Joanne Romano-Csonka's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Joanne Romano-Csonka has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Connecticut 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? | |||
| I don't believe in using abortion as a form of birth control and I will never support late term or born alive abortions. I believe funding is necessary for women to get counselling on their health issues and decisions but I do not believe that we should spend millions of dollars funding abortions. private or public insurance should be covering those costs. There is a huge need for those who are otherwise compromised to allow for help to assure they are directed to medical facilities when it comes to life saving procedures and in the instance of rape and incest. | |||
| 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? | ||
| A is a trick question in that I actually believe that giving out raises during a pandemic sends out a very alarming message to those who have lost their jobs, had their hours cut and are struggling to put food on the table. We have negotiating teams on salaries and pensions and that is when salaries and pensions should be determined. Saying that you believe they should be cut is a blanket statement. Adding insult to injury is adding or increasing taxes. CT income tax was supposed to be a short time fix not a long time burden. | |||
| 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? | ||
| c) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | |||
| Yes | d) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| e) Do you support automatic voter registration? | |||
| No | f) Do you support expanding the right to vote to those on parole? | ||
| I find the term Automatic Voter Registration problematic and one more key to illegal voting. There is absolutely no guaranteed method of preventing voter fraud but automatic seems to me to be a way to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the process of your registration actually reflecting your choice unless you are diligent enough to check with your local registrar you cannot know if it was even submitted properly. I think that if someone actually wants to vote they would take the time to register in person or online not wait until Election Day. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| 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 Connecticut? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the legalization of recreational marijuana? | ||
| If the person under 18 commits premeditated murder then yes I do believe they should be tried as an adult between the ages of 13 to 17. I believe sentences metered out by a judge should be on an individual basis. Many times teens and young adults are cause up in the system for non violent charges that end up ruining their lives. | |||
| 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| e) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Connecticut? | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | h) Should state highway bridges be tolled? | ||
| No | i) Should federally recognized tribes be given exclusive rights to sports betting in the state? | ||
| If we are going to provide financial relief, we must first take care of small businesses. Most times large corporations have safety nets and as we saw with Covid relief many small businesses were denied help due to large corporations getting the bulk of the monies. I think we have done a disservice to our small business owners and our communities as a whole. Businesses are closing their doors daily and our towns and cities are suffering. All in all its is a financial disaster. Paid family leave within reason. Not 12 weeks. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Connecticut? | ||
| b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | |||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Connecticut? | ||
| No | d) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Connecticut high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| High Education Standards for our schools, our teachers and our children is what we all want, but those standards should be decided By the state and local government not Washington. We as communities know the needs of our students and we should be making decisions based on those needs. The Federal Government should not be allowed a one size fits all clean sweep of our educational systems. | |||
| 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: | |||
| 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? | ||
| Comprehensive background checks both criminal and mental health should be required before any gun permits are issued. Connecticut has some of the most stringent gun control laws in the country. It is the availability of illegal weapons on he dark web that we need to be targeting "The illegal sales on the dark web of firearms, weapons, explosives, and banned digital guides on homemade products present challenges for law enforcement agencies and national governments. Its potential to anonymously arm criminals and terrorists, as well as vulnerable and fixated individuals, is the most dangerous aspect." | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Connecticut's health care programs? | ||
| c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | |||
| d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | |||
| e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | |||
| f) Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | |||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Connecticut's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Connecticut's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by Connecticut state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| d) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Working towards making health care more assessable and affordable, traffic congestion relief without implementing tolls on every turn. On Education I support programs to ensure that students are assessed on their abilities to comprehend rather than a government standard. I believe we need to attract more businesses with incentives to offset the need for raising taxes as has been the normal mindset for far too long. We are driving people out of our state because they can no longer afford our quality of life as they knew it. | |||
| Assuring that our 8-30g standards do not infringe on the zoning laws and permitting power of our municipalities and recognising affordable housing built prior to 1990 that has been refurbished or torn down and completely rebuilt on the same footprint be recognized towards the 10% moratorium standards required by the state. I would also like to see our 30% unit requirement increased for properties built by developers of 40 or more units. To readdress the Police Accountability Bill and bring all pertinent parties to the table to devise a workable bill that neither harms our police nor municipalities. |
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