Casey Viegelahn's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Casey Viegelahn refused to tell citizens where he stands on any of the issues addressed in the 2010 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.
Michigan 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. | ||
| I do not like abortion, however, there may arise a situation when it is necessary. Abortion should be used as a last option and not as a birth control method. | |||
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.
| Slightly Increase | a) Education (Higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Greatly Increase | c) Emergency preparedness | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Environment | ||
| Greatly Increase | e) Health care | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Law enforcement | ||
| Greatly Increase | g) Transportation and highway infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Welfare | ||
| i) Other or expanded categories | |||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000) | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000) | ||
| Eliminate | g) Property taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | h) Sales taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Vehicle taxes | ||
| j) Other or expanded categories | |||
| 1) Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales? | |||
| Yes | 2) Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget? | ||
| Yes | 3) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget? | ||
| 4) Other or expanded principles | |||
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 the current limit of terms for Michigan governors? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the current limit of terms for Michigan state senators and representatives? | ||
| 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? | ||
| f) Should Michigan participate in the federal REAL ID program? | |||
| g) Other or expanded principles | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime.
| X | a) Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff. | ||
| b) Establish the death penalty in Michigan. | |||
| X | 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. | |||
| e) Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. | |||
| X | f) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults. | ||
| X | g) Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws. | ||
| X | h) Support hate crime legislation. | ||
| I believe we need to create a program that will truly give people who have a bad choice the ability to contribute to society once they have served their punishment. | |||
Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.
| X | a) Support state funding of universal pre-K programs. | ||
| b) Mandate full day kindergarten. | |||
| c) Support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students (No Child Left Behind). | |||
| d) Support state education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students. | |||
| e) Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams. | |||
| f) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school. | |||
| g) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school. | |||
| X | h) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries. | ||
| X | i) Support using a merit pay system for teachers. | ||
| X | j) Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable. | ||
| k) Support allowing illegal immigrant high school graduates of Michigan to pay in-state tuition at public universities. | |||
| I have spoke with many high school students and recent graduates. Not every student will go on to college and not every student tests well. Judging a students intelligence based on an exam is not the right answer. Requiring students to take college courses to graduate high school is not the right answer. We need to keep the students motivated to stay in school. Give them incentives to succeed and expand vocational programs. | |||
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 sexual orientation in Michigan's anti-discrimination laws. | |||
| g) Include gender identity in Michigan's anti-discrimination laws. | |||
| h) Increase the state minimum wage. | |||
| i) Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will. | |||
| X | j) Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants. | ||
| X | k) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients. | ||
| X | l) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients. | ||
| I have had conversations with business owners of Northern Michigan, many feel if they had to "do it all over again" they would not invest in businesses located in Michigan. They feel it is to expensive to do business in Michigan, especially Northern Michigan. We need to create an environment to make it conducive to operating business in Michigan. | |||
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). | ||
| 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 Michigan's power generating and transmission facilities. | ||
| X | f) Support funding for open space preservation. | ||
| g) Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming. | |||
| h) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law. | |||
| X | i) Enact laws that prevent Great Lakes water diversion outside of the Great Lakes basin. | ||
| While we expand on alternative fuel and energy sources we can not simply stop what we are doing in order to use alternative energy. We need to expand our ability to obtain and refine oil as we develop alternative forms of transportation fuels. As we continue to develop alternative forms of Power sources we should shut down old power plants and replace them with technologically advanced forms of power plants. As technology advances we can continue to chip away at CO2 emissions, but it is a long process, we can not just stop our way of life. | |||
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? | ||
| Yes | c) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| The 2nd Amendment is a fundamental right of every LAW Abiding Citizen. Citizens who choose to break certain laws show a lack of responsibility and therefore can not be trusted with a weapon. Citizens who understand and follow the law should not be made vulnerable by citizens who are not going to follow the law, if you are a law abiding citizen then you should be able to own firearms. | |||
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. | |||
| c) Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits. | |||
| X | 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 Michigan. | |||
| g) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes. | |||
| Having the access to Health Care should be a right to every citizen of the United States. Citizens should still have to work for their health care. When unfortunate circumstances arise when someone can not afford health care then we as citizens should help our fellow Americans and ensure they are taken care of. | |||
['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']
| a) Should Michigan recognize civil unions between same-sex couples? | |||
| b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry? | |||
| c) Should Michigan provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples? | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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 Michigan continue affirmative action programs? | ||
| k) Do you support state funding of stem cell research? | |||
| l) Do you support state funding of embryonic stem cell research? | |||
| No | m) Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it? | ||
| n) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Priority number one is improving the economy. We need to make our state and region conducive to business and investment. Priority number two is our education system. We have public schools that are being forced to stop vocational programs and lay off good teachers. We need to reevaluate how we are taking care of our educators and kids. | |||
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