost our economy, pay for Education, and fund our infrastructure. |
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