John Bel Edwards' Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Office:
- Governor (LA), Democratic
Key
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John Bel Edwards has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2019 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.
Louisiana Gubernatorial Election 2015 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| My Catholic christian Faith informs my person, pro-life values which extend to policy decisions beyond the birth a child. I am not merely pro-birth. I am actually pro-life. | |||
1) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Louisiana's budget.2) 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.3) 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.
| No | a) Tapping into Louisiana's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Decreasing funding for public universities | ||
| No | c) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| No | d) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | e) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Greatly Increase | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Environment | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Health care | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| Slightly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| d) Small business taxes | |||
| e) Gas/Oil taxes | |||
| f) Property taxes | |||
| g) Sales taxes | |||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | i) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | j) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| To address our budget deficits I support capping, repealing and sunsetting portions of our annual $7billion in tax give aways that are not producing a return on investment. I will not turn away $16 billion in federal taxes over the next 10 years to invest in healthcare, as our current Governor has done. This will infuse our economy with new money and new jobs and make our people healthier. I will not ask the people of Louisiana to pay for Bobby Jindal's mistakes. | |||
| Being poor is not a crime. By improving our economy through investments in higher education, and healthcare we can decrease the need for welfare and government assistance. Decreasing the need, will decrease the cost. As we grow our economy and increase individual wealth, fewer citizens will live on the cusp of poverty - on the verge of requiring government assistance. | |||
| By decreasing tax expenditures as described in another area of this survey, we can afford to decrease personal income taxes from their current 2, 4, and 6% levels to 1, 3 and 5%. I also believe we should set the Corporate rate at 8% to reflect truth in advertising. I support a fairer, flatter tax code and have offered concrete specifics on how to achieve it. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| 1) Individual | |||
| 2) Political Action Committee | |||
| 3) Corporate | |||
| 4) Political Party | |||
| 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? | ||
| d) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | |||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Recent changes in campaign finance law have altered the landscape. We should continuously examine whether these changes have been positive for the democratic process. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| c) Do you support legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | |||
| d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | |||
| Yes | e) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| a) Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | |||
| Yes | b) Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | |||
| Yes | d) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| e) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | |||
| Yes | f) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| g) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | |||
| Yes | h) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| i) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | |||
| c) Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers? | |||
| d) Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school? | |||
| e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | |||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Louisiana high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | |||
| I support local autonomy over public schools so that parents and taxpayers can hold elected school boards accountable. I do not support a for-profit model of charter schools because our children are not for sale. I support high, fair, and reliable accountability standards for teachers, schools and districts. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| 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 Louisiana's energy infrastructure? | ||
| d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | |||
| e) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | |||
| f) Do you support increased regulations of the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry? | |||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| 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 citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| I support increasing effectiveness of existing background check laws so that those who pose a danger to themselves or others cannot legally purchase new weapons. | |||
| a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | |||
| b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | |||
| c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | |||
| Yes | d) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| e) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | |||
| f) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | |||
| g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | |||
| If we fail to accept medicaid expansion we will be sending $16 billion of Louisiana's tax dollars to other states over the next 10 years. It is fiscally responsible to accept the expansion and 14 Republican governor's have already done it. It's not right versus left, it's right versus wrong. | |||
| No | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | |||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Louisiana's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Louisiana's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| My Catholic Christian faith informs my personal views on traditional marriage, and against same-sex marriage. My oath as an army officer was, and as Governor will be to uphold the constitution, including recent rulings. | |||
| 1. Address our structural budget problems by accepting $16billion of our federal tax dollars back to expand healthcare for 240,000 Louisianans and sunsetting, repealing, and capping a portion of the $7 billion in annual tax giveaways that aren?t producing for our economy. 2. Reinvesting in higher education to preserve TOPS and end annual double digit tuition increases. 3. Begin to address the $12 billion backlog of transportation and infrastructure projects that is plagueing our business climate and creating a safety and traffic crisis. |
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