Georgia State Legislative Election 2012 Political Courage Test

Abortion & Reproductive

1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice

2. Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy?
- No

3. Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape?
- Yes

4. Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered?
- Yes

5. Do you support requiring parental notification before an abortion is performed on a minor?
- No

6. Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor?
- No

7. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures?
- No

8. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions?
- No

9. Other or expanded principles
- Abortion is legal in America and we are trying to relitigate a resolved issue. Abortion is a serious and personal decision and not a political decision.

Budget, Spending, & Tax

1. Education (higher)
- Greatly Increase

2. Education (K-12)
- Greatly Increase

3. Environment
- Greatly Increase

4. Health care
- Slightly Increase

5. Law enforcement/corrections
- Maintain Status

6. Transportation/infrastructure
- Greatly Increase

7. Welfare
- Slightly Increase

8. Other or expanded categories
- Greatly Increase

1. Alcohol taxes
- Slightly Increase

2. Cigarette taxes
- Greatly Increase

3. Corporate taxes
- Greatly Increase

4. Gas/Oil taxes
- Maintain Status

5. Property taxes
- Maintain Status

6. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status

7. Income taxes (low-income families)
- Maintain Status

8. Income taxes (mid-income families)
- Slightly Increase

9. Income taxes (high-income families)
- Greatly Increase

10. Other or expanded categories
- Greatly Increase

1. Tapping into Georgia's "rainy day" fund
- No

2. Increasing tuition rates at public universities
- No

3. Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions
- No

4. Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees
- No

5. Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients
- No

6. Other or expanded principles
- Balancing the budget is not and should not be on reducing the benefits of those who are a part of a union or just because they are state employees. Raising revenues should be an intregal part of balancing the budget.

Campaign Finance & Government Reform

1. Individual
- No

2. Political Action Committee
- No

3. Corporate
- Yes

4. Political Party
- No

5. Should candidates for state office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits?
- No

6. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes

7. Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting?
- Yes

8. Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls?
- No

1. Other or expanded principles
- Voter id laws were created by a template from ALEC based on the inaccurate and incorrect assertion that there is gross in person voter fraud, and require a photo is a way in which to disenfranchise many voters,

Crime & Public Safety

1. Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes?
- No

2. Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment?
- Yes

3. Do you support decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana?
- Yes

4. Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult?
- Yes

5. Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges?
- No

6. Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police?
- Yes

7. Other or expanded principles
- This nation has the largest incarcerated population than any other industrialized nation. We should review the causes, the laws, the policies and the penalities. We should have a system where the punishment fits the crime and that should not always be incaceration.

Economic

1. Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector?
- No

2. Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers?
- Yes

3. Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits?
- Yes

4. Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation?
- Yes

5. Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation?
- Yes

6. Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure?
- No

7. Do you support an effort to deepen the Savannah harbor?
- Yes

8. Do you support public-private partnerships for infrastructure projects?
- Yes

9. Other or expanded principles
- We did not build it by ourselves, we are a nation that helps the small business owner , through patents, through government loans, through infrastructure and public and private partnerships that together grows the economy, the middle class and wealth.

Education

1. Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative?
- Yes

2. Do you support a merit pay system for teachers?
- Yes

3. Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers?
- No

4. Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school?
- No

5. Do you support state funding for charter schools?
- No

6. Do you support a statewide charter commission with the power to approve applications for charter school status that are denied by local school disctricts?
- No

7. Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid?
- Yes

8. Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Georgia high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities?
- Yes

9. Do you support efforts to merge several of Georgia's state colleges and universities?
- No

10. Other or expanded principles
- Education should be available to all. There should not be vouchers for schools, nor should public funds go to Charter Schools, because Charter schools are no panacea for resoloving the problems with education. Fundamental changes must be done to educate our children in a 21st Century environment, we are still teaching the way we did in the 20th Century.

Environment & Energy

1. Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy?
- Yes

2. Do you support state funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)?
- Yes

3. Do you support state funding for improvements to Georgia's energy infrastructure?
- Yes

4. Do you support state funding for open space preservation?
- Yes

5. Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change?
- Yes

6. Other or expanded principles
- Our state has to understand that what man does, has an impact on the environment.

Gun

1. Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
- Yes

2. Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
- Yes

3. Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns?
- No

4. Should a license be required for gun possession?
- Yes

5. Other or expanded principles
- Common sense should be used with the regulation of guns and ammunition.

Health

1. Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option?
- Yes

2. Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform?
- No

3. Do you support interstate health insurance compacts?
- No

4. Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance?
- Yes

5. Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits?
- No

6. Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes?
- Yes

7. Other or expanded principles
- Universal healthcare is the way in which we go.

Social

1. Should marriage only be between one man and one woman?
- No

2. Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions?
- Yes

3. Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Georgia anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes

4. Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Georgia anti-discrimination laws?
- No

5. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Legislative Priorities

In the following area, on an attached page, or via e-mail, please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding or implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- When reelected, I will continue to fight for the issues of the people who elected me. My priorites are their priorities, and they are jobs and the economy, transportation improvements and resolution of infrastructure issues. Jobs would require business and governmental partnerships and I would seek funding through grants, Transportation funding to build light rail and extend Marta rail thoughout my district and would seek funding through SPLOST & Federal funding. Infrastruture to fix the roads, bridges, and traffic clogs with money from the Federal Governnment.