Idaho State Legislative Election 2016 Political Courage Test

Abortion & Reproductive

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

2. Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy?
- Yes

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?
- Yes

6. Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor?
- Yes

7. Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures?
- Yes

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

9. Other or expanded principles
- Restricting public funds for "organizations" that perform abortions would also include hospitals and other medical institutions that would have the need to provide an abortion for the safety of the woman's life or in the case of rape or incest. If you want to define "organizations" better, my answer might change.

Budget, Spending, & Tax

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

2. Decreasing funding for public universities
- Yes

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
- We cut Idaho's spending by 23% during the last downturn and only used our rainy day funds to keep critical services going vs. increasing taxes. The State's match for Medicaid is 30% and the rules/benefits are set by the Feds who pay 70%. During our downturn, the Governor has the ability to furlough employees to meet the budgets set by the Legislature.

1. Education (higher)
- Slightly Decrease

2. Education (K-12)
- Slightly Increase

3. Environment
- Maintain Status

4. Health care
- Slightly Increase

5. Law enforcement/corrections
- Maintain Status

6. Transportation/infrastructure
- Slightly Increase

7. Welfare
- Maintain Status

8. Other or expanded categories
- Transportation funding are dedicated funds, not General Funds that are used by the other categories. Welfare is totally funded and benefits are determined through/by the Feds. We recently made some significant changes in Public Safety which is resulting in reduced costs, so my top two concerns are K-12 education ensuring we are getting the bang for our bucks, and Healthcare for those who are working for low wages, but not making enough to get insurance. Both of these concerns are also impacted by our increasing population as well. (i.e. $/student)

1. Alcohol taxes
- Maintain Status

2. Cigarette taxes
- Slightly Increase

3. Corporate taxes
- Eliminate

4. Small business taxes
- Slightly Decrease

5. Gas/Oil taxes
- Slightly Increase

6. Property taxes
- Maintain Status

7. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status

8. Income taxes (low-income families)
- Slightly Decrease

9. Income taxes (mid-income families)
- Slightly Decrease

10. Income taxes (high-income families)
- Slightly Decrease

11. Do you support applying sales taxes to all online purchases?
- Yes

12. Other or expanded principles
- All business taxes are passed on to the consumer as a cost of doing business, those taxes still come out of individuals pockets and this accounts for about 5% of our State revenue. Gas/Oil taxes are dedicated to roads which we are behind in maintenance and have ? the population per mile of road we own and maintain than Utah has... it's a math problem, our roads will cost each of us more. I've worked on reducing income taxes for 10 years and we have moved them from a high of 7.8% to, now 7.4% with a goal of 5%.

Campaign Finance & Government Reform

1. Individual
- Yes

2. Political Action Committee
- Yes

3. Corporate
- Yes

4. Political Party
- Yes

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?
- Yes

9. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Crime & Public Safety

1. Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes?
- Yes

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 legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana?
- No

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

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

6. Do you support delaying the seizure of assets by law enforcement officials until after a conviction?
- Yes

7. Other or expanded principles
- d).... depends on the situation, that's why we have the Judicial system to work these issues out.

Economic

1. Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No

2. Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

3. Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector?
- Yes

4. Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers?
- No

5. Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits?
- No

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

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

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

9. Do you support an increase of the minimum wage?
- No

10. Should employers be able to ask about applicants' criminal history before interviewing them?
- No

11. Other or expanded principles
- We tried drug testing for Welfare recipients and found such a low percentage that the cost of the testing program was not worth the costs. There is a 2 year maximum that one can be on Welfare that has been in effect for many years, after our pilot program tests on this churning population it really wasn't worth the cost. (I thought it would be, but the numbers showed that not to be true).

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?
- Yes

5. Do you support state funding for charter schools?
- Yes

6. Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid?
- No

7. Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Idaho high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities?
- No

8. Other or expanded principles
- Charter schools ARE public schools are get State General funds for support, but do not get local Property Tax levies for your local school districts. I am a huge fan of Home schools and Charter Schools, student testing data clearly show better student outcomes over our standard school systems.

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 funding for the development of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil)?
- No

3. Do you support state funding for improvements to Idaho's energy infrastructure?
- No

4. Do you support state funding for open space preservation?
- No

5. Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions?
- No

6. Do you support increased regulations of the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry?
- Yes

7. Other or expanded principles
- We put increased regulations for Fracking in place many years ago when gas and oil exploration was happening in Idaho out of concern that Fracking might happen and threaten our water. It has since been found that our geology where our gas/oil exist does not require the much more expensive (2x the normal costs) Fracking process. There currently is no fracking, nor are there plans to Frack in Idaho.

Gun

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- No

2. Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
- No

3. Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns?
- Yes

4. Should a license be required for gun possession?
- No

5. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Health

1. Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option?
- No

2. Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform?
- Yes

3. Do you support interstate health insurance compacts?
- Yes

4. Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No

5. Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance?
- No

6. Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits?
- Yes

7. Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes?
- No

8. Other or expanded principles
- "Obamacare" has placed the States in a position where we have populations that are not covered under the ACA that the States then need to resolve. The working poor have no options but to go to the free Emergency Rooms to get their healthcare, driving up the costs to all insurance payers. The Feds put us in this position, we need to be funded by them in a way that we can best use those funds to provide critical service options to this population. "Medicaid Expansion" is a one size that doesn't fit all!

Social

1. Do you support same-sex marriage?
- No

2. Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Idaho's anti-discrimination laws?
- No

3. Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Idaho's anti-discrimination laws?
- No

4. Other or expanded principles
- In God we trust, everyone else needs data. When I see science that shows one's DNA creates a situation that effects their sexual choices, I will consider that.

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) Find a solution for our Healthcare gap coverage, it will take some funding2) Follow through on our K-12, 5 year Education improvement plan, it will also take more funding3) Continue to work on and support a change in our income tax and sales tax structure that makes Idaho a better place for business to expand/relocate and citizens to get good wages to live, play and raise healthy/happy families.