Mary Smart's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Mary Smart did not provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2022 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.
Hawaii State Legislative Election 2018 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| No | b) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| All innocent human life deserves the full protection of the Constitution. Public funds should not be used to support any function that a large number of citizens deem to be unethical. | |||
1) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Hawaii's budget.
| No | a) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| No | b) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees? | ||
| No | c) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients? | ||
| No | d) An income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| All government programs should be audited and the unnecessary or failing ones should be eliminated or reformed, whichever is appropriate. Pension spiking is problematic. I would consider legislation that would limit pensions to base pay as occurs in the military. | |||
| No | a) Do you support any limits on campaign contributions to state candidates? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Foreign funds should not be allowed in our elections. Accurate redistricting is necessary to ensure that equal representation of legal, living, eligible residents is essential to protecting the vote as local populations change. Military personnel and their dependents should be included in the final numbers for representation purposes. The voting process and procedures must have rigor to ensure that only authorized, living, individuals participate, secrecy is enforced, and all votes are counted. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes? | ||
| No | c) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| State and local police should cooperate with designated federal enforcement agencies. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support lowering state taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support reducing state government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | d) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| No | f) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Hawaii? | ||
| Raising the minimum wage increases the cost of living and reduces the value of personal savings. Minimum wage is for first-time workers. It is not intended for those who have proven themselves in the workforce. When minimum wages increase, the number of first-time employees are often decreased. Minimum wage increases are government schemes to increase the income tax that can be extracted by government from hard working employees. | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in Hawaii? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | c) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Hawaii high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| I am against "common core" standards. They are a scheme to intentionally "dumb-down" America's students. I am an advocate for increasing the number of educational options available. Not all students learn in the same manner, nor at the same pace. Education programs need to be flexible. I am a strong advocate of homeschooling and school telecommuting, both which reduce education costs and facilitate more individually designed programs. We have a teacher shortage which needs to be addressed. It is time to review whether the state-wide BOE is effective. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| No | d) Do you support increasing state funding for replacing Hawaii's cesspools? | ||
| I don't know if the funds that are currently allocated are being used wisely. From what I see regarding program management in Hawaii, there may be sufficient funds available but funds are being wasted and/or used inappropriately. I question government's involvement in the energy sector. I care more about having reliable, available, and low cost energy over so-called renewable energy. Many of the renewable solutions are killing our wildlife, are costly, unsightly, and unreliable. | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| No | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | c) Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| The 2nd amendment gives citizens the right to keep and bear arms. Most instances of mass killings have occurred in gun free zones, or in locations such as Chicago, Baltimore, and other locations that have the tightest gun control measures in effect. The residents of Hawaii have the right to protect their family and property. | |||
| No | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| No | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through Hawaii's health care programs? | ||
| No | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| No | d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | ||
| No | e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| Government programs often have substantial waste. People should be allowed to self-insure. Hawaii has a doctor shortage. We should be focused on encouraging more doctors to practice in Hawaii. We need to reduce the administrative burden on doctors and implement tort reform. Having insurance does not always result in receiving medical care. The patient should be the primary concern of doctors, not the insurer. Neither doctors, nor other persons, should be allowed to intentionally terminate a human life. Vaccinations must be a choice of parents for their child. | |||
| No | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Hawaii's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Hawaii's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | c) Do you support greater efforts by Hawaii state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| No | d) Do you support implementing government sanctioned safe zones ("Ohana Zones") for Hawaii's homeless population? | ||
| I obey the law whether I agree or disagree. However, I will speak-up if I think the law was passed on faulty information. Laws should be made based on truth, scientific fact and be fair to all individuals. Government should not be involved in pay issues except for government employees. Merit based pay is optimal. Women who have dedicated their lives to their jobs get a higher pay then men. The "pay-gap" is a myth. We need an economy and social services programs that eliminate homelessness -- not perpetuate it. | |||
| 1. Reduce the cost of living and debt by eliminating unneeded/failing programs and not increasing taxes/fees. 2. Reduce traffic congestion by building more roads, adding overpasses/underpasses and synchronizing traffic lights. 3. Empower economic prosperity by reducing regulations, incentivize private innovation and competition. There is significant waste in government. The Rail system is just one example but there are other programs that need to be audited and discontinued. We need to limit government functions to only those that the private sector cannot accomplish. |
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