Greg Ball's 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.
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Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Greg Ball refused to tell citizens where he stands on any of the issues addressed in the 2012 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart, national media, and prominent political leaders.
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 York 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. | |||
| X | 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. | ||
| f) Abortions should be subject to a mandatory waiting period. | |||
| X | g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors. | ||
| Women facing tough decisions must be treated with love, respect and dignity. We must work to promote the culture of life and avoid falling prey to the politics of polarization. | |||
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.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (Higher) | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Greatly Increase | c) Emergency preparedness | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Law enforcement | ||
| Greatly Increase | g) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Increase | i) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Eliminate | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Sales taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Vehicle taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Yes | 1) Should there be a cap on school district property taxes? | ||
| No | 2) Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales? | ||
| Yes | 3) Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget? | ||
| 4) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget? | |||
| No | 5) Do you support raising the income tax for those making $1,000,000 or more? | ||
| Funding for renewable energies, new technologies for wind, biothermal, nuclear and solar power innovations and the expansion of entrepreneurial grants for small and medium ebterprises focusing on these technologies. | |||
| Eliminate taxes on alternative fuels, cap school property taxes at 2.5%, eliminate unfunded mandates and freeze school taxes for seniors. | |||
| The New York State legislature should cut 5% from this year's budget, backdoor borrowing must be eliminated, we must immediately eliminate $200 million in earmarks, and resist any attempts to increase taxes at any level. | |||
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 limiting the number of terms for New York governors? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support limiting the number of terms for New York state senators and assemblymembers? | ||
| Yes | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) PAC | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| Yes | 4) Political Parties | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns? | ||
| Yes | f) Should New York participate in the federal REAL ID program? | ||
| New York state should enact term limits and outlaw any outside income for legislators. All transactions should be transparent and easily accessed by the public via the internet. The Board of Elections should be able to enforce existing laws and legislators should face jail time for breaking election/campaign finance laws. | |||
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) Establish the death penalty in New York. | ||
| c) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released. | |||
| d) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders. | |||
| X | e) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults. | ||
| X | f) Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws. | ||
| X | g) Support hate crime legislation. | ||
| New York State must take immediate action to recall the 23,000 driver's licenses granted under Spitzer; pass a 287G bill to deport the tens of thousands of illegal alien criminals currently in New York, before they can strike again; and keep level three sexual predators permanently behind bars. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.
| X | 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). | |||
| 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. | ||
| g) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries. | |||
| h) Support using a merit pay system for teachers. | |||
| X | 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 New York to pay in-state tuition at public universities. | |||
| k) Other or expanded principles | |||
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. | ||
| X | c) Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses. | ||
| X | d) Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families. | ||
| X | e) Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families. | ||
| f) Include gender identity in New York'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. | ||
| k) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients. | |||
| It will continue to be my priority to work at the local level to crack down on the hiring and housing of illegal aliens. In particular, I will be working with local governments to enforce existing prevailing wage laws and crack down on 10-99 misclassification. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.
| X | 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). | ||
| X | c) Support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops. | ||
| X | 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 New York's power generating and transmission facilities. | ||
| X | f) Support funding for open space preservation. | ||
| X | g) Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming. | ||
| X | h) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law. | ||
| i) Other or expanded principles | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.
| Yes | 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? | ||
| c) Should a license be required for gun possession? | |||
| d) Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | |||
| e) Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | |||
| Assemblyman Ball has an A+ rating by the NRA and is a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment. | |||
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. | ||
| d) Allow patients to sue their HMOs. | |||
| X | 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 New York. | |||
| g) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes. | |||
| New York State is in dire need of a statewide Autism Insurance bill as well as the expansion of services to special needs children and their families. | |||
['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']
| Yes | a) Should New York recognize civil unions between same-sex couples? | ||
| b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry? | |||
| Yes | c) Should New York 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods? | ||
| 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 New York continue affirmative action programs? | ||
| Yes | k) Do you support state funding of stem cell research? | ||
| 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? | ||
| n) Other or expanded principles | |||
| School tax reform, including freezing school taxes for seniors, capping property taxes at 2.5%, eliminating unfunded mandates and a circuit breaker tied to income and one's ability to pay will remain at the top of my list. I will work with municipalities and local law enforcement to begin enforcing 10-99 misclassification and prevailing wage laws as a method to crack down on the black market illegal alien economy. I will also fight to pass a statewide autism insurance bill, get Hannah's law passed, expand RT 22, refurbish AmVets Bridge and get OMRDD to accept a moratorium and consensus on saturation. | |||
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