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Carol Minjares' 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.

Carol Minjares 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.

What is the Political Courage Test?
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.

Montana 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.
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.
X e) Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
X f) Abortions should be subject to a mandatory waiting period.
X g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
Abortion is a human rights issue. Abortion-on-demand has been detrimental to society and has resulted in extraordinary pressure on young women to terminate their pregnancies. Much more biological and psychological information has come out about the viability of the fetus in the 30+ years since Roe v. Wade was decided which warrants overturn of this decision and return of control and regulation to the state legislatures.

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)
Slightly Increase c) Emergency preparedness
Maintain Status d) Environment
Maintain Status e) Health care
Slightly Increase f) Law enforcement
Slightly Increase g) Transportation and highway infrastructure
Maintain Status h) Welfare
Slightly Decrease a) Alcohol taxes
Maintain Status b) Cigarette taxes
Maintain Status c) Corporate taxes
Maintain Status d) Gasoline taxes
Slightly Decrease e) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
Maintain Status f) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
Slightly Decrease g) Property taxes
Maintain Status h) Vehicle taxes
No 1) Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget?
No 2) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
b) Montana will probably be ordered by the courts to greatly increase funding. K-12 funding needs to be- redirected to the classroom (teachers, textbooks, physical plant) and not to new programs. Much of the $300+ million in new spending from the last two sessions did not go to base operating budgets and instead was earmarked for new programs only. As a result, the school districts' base operating budgets cannot keep up with inflation, which will result in higher property taxes locally.
g) Any property tax surplus (if we still have one in 2009) should be returned to the states minus a rainy-day set aside. If K-12 education were properly funded, local property taxes would not have to increase. I oppose sales taxes including the local option sales tax.
Taxes were increased in the last biennium through many "hidden" fee increases.

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 Montana governors?
No b) Do you support the current limit of terms for Montana state senators and representatives?
No 1) Individual
No 2) PAC
No 3) Corporate
No 4) Political Parties
Yes d) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
No e) Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns?
No f) Should Montana participate in the federal REAL ID program?
The lack of experienced legislators has lead to rule by lobbyists, and frantic jockeying for future position by legislators about to be termed out.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime.

a) Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff.
X b) Support the death penalty in Montana.
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.
h) Support hate crime legislation.
b) Death penalty for exceptionally heinous homicides only, when the convicted is dangerous to society in or out of prison, with direct evidence or confession. c) Prisoners at Deer Lodge should be allowed to participate in the farming program again.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.

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.
X e) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school.
X 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) Support using a merit pay system for teachers.
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 Montana to pay in-state tuition at public universities.
b) I supported NCLB in the past but it was too unwieldy a program to administer at the federal level, and was was aimed at much more distressed schools systems than those in Montana. If NCLB is not dropped in the next Congress, OPI should adopt more stringent testing standards than it's used to date. g) I support increasing salaries for entry-level teachers without necessarily raising all teachers' salaries as their union demands. Median teacher salary in Montana is actually good with respect to other states. The legislature was made aware of this but chose to ignore the information.

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 today’s job market.
X b) Reduce state government regulations on the private sector.
c) Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
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.
f) Include gender identity in Montana's anti-discrimination laws.
g) Increase the state minimum wage.
h) Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will.
X i) Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
X j) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
X k) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
b) I do not think the state or any board can pick winning businesses for Montana. The best ones are local self-starters that raise themselves by their bootstraps. j) I think the state does a pretty good job trying to get people back in the workforce and would like to keep that level of support going. Mothers of small children should not be forced to work.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.

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 Montana's power generating and transmission facilities.
f) Support funding for open space preservation.
g) Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
h) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
There are already too many tax credit incentives for alternative fuels use and production. If the alternative fuel industry is not viable in its own right then the taxpayers should not be subsidizing it.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.

No 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?
No 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?
Undecided e) Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
Montana has good gun laws but there is always room for improvement. I would like to see a Castle Doctrine bill enacted. e) I believe most the restrictions are on the federal level.

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.
X d) Allow patients to sue their HMOs.
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 Montana.
g) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
I think health insurance would be more affordable if some of the mandated coverages were dropped. Also, there are many young people who could afford health insurance but who choose not to carry any. Tort reform limiting non-economic damages has worked very well in Texas, resulting in an increase in both doctors moving to the state and in the number of insurance companies doing business there.

['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']

No a) Should Montana recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
No b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry?
No c) Should Montana provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples?
Yes d) Do you support a moment of silence in public schools?
Yes e) Do you support voluntary prayer in public schools?
Undecided f) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods?
Yes 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?
No i) Do you support affirmative action in public college admissions?
No j) Should Montana continue affirmative action programs?
No k) Do you support state funding of stem cell research?
No l) Do you support state funding of embryonic stem cell research?
Yes m) Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it?
Marriage between one man and one woman is foundational to our society. In my work with government contracting I have seen that race & gender preferences just cause another layer of red tape for everyone and accomplish little; I would hate to see Montana become as difficult a place to do business as the ultra-PC states of Maryland, Massachusetts and California. Even though I work for a minority employer, we win our contracts based on products and services.
I want to try to get the necessary k-12 money to the classroom and not to special earmark programs. Money for the $200 million or so in extra funding could come from natural resource development. Also, I want to carrry a bill to stop the Supreme Court's order to the district courts to put all case documents on the Internet, where they can be searched by ID thiefs and predators. They are public records but do not have to be published to the world. This disclosure will result in more sealed records and increased secrecy in the legal system.

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