Brian Gunn's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
On The Ballot: Running, Democratic for State House (WA) - 31 Position 2
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Washington State Legislative Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| No | b) Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| Yes | c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| Yes | d) Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| No | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| No | g) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures? | ||
| No | h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| Abortions should be safe, legal, and rare. e) & f) As a parent, I understand the wish to be informed about a procedure affecting my child's health, but since it could be possible that a parent or guardian could be abusing the minor in question, we should not require parental notification or consent for an abortion. The minor should be strongly encouraged to inform her parents, but a requirement could prevent her from obtaining needed care and that would have a profound affect on her future. | |||
1) State Spending:Using the key, indicate what state funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category; you may use a number more than once.2) State Taxes:Using the key,indicate what state tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category; you may use a number more than once.3) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Washington's budget.
| Greatly Increase | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Environment | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Slightly Increase | g) Welfare | ||
| Eliminate | h) Other or expanded categories: | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Sales taxes | ||
| Eliminate | f) Other or expanded categories: | ||
| No | a) Tapping into Washington's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| No | c) Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining | ||
| No | d) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| No | e) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| There are over 600 tax preferences in Washington. Many of these loopholes benefit big business without providing any economic benefit or creating any jobs for the people of this state. Our legislators are protecting the financial interests of the same wealthy, multi-national corporations that are funding their campaigns. This has to stop. If we close tax loopholes for big business, we can make the funding increases outlined above without raising taxes on regular folks in the low and middle income levels. | |||
| We should eliminate the grossly unfair Business & Occupation tax. The B&O is a stealth income tax that creates an undue hardship for starting up a small business. We should replace the B&O tax with a reasonable and simple value added tax. Making it easier to start a small business will create jobs and boost state revenue. I also support creating a capital gains tax with an exemption of $10,000 for couples. A capital gains tax would keep up with economic growth better than sales taxes while generating billions in revenue for essential state programs. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| Yes | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| Yes | 4) Political Party | ||
| Yes | b) Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| No | f) Do you support requiring a two-thirds vote of the legislature in order to approve all future tax increases? | ||
| f) The supermajority law has resulted in a cuts-only approach to solving the state?s budget shortfall. State budget cuts mean jobs lost in both the public and private sector and fewer people spending money in our stores and restaurants. We're sacrificing our future by denying our children a good education and forcing young men and women to accept a mountain of debt to get a college degree. It is undemocratic for a small number of irresponsible legislators to be able to stop reasonable and balanced approaches to solving the crisis by closing tax loopholes and increasing revenues. | |||
| No | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support legalization and regulation of small amounts of marijuana for individuals 21 and older? | ||
| No | e) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| Yes | f) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| No | g) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| e) Minors who pose a threat to others need to be restrained, but counseling in a mental facility is more likely to produce positive results than incarceration. Because of racial bias in the justice system, there are already a disproportionate number of people of color in our prisons and we should take steps to prevent this being perpetuated. f) When there is an indication that invasion of privacy, exploitation or coercion is involved, the answer is yes. Penalties should reflect the degree to which this is the case. g) "Show me your papers" laws lead to discrimination and racial profiling. | |||
| No | a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| d) Tax incentives must contain sunsetting provisions so that they expire unless explicitly renewed by the legislature. Independent assessment must be performed to determine whether the number of jobs directly created by the incentive matches the goals of the program. Programs that no longer meet goals should be subject to being revoked or allowed to expire. f) We must help homeowners by holding predatory lenders responsible for the damage they inflicted on our economy. Prosecution of lenders and collection of fines combined with refinancing of underwater loans should be cost-neutral to taxpayers. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| No | b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| No | c) Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers? | ||
| No | d) Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school? | ||
| No | e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Washington's high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| b) Merit pay encourages "teaching to the test" and is therefore flawed. Our school districts are not alike; judging a teacher in a school located in a low-income neighborhood on the same test administered to students in a wealthy one is unfair. c) Poorly worded question: The tenure process protects workers from unfair treatment by employers. Producing and keeping effective teachers requires paying good wages and providing excellent facilities and opportunities for on-going training. g) Many of these young people did not make the decision to immigrate illegally. We should give them the opportunity to become productive members of society. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support state funding for improvements to Washington's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| No | c) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| I believe in and support the Second Amendment. The fact that nobody can dispute is that weapons technology has come a long way since the flintlocks of the Minutemen. So, let's start with something everybody can agree on and work from there. For instance, under our constitution you can't tell people they can't own guns. If you do, you're not much of an American. On the other hand, you don't need a fully automatic AK-47 to hunt deer. If you do, you're not much of a sportsman. If we can agree on that we can work this out. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| No | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| No | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| No | e) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| Access to high quality health care is a civil right. Allowing a profit motive to deny access to health care for some is unacceptable. A Medicare for all, single-payer system would be a sound solution to ensuring everyone has access to the care they need. Everyone would pay into such a system through mandatory payroll deductions. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support legalizing same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Washington's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Washington's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 1. Washington's tax system is broken; we must close tax loopholes for big business and reform the B&O tax on small business owners. 2. The State must fulfill its constitutional obligation to fully fund education. 3. Washington needs a State Bank similar to the Bank of North Dakota. I am running a Clean Money Campaign. I will accept contributions only from individuals in Washington State. I will not take money from corporations, PACs, unions or political parties. I support a Constitutional Amendment stating that Corporations Are Not People and Money Is Not Speech. |
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