Elizabeth Chavez's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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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.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Elizabeth Chavez refused to tell citizens where she stands on any of the issues addressed in the 2010 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart, national media, and prominent political leaders.
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.
Idaho State Legislative Election 2008 Political Courage Test
The Political Courage Test asks candidates which items they will support if elected. It does not ask them to indicate which items they will oppose. Through extensive research of public polling data, we discovered that voters are more concerned with what candidates would support when elected to office, not what they oppose. If a candidate does not select a response to any part or all of any question, it does not necessarily indicate that the candidate is opposed to that particular item.
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding abortion.
| a) Abortions should always be illegal. | |||
| b) Abortions should always be legal. | |||
| X | c) Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy. | ||
| X | d) Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape. | ||
| X | e) Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered. | ||
| f) Abortions should be subject to a mandatory waiting period. | |||
| g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors. | |||
| This is such a difficult and personal decision that unless one has been in this position, judgement and those outside the decision should be respectful of the reasons for choosing an abortion. While it is a cliche', "unless I have walked in another's shoes to feel how they fit, I should not tell someone else how they feel." | |||
State Budget: Indicate what state funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.State Taxes: Indicate what state tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.
| Slightly Increase | a) Education (Higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Emergency preparedness | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Environment | ||
| Greatly Increase | e) Health care | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Law enforcement | ||
| Greatly Increase | g) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Slightly Increase | h) Welfare | ||
| i) Other or expanded categories | |||
| Greatly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Eliminate | e) Grocery taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000) | ||
| g) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000) | |||
| Maintain Status | h) Sales taxes | ||
| i) Other or expanded categories | |||
| Yes | 1) Do you support extending the grocery tax credit to low income Idahoans? | ||
| Yes | 2) Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales? | ||
| No | 3) Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget? | ||
| Yes | 4) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget? | ||
| No | 5) Should vehicle registration fees be increased to address the transportation departments budget shortfall? | ||
| 6) Other or expanded principles | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding campaign finance and government reform.c) Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative candidates?
| Yes | a) Do you support limiting the number of terms for Idaho governors? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support limiting the number of terms for Idaho state senators and representatives? | ||
| Yes | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) PAC | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| Yes | 4) Political Parties | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| Undecided | e) Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns? | ||
| No | f) Should Idaho participate in the federal REAL ID program? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime.
| a) Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff. | |||
| b) Support the death penalty in Idaho. | |||
| X | c) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released. | ||
| X | d) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders. | ||
| e) Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. | |||
| f) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults. | |||
| X | g) Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws. | ||
| X | h) Support hate crime legislation. | ||
| i) Other or expanded principles | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.
| X | a) Support state funding of universal pre-K programs. | ||
| b) Support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students (No Child Left Behind). | |||
| X | c) Support state education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students. | ||
| d) Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams. | |||
| e) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school. | |||
| f) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school. | |||
| X | g) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries. | ||
| X | h) Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable. | ||
| X | i) Support allowing illegal immigrant high school graduates of Idaho to pay in-state tuition at public universities. | ||
| j) Support the potential for merit pay only for teachers who accept short-term contracts. | |||
| While I support the concept of "merit" pay, the criteria for who will receive that compensation, how it will be measured and funded gives me great concern. Teachers are incredible and I believe in public education as the pathway for all of Idaho's children to find success, while there are other forms of education and I respect those who wish to choose those for their children, those forms are not necessarily available to every child as is public education. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment.
| X | a) Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers and teach skills needed in todays job market. | ||
| b) Reduce state government regulations on the private sector. | |||
| X | c) Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses. | ||
| X | d) Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families. | ||
| e) Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families. | |||
| X | f) Include sexual orientation in Idaho's anti-discrimination laws. | ||
| X | g) Include gender identity in Idaho's anti-discrimination laws. | ||
| X | h) Increase the state minimum wage. | ||
| X | i) Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will. | ||
| X | j) Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants. | ||
| X | k) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients. | ||
| X | l) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients. | ||
| m) Other or expanded principles | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.
| X | a) Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology. | ||
| b) Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil, etc). | |||
| c) Support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops. | |||
| d) Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned. | |||
| X | e) Support funding for improvements to Idaho's power generating and transmission facilities. | ||
| X | f) Support funding for open space preservation. | ||
| X | g) Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming. | ||
| h) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law. | |||
| I prefer to use climate change instead of global warming, though that may be part of the whole picture as we look at the causes and history of the Earth's climate. I do support finding other sources of energy and I see the value in increasing our production of natural gas, I could not support it to the detriment of the environment. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.
| Yes | a) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | b) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | ||
| Yes | c) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| I believe that citizens should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon, only with a permit. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health.
| X | a) Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary. | ||
| b) Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government. | |||
| X | c) Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits. | ||
| d) Allow patients to sue their HMOs. | |||
| X | e) Require hospitals and labs to release reports on infections that are a risk to public health, while not compromising patient confidentiality. | ||
| f) Legalize physician assisted suicide in Idaho. | |||
| X | g) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes. | ||
| Having had members of my family go through surgery after surgery for cancer and take medications that only made them sick and didn't give relief from the pain, that is the only reason that I could support allowing physicians to prescribe marijuana. | |||
['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']
| Yes | a) Should Idaho recognize civil unions between same-sex couples? | ||
| No | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry? | ||
| Yes | c) Should Idaho provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples? | ||
| No | d) Do you support a moment of silence in public schools? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support voluntary prayer in public schools? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods? | ||
| No | g) Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs? | ||
| No | h) Should the state government consider race and gender in state government contracting and hiring decisions? | ||
| Yes | i) Do you support affirmative action in public college admissions? | ||
| Yes | j) Should Idaho continue affirmative action programs? | ||
| Yes | k) Do you support state funding of stem cell research? | ||
| Undecided | l) Do you support state funding of embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| No | m) Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it? | ||
| n) Other or expanded principles | |||
| My top three priorities for the coming legislative session would be an expansion of the public awareness of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome with regard to the cost for families and the state, providing the Board of Transportation with the authority to see less expensive ways of acquiring right of way, and reducing the sale of alcohol to minors by instituting mandatory training for those who sell and serve alcohol. The legislation regarding alcohol is not anti-alcohol, but pro prevention and education for all Idaho's citizens. | |||
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