Card image cap

Keith Murphy's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

Office:

On The Ballot: Running, Republican for State Senate (NH) - District 16

Key

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.
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.

New Hampshire State Legislative Election 2006 National Political Awareness 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) Prohibit public funding of abortions and to organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
X g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
Abortions should be illegal AFTER life begins. I believe life begins at the onset of brain activity.

State Budget: Indicate the funding levels (#1-6) you will support for the following general categories. Select one level per category.State Taxes: Indicate the tax levels (#1-6) you will support. Select one level per tax.

Eliminate a) Education (Higher)
Eliminate b) Education (K-12)
Maintain Status c) Emergency preparedness
Maintain Status d) Environment
Eliminate e) Health care
Maintain Status f) Law enforcement
Maintain Status g) Transportation and highway infrastructure
Eliminate h) Welfare
i) Other or expanded categories
Eliminate a) Alcohol taxes
Eliminate b) Capital gains taxes
Eliminate c) Cigarette taxes
Eliminate d) Corporate taxes
Eliminate e) Gasoline taxes
Eliminate f) Property taxes
Eliminate g) Vehicle taxes
h) Other or expanded categories
No i) Do you support an income tax?
No j) Do you support a sales tax?
No k) Should the state tax Internet sales?
No l) Should accounts such as a “rainy day” fund be used to balance the state budget?
Yes m) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
Taxes and most government functions - including education - should be decided at the local level, not at the state or federal level. I will never support a state income or sales tax.

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?

No a) Do you support limiting the number of terms for New Hampshire governors?
No b) Do you support limiting the number of terms for New Hampshire state senators and representatives?
No 1) Individual
No 2) PAC
No 3) Corporate
No 4) Political Parties
Undecided 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?
Yes f) Do you support adopting statewide standards for counting, verifying and ensuring accuracy of votes?
No g) Do you support prohibiting media exit polling of voters until all polling locations in New Hampshire are closed?
No h) Should New Hampshire recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
No i) Should all voters be required to list the same address on their driver's license that is on their voting record?
Yes j) Should all voters be required to show valid identification before voting on Election Day?
No k) Should New Hampshire participate in the federal Real ID program?
Rather than have the state involved in recognizing gay marriages, I support removing the state from marriage altogether, from both traditional and same-sex marriages.

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 New Hampshire.
c) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
X d) End parole for repeat violent offenders.
X e) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
X f) Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
g) Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes.
h) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
i) Require that crimes based on race, ethnic background, religious belief, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation be prosecuted as hate crimes.
j) Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
X k) Strengthen sex-offender laws.
l) Support the restriction of the sale of products used to make methamphetamine (e.g. tablets containing pseudophedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine).
We should focus on VIOLENT criminals.

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

a) Support national standards and testing of public school students.
X b) Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any public school.
X c) Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
d) Increase state funds for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure).
e) Increase funds for hiring additional teachers.
f) Support teacher testing and reward with merit pay.
g) Endorse voluntary prayer in public schools.
h) Require public schools to administer high school exit exams.
i) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
j) Increase funding for Head Start programs.
k) Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
l) Support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods.
m) Support abstinence-only sexual education programs.
I support expanded choice for parents, through charter schools, tax credits, and vouchers. I oppose mandates from federal and state bureaucrats.

Employment: Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment.Affirmative Action: Should race, ethnicity or gender be taken into account in state agencies’ decisions on:

a) Increase funding for state job-training programs that retrain displaced workers and teach skills needed in today’s job market.
X b) Reduce state government regulations on the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion.
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) Support the inclusion of sexual orientation in New Hampshire's anti-discrimination laws.
g) Increase the state minimum wage.
h) Other or expanded principles
No a) Public employment
No b) State college and university admissions
No c) State contracting
Government at all levels must be blind on matters of race, gender, and ethnicity.

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

a) Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
b) Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, and oil).
c) Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
d) Increase funding for improvements to New Hampshires's power generating and transmission facilities.
e) Support funding for open space preservation.
f) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
Conservation is best left to charitable organizations created for that purpose.

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

a) Maintain and strengthen the enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
X b) Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
X c) Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
X d) Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
e) Require background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows.
f) Require a license for gun possession.
X g) Expand the permitted use of deadly force to include prevention of a felony in public.
h) Other or expanded principles

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

a) Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
b) Transfer current Medicaid recipients into managed care programs.
c) Limit the amount of punitive damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
d) Support patients' right to sue their HMOs.
e) Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
X f) Legalize physician assisted suicide in New Hampshire.
X g) Allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
h) Require pharmasists to dispense emergency contraceptives.
i) Require pharmasicts to obtain parental consent before dispensing emergency contraceptives to minors.
j) Other or expanded principles

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

a) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
b) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
c) Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
d) Redirect welfare funding to faith-based and community-based private organizations.
e) Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to extend health and child care subsidies to the working poor.
f) Support marriage promotion programs for welfare recipients.
X g) Eliminate government-funded welfare programs.
It is wrong to force people who work to pay for those who do not. Charity is only moral if it's voluntary.
Please explain in a total of 75 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.

Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any campaign activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.

arrow_upward