Howard Kleinhendler's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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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.
New Jersey Congressional Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life? | ||
| Yes | b) Should abortion be legal only within 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? | ||
| No | e) Should federal subsidies be prohibited from being used for abortion procedures? | ||
| I believe abortion should be allowed when welfare of mother is in danger, which includes physical, mental or severe emotional trauma | |||
1) SpendingIndicate what federal funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category- you can use a number more than once.2) TaxesIndicate what federal tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category- you can use a number more than once.
| Maintain Status | a) Agriculture | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Arts | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Defense | ||
| Greatly Increase | 1) Intelligence operations | ||
| Maintain Status | 2) Military hardware | ||
| Maintain Status | 3) National missile defense | ||
| Slightly Increase | 4) Salary and benefits for active duty personnel | ||
| Slightly Increase | 5) Programs to improve troop retention rates | ||
| Greatly Increase | 6) Research and development of new weapons | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Education | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Homeland security | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Medical research | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Scientific research | ||
| Greatly Decrease | j) Space exploration | ||
| Maintain Status | k) United Nations | ||
| Maintain Status | l) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Increase | m) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Slightly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Greatly Increase | i) Other or expanded categories | ||
| No | 3) Do you support the elimination of the federal estate tax? | ||
| Yes | 4) Do you support requiring the federal budget to be balanced each year? | ||
| Yes | 5) Do you support using government funds in an effort to stimulate and improve the economy? | ||
| Low interest loans or loan guarantees to small business to spur hiring; infra structure projects such as high speed rail. | |||
| support a federal value-added tax on luxury items to help reduce federal deficit | |||
| support government spending for low-rate small business loans & "green" infrastructure like high speed rail, wind power | |||
| No | a) Do you support privatizing elements of Social Security? | ||
| No | b) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increasing the federal minimum wage? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the ability of workers to unionize? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support federal funding for job-training programs that retrain displaced workers? | ||
| Social security must be maintained with an eye towards COLA increases and be funded through intelligent & fair tax & spending policy. We should also encourage workers to delay SS benefits by working longer | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support increasing the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns? | ||
| Yes | b) Should Congress regulate indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support removing all contribution limits on federal campaigns? | ||
| Yes | d) Should candidates for federal office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support giving the President the power of the line item veto for items concerning appropriations? | ||
| No | f) Do you support limiting the President's ability to define how legislation is applied through the use of signing statements? | ||
| Financial donations should be increased to $10,000 per individual per election; corporations & LLC's should be permitted to separately contribute up to $10,00 per election. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support programs that provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related training and job-placement assistance when released? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support programs that provide prison inmates with substance abuse treatment? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support reduced prison sentences for non-violent offenders? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory prison sentences for selling illegal drugs? | ||
| Support abolishment of sentence guidelines. Each case must be judged on merits with no mandatory requirements for punishment. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support federal funding for universal pre-K programs? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support federal funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support federal funding for K-12 school vouchers? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the federal government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Believe federal gov't has obligation to assist states to provide finest education possible. Believe not everyone suited for public schools & thus charter schools important alternative | |||
| No | a) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| No | b) Do you support international emissions targets aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| No | c) Do you support allowing energy producers to trade carbon credits under a "cap and trade" system? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support strengthening fuel efficiency standards on all gasoline and diesel-powered engines, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support domestic oil exploration in federally-protected areas? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support federal funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the development of nuclear reactors? | ||
| Need to keep balance between manufacturing costs & real environmental problems. Further US cannot burden economy with aggressive environmental policy while Europe & Asia proceed recklessly & gain advantage. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you believe that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of individual citizens to own guns? | ||
| No | c) Do you support allowing individuals to carry concealed guns? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support a ban on assault rifles? | ||
| Believe law abiding citizens should be able to purchase handguns for home protection & sport shooting. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| Yes | c) Should the federal government expand eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support relaxing regulations on the importation of prescription drugs? | ||
| US has disproportionate prescription drug costs compared to Europe & Asia. Need comprehensive public option to make healtcare affordable | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support decreasing the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support establishing English as the official national language? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Immigrants violate the law, burden public services & don't pay taxes. Need limited amnesty & very strong border enforcement | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support United States military action in Afghanistan? | ||
| No | b) Do you support increasing military assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increasing economic development assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | d) Should the United States continue to strike suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support granting aid to countries when it is in the security interests of the United States? | ||
| No | f) Should the United States support the creation of a Palestinian state? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support increasing sanctions on Iran if it continues to defy United Nations mandates? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq? | ||
| No | i) Do you support the United States' involvement in free trade agreements? | ||
| j) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support allowing openly-gay men and women to serve in the United States military? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| No | d) Should the federal government end affirmative action programs? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles | |||
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