Kentucky State Legislative Election 2018 Political Courage Test

Abortion & Reproductive

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

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

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

4. Other or expanded principles
- The evidence shows that criminalizing abortion does NOT leads to lower abortion rates. Our goal should not be to punish women - it should be to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. The best way to do this is to ensure affordable and local access to healthcare and birth control for all women.

Budget, Spending, & Tax

1. Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions?
- No

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

3. Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients?
- No

4. An income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- No Answer

5. Other or expanded principles
- We cannot cut our way to prosperity. Salaries, pensions, and school budgets have been cut or stagnate in Kentucky for a decade. We currently hand out more in tax loopholes to the wealthy and corporations than we take in in revenue. We need comprehensive tax reform to make sure that everyone pays their fair share. We need sunset clauses for tax incentives. We need to attract new businesses by creating a thriving state with a highly educated workforce and a diverse economy. We need to prioritize education, healthcare, and infrastructure, not tax breaks for the 1%.

Campaign Finance & Government Reform

1. Do you support any limits on campaign contributions to state candidates?
- Yes

2. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes

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

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

5. Other or expanded principles
- There is too much money in politics. Period. This is why our system is so broken. I support contribution limits, transparency, and oversight in election finance. I definitely think we need to change the way we do redistricting. There are computer models that can draw "optimally compact" equal-population congressional districts in each state, taking human bias out of the equation (see https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/06/03/this-computer-programmer-solved-gerrymandering-in-his-spare-time/). I also support any effort to expand voting rights - not to put up barriers. I think Kentucky needs early voting, vote by mail, and longer poll hours.

Crime & Public Safety

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

2. Do you support the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes?
- Yes

3. Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- Yes

4. Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult?
- No

5. Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police?
- No

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

7. Other or expanded principles
- I do not support capital punishment because there are too many instances of people on death row ultimately being found innocent. I feel very strongly about the need to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. There are people suffering who would find relief were this an option. Marijuana needs to be taken of the list of schedule 1 drugs so that medical marijuana can more easily be passed in the states and covered by medical insurance. I feel less strongly about legalizing responsible adult use marijuana, but I do think it could be a big revenue source.

Economic

1. Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

2. Do you support lowering state taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No

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

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

5. Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits?
- No

6. Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Kentucky?
- Yes

7. Do you support the legalization of casino gambling in order to fund Kentucky's pension system?
- No

8. Other or expanded principles
- I support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth through investment in P-12 and Higher Education, healthcare, and infrastructure (including transportation, new sources of energy, and access to broadband). We need to raise the minimum wage! This would boost spending and also revenue. I am not firmly settled on the issue of casino gambling - I would be interested to hear more from the people of the 89th district about this - but I definitely do not think it is THE answer to the pension problem. That requires a more predictable revenue source.

Education

1. Do you support adopting federal education standards in Kentucky?
- Yes

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

3. Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from Kentucky high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities?
- No Answer

4. Other or expanded principles
- I am firmly opposed to charter schools and vouchers. We do not need to be diverting money from public schools to private schools. Regarding question C - this is worded poorly. I believe a student born and raised in the United States should be able to attend college here. A related issue is funding for higher education. This is the reason I decided to run for office in the first place. Instead of investing in higher education, the commonwealth of Kentucky keeps cutting it. This is the wrong approach if we want to grow Kentucky.

Environment & Energy

1. Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- No

2. Do you support state government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes

3. Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives?
- Yes

4. Do you support decreasing compensation for citizens who generate excess energy from personal solar panels ("net-metering")?
- No

5. Other or expanded principles
- Regarding question A, I don't think the state needs to fund it, but it needs to give it the same incentives that other energy industries receive, and the state needs to NOT put barriers up to renewable energy development, such as the terrible anti-solar net-metering bill from the 2018 session.

Gun

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes

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

3. Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom?
- No

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

5. Other or expanded principles
- Like cars, guns are powerful tools which, used improperly, are life threatening in our communities. Law abiding gun owners should have no problem with licensing, just as law abiding drivers understand the need for safe roads. The NRA has turned the gun debate into a zero-sum game, where ANY restriction on the kind of people who can have access to guns means that all guns will be taken away. This is ridiculous propaganda, driven by profit motive. The fact that we are even DISCUSSING teachers carrying weapons shows what a problem this has become.

Health

1. Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse?
- Yes

2. Do you support Medicaid expansion through Kentucky's health care programs?
- Yes

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

4. Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia?
- Yes

5. Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations?
- Yes

6. Other or expanded principles
- Regarding question c - I think this is the best option we have now in order to placate the insurance companies, but ultimately, I believe we should have single-payer healthcare at the federal level. I think this is the best way to reduce healthcare costs, for individuals, companies, and state and local governments.

Social

1. Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Kentucky's anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes

2. Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Kentucky's anti-discrimination laws?
- Yes

3. Do you support greater efforts by Kentucky state government in closing the pay gap between men and women?
- Yes

4. Other or expanded principles
- As Nelson Mandela said, ?To be free is not merely to cast off one?s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.?

Legislative Priorities

In the following area, please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- 1. Fully fund education - including Family Resource Centers, P-12, and Higher Education2. Expand access to healthcare, including medical marijuana - treating healthcare as a privilege or profit source damages our communities 3. Invest in infrastructure without cronyism - from roads, to broadband, to developing new energy sources I would find revenue for these investments by fixing our broken tax structure. I would (1) reinstate a graduated income tax and cap deductions (2) increase the corporate tax rate and monitor incentives for ROI (3) clean up arbitrary tax expenditures, such as the tax exemption on yachts.