Leon Thurman's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Leon Thurman submitted the 2012 Political Courage Test after the official deadline and release of results to the media. The candidate's late responses are provided here as a public service.
Minnesota State Legislative Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| No | g) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures? | ||
| No | h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| No | i) Do you support increased regulations on abortion providers? | ||
| No | j) Do you support requiring a doctor to be present when a woman takes a pill to induce an abortion? | ||
| I favor following the principles and practices set forth in the Roe v Wade supreme court decision. Typically, abortions are traumatic for women and sometimes for men. I favor abortion counseling programs like those offered by Planned Parenthood. I favor sexuality education programs in schools that highlight the context of respectful and mutually supportive family life, and respect for all human beings, including the human beings who are emerging during womb life. | |||
1) 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.2) 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.
| Greatly Increase | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Greatly Increase | c) Environment | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Slightly Increase | g) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Increase | h) Other or expanded categories: | ||
| Slightly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | j) Other or expanded categories: | ||
| Support for people who are disabled, mentally ill, homeless, and homebound, and people who have been physically/mentally/emotionally abused, and girls and young women who have been kidnapped and trafficked in the nationwide and worldwide sex trade! All funding levels must be negotiated, of course, by members of both parties in the context of tax revenues, budget balancing, citizen safety, and other state needs. | |||
| Possible conversion of HOV traffic lanes to use of the transponders that must be purchased and used by all such highway users, with multiple-passenger vehicles paying least, single passenger vehicles paying most. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| Yes | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 4) Political Party | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| The current proposed constitutional amendment that would require a government issued photo ID in order to exercise the citizen-guaranteed right to vote is just an outrageous restriction on the freedom and liberty of citizens to exercise their right. Current statutory law provides for voting-day registration and voting after presentation of adequate ID proof of name and address. It was placed on the ballot by the Republican legislature as part of the national Republican Party plan to restrict the freedom and liberty of low-income, disabled, home-bound, minority, and senior citizen people. I'LL VOTE NO! | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| No | d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | e) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Yes | g) Should citizens be allowed to use deadly force in defense of their homes, dwellings or vehicles? | ||
| Certain crimes: (1) murder of police officers, fire fighters, and officers of courts when carrying out their duties, but very carefully defined in statute to prevent unnecessary police/firefighter brutality. (2) especially heinous crimes with carefully established statutory criteria. (3) murder of larger numbers of people with an illegally obtained automatic weapon that is capable of firing a large number of rounds per minute. (see my response to gun control questions) | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| I favor a streamlining of government regulations on the private sector, especially regulations that interfere with honest intra-state, interstate, or international commerce, and/or require excessive or unnecessary reporting of commercial activities. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| No | b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| Yes | c) Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers? | ||
| No | d) Should parents be allowed to use vouchers to send their children to any school? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support strengthening Minnesota's anti-bullying statute? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | h) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Minnesota high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| The school funding process is in great need of reform, streamlining, and simplification. An automatic, yearly, inflation-rate increase needs to be built into it. Integration of empathy education into all PreK-12 and teacher education curricula is deeply needed. Anti-bullying statute must include empathy treatment for youngsters that bully. I favor a tenure process in which school administrators and union leaders cooperate and communicate in the evaluation of non-tenured teachers' teaching abilities, then collectively discuss the results with the evaluated teachers, and mutually negotiate collaborative processes by which evaluated teachers can learn/develop teaching abilities that they need to become optimally effective. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| No | 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 Minnesota's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| I will fight to the death the right of citizens to own guns and ammunition, but I also will work hard to pass common sense legislation that will optimally prevent the unnecessary killing of innocent civilians. We need to regulate who can own/not own guns and ammunition, and what kinds of guns and ammunition can be owned by citizens. Use of guns and ammunition for hunting, gun-sports, and legitimate self-protection are desirable and necessary in our society. Civilian ownership of weapons/ammunition and explosive devices that are produced for law enforcement and military purposes must be legislatively forbidden with strict enforcement. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| No | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| No | e) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| Yes | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Minnesota's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Minnesota's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
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