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Ryan Fitzgibbons' Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

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Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
What is the Political Courage Test?

Nevada 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.
g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
Abortion is wrong. One of the few constitutional duties of the federal government is to protect life. Outside of the rare exceptions listed above, abortions should be illegal.

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.

Eliminate a) Education (Higher)
Slightly Increase b) Education (K-12)
Slightly Decrease c) Emergency preparedness
Greatly Decrease d) Environment
Eliminate e) Health care
Slightly Increase f) Law enforcement
Slightly Decrease g) Transportation and highway infrastructure
Eliminate h) Welfare
Eliminate i) Other or expanded categories
Maintain Status a) Alcohol taxes
Maintain Status b) Cigarette taxes
Greatly Decrease c) Corporate taxes
Greatly Decrease d) Gasoline taxes
Greatly Decrease e) Property taxes
Greatly Decrease f) Sales taxes
Greatly Decrease g) Vehicle taxes
No 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?
No 3) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
No 4) Should Nevada raise the gambling tax to increase teacher salaries?
All government programs that could be handled by citizens and the free market. The welfare system needs to stop. Hard-working citizens should not be forced to bear the burden of those who refuse to work. This is simply a redistribution of wealth. The very definition of socialism. And it creates a huge tax burden on the middle class to try and boost the bottom rung of society up from their own poor choices.
Our government spends way too much of our money. By massively cutting government spending, we can afford to lower taxes and still maintain a balanced budget.
Teacher salaries should be raised substantially. But the answer is not always more taxes. Budget cuts from other superfluous government programs could fund the increase. Teachers should earn enough to support their families. But a tax increase on gambling would simply be passed on to casino employees and patrons. Any tax increase on "big bad casinos or corporations" will inevitably trickle down to the little guy. We pay over 50% of our income in taxes as is. There's plenty of money for the government to spend without requiring additional tax increases.

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 Nevada governors?
Yes b) Do you support the current limit of terms for Nevada state senators and assemblymembers?
Yes 1) Individual
Yes 2) PAC
Yes 3) Corporate
Yes 4) Political Parties
No d) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
No e) Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns?
No f) Should Nevada participate in the federal REAL ID program?
In our current system, money buys elections. And we wonder why we end up with politicians who act like they owe favors to certain lobbyists and campaign contributors. As far as the Real ID goes, state IDs have functioned well. Why do we need a federal ID card? If it's not broke, don't fix it. Especially not with an invasive and costly federal government program.

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.
X b) Support the death penalty in Nevada.
X c) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
X d) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
e) Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
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.
h) Support hate crime legislation.
g) We've allowed our country to be overrun by illegal aliens. It's turning entire neighborhoods into third world-esque slums, while taxing the resources of the rest of the country to feed, clothe, and educate these families. Immigration is great. But illegal immigration can not be tolerated. Of course local law enforcement should enforce immigration laws. h) A crime's a crime and should be punished accordingly. It shouldn't matter what the victim's race or sexual orientation was.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.

a) Support state funding of universal pre-K programs.
b) Support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students (No Child Left Behind).
X c) Support state education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students.
X d) Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams.
X e) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school.
X f) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
X g) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
X h) Support using a merit pay system for teachers.
i) Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
j) Support allowing illegal immigrant high school graduates of Nevada to pay in-state tuition at public universities.
a) Parents should be parents. You shouldn't drop your kids off at pre-Kindergarten school (let's call it what it is: daycare), and expect tax-payers to foot the bill for it. Children should be at home with their parents if possible before the age of 5. h) Better teachers should earn more. This free-market approach works at universities, and encourages better professors to stick around in teach. j) What part of illegal is unclear? They should be sent back home to make room for the thousands of foreigners trying to attend college in the US legally.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment.

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.
e) Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
f) Include gender identity in Nevada's anti-discrimination laws.
g) Increase the state minimum wage.
h) Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will.
X i) Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
j) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
k) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
e) So it's the state's responsibility to care for your kids? g) Economics 101 tells us this wouldn't work. Raise minimum wage, and companies would simply have to raise prices. If the solution were this simple, why not make minimum wage $20 and make everyone rich? Most politicians are educated enough to know this. Yet they lie to ignorant minimum wage earners with false hopes that this will improve their standard of living. h) These laws have failed miserably in France. And we're going to follow suit? j) There should be no such thing as an able-bodied welfare recipient.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.

a) Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
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.
d) Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
e) Support funding for improvements to Nevada's power generating and transmission facilities.
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.
Global warming began 18,000 years ago as the Earth came out of the Pleistocene Ice Age. Since then temperatures have risen approximately 16 degrees, and oceans have risen approximately 300 ft. For man to believe that they're the primary cause of global temperature fluctuations is a bit egocentric. While conservation and moderation, including alternative fuels are certainly noble pursuits, they should be done within reason, and the natural bounds of the free-market. Government subsidies of "biofuel crops" result in unintended consequences like the recent grain shortage in which the third world went hungry so Americans could drive "green" vehicles.

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?
No 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?
Gun restriction laws don't keep guns from criminals. They simply inconvenience and disarm law-abiding citizens who wish to excercise their Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health.

a) Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
X 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 Nevada.
g) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
b) Socialized medicine results in equal poor quality treatment for all. Need a surgery? It won't cost you anything. But you'll be on a 6 month waiting list. And you'll likely have a lousy untrained doctor because there's no financial incentive for improvement. And who really ends up paying for the "free" medical care? Taxpayers. Why make the government the middle man between you and your doctor?

['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']

Yes a) Should Nevada recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
No b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry?
No c) Should Nevada provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples?
Yes 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?
Yes 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 Nevada continue affirmative action programs?
No k) Do you support state funding of stem cell research?
No l) Do you support state funding of embryonic stem cell research?
Yes m) Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it?
n) Other or expanded principles
Cut government spending Cut taxes Focus on individual responsibility instead of relying on the government to take care of us from cradle to grave through a myriad of entitlement programs.

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