James Bradley's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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James Bradley has refused to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2016 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.
Maine 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. | |||
| X | b) Abortions should always be legal. | ||
| c) Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy. | |||
| d) Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape. | |||
| 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. | |||
| Reproductive issues and decisions are between a woman and her doctor. Government should have no role in this process except to ensure a woman's right to choose. | |||
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.
| Greatly Increase | a) Education (Higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Emergency preparedness | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Environment | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Law enforcement | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | h) Sales taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Vehicle taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | j) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Yes | 1) Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales? | ||
| Yes | 2) Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget? | ||
| Undecided | 3) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget? | ||
| No | 4) Should state funding to local school districts be reduced to help balance the state budget? | ||
| I believe we can realize major savings by conducting a complete audit of state agencies to eliminate redundancies and making the delivery of essential services as efficient as possible. Waste and a bloated adminstrative structure at the state level is increasing costs while doing nothing to improve services. With the current system, the Governor can call for a percentage cut in state agencies but there is no oversight as to how those cuts are implemented. Administrators are making cuts to services when they should be cutting their own administrative overhead instead. | |||
| We need to find ways to increase taxes on those visiting the state of Maine, as recommended by the Brookings Institute. We need to be careful not to raise taxes to the point that it impacts tourism, however, there is much room for improvement in this area. | |||
| Decreasing state funding for education to local school districts only shifts the tax burden from the state to the local level. If the state cuts funding at the local level, state taxes should be reduced proportionately so that it doesn't result in citizen's actually paying more in property taxes. | |||
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 the current limit of terms for Maine governors? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the current limit of terms for Maine 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? | ||
| Undecided | f) Should Maine participate in the federal REAL ID program? | ||
| We must continue to fund the Maine Clean Election Act so that people in Maine, regardless of personal income levels, can run for public office. Public office should not be attainable only to those who can afford to run. | |||
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) Establish the death penalty in Maine. | |||
| 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. | ||
| X | e) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults. | ||
| X | f) Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws. | ||
| X | g) Support hate crime legislation. | ||
| My answers to (C), (D), and (E) would be conditional based on specifics of the situations involved. For example, I believe it should be possible to prosecute some minors accused of violent crimes as adults, but it would depend greatly on the facts of the case. I would not support a blanket policy of prosecuting ALL minors accused of violent crime as adults, regardless of extenuating circumstances. | |||
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. | ||
| X | 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. | |||
| g) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries. | |||
| h) Support using a merit pay system for teachers. | |||
| X | i) Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable. | ||
| j) Support allowing illegal immigrant high school graduates of Maine to pay in-state tuition at public universities. | |||
| k) Other or expanded principles | |||
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. | ||
| X | 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. | ||
| X | e) Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families. | ||
| f) Increase the state minimum wage. | |||
| X | g) Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will. | ||
| X | h) Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants. | ||
| X | i) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients. | ||
| X | j) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients. | ||
| k) 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. | ||
| X | 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 Maine's power generating and transmission facilities. | ||
| 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) Other or expanded principles | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.
| Undecided | a) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Undecided | b) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | ||
| Undecided | 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? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles | |||
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) Support Dirigo Health in Maine. | ||
| d) Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits. | |||
| X | e) Allow patients to sue their HMOs. | ||
| X | f) Require hospitals and labs to release reports on infections that are a risk to public health, while not compromising patient confidentiality. | ||
| g) Legalize physician assisted suicide in Maine. | |||
| h) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes. | |||
| i) Other or expanded principles | |||
['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']
| Yes | a) Should Maine recognize civil unions between same-sex couples? | ||
| Undecided | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry? | ||
| Yes | c) Should Maine provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support a moment of silence in public schools? | ||
| Undecided | 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? | ||
| Undecided | i) Do you support affirmative action in public college admissions? | ||
| Undecided | j) Should Maine 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 if elected are: (1) Reducing taxes and controlling state spending - this includes calling for a complete audit of all state agencies. (2) Jobs and Economic Development -this includes increasing funding for higher education so that we have the highly trained workforce today's businesses need. It also includes reducing the costs/regulations of doing business in Maine to encourage more businesses to start/expand in the state. (3) Healthcare improvements to ensure affordable/quality healthcare for all of the people of Maine. | |||
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