Mark Meuser's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
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.
Mark Meuser did not provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2022 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
Issue Positions
For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2022.
- "All the Dobbs decision did was to end judicial activism about issues of life and abortion, returning the debate to state legislatures and the people who elect them." (twitter.com)
- "The Court returned the authority to protect life or permit abortion to the states. As the Court noted, the states had this authority for 185 years prior to Roe, when the Court decided to take the debate from the people and from states." (twitter.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "Both the infrastructure bill & the inflation reduction bill were full of special interest spending. The fastest way to get inflation under control is to never allow this pork barrel spending to pass into law. We must put the people's pocketbook first." (twitter.com)
- "The federal government must cut spending and start living within its means. Mark will support efforts to cut federal spending, especially waste, fraud, and abuse, and will encourage adoption of a balanced budget. And if the federal government refuses to live within its means, he will be a strong advocate for a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment." (markmeuser.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "Both the infrastructure bill & the inflation reduction bill were full of special interest spending. The fastest way to get inflation under control is to never allow this pork barrel spending to pass into law. We must put the people's pocketbook first." (twitter.com)
- "People are hurting gas and grocery prices are skyrocketing. Biden and the Democrats used the pandemic to profit special interests by spending trillions of dollars with less than 10 percent of the funds going to help those who are hurting. Meanwhile, the inflation caused by the massive government spending is a hidden tax on all Americans, causing them to spend more on the things they need. In the last year, prices have increased and some experts believe inflation will continue to rise. Americans are paying more for gas and groceries, with no end in sight if the Biden economic policies continue." (markmeuser.com)
- "The federal government must cut spending and start living within its means. Mark will support efforts to cut federal spending, especially waste, fraud, and abuse, and will encourage adoption of a balanced budget. And if the federal government refuses to live within its means, he will be a strong advocate for a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment." (markmeuser.com)
- "I'm confused. A few months ago Biden said that the COVID emergency was over so he got rid of Title 42 at the border. Now because of the COVID emergency, we need to transfer billions of dollars of student loans from secured national debt to unsecured national debt." (twitter.com)
- "#NorthCarolina to vote on a #VoterID Constitutional Amendment this Nov. Sad that Voter ID is a partisan issue. Honest elections should be the goal of all. Evidence shows that Voter ID gives more individuals the opportunity for their vote to count." (twitter.com)
- "We need energy from all sources. The governments push to end reliance on one source is short-sighted and will prevent peoples ability to do things like charge electric vehicles. An all-of-the-above approach means encouraging the construction of modern nuclear power plants, updating our aging power grid, and investing in energy storage solutions." (markmeuser.com)
- "Studying the #InflationReductionAct This bill allocates over 8 Billion dollars to "prioritizing proposals that utilize diet and feed management to reduce enteric methane emissions from ruminants" This bill's political pork smells worse than a manure pile at a dairy farm." (twitter.com)
- "Mr. President, Do you support the abolishment of the First Amendment to stop the media from covering gun violence 24/7? If we did that, we might save some lives from these sick individuals who commit gun crimes since they know it is a way to become famous." (twitter.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "The failure to enforce our immigration laws has a major effect on our communities." (twitter.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "Biden is seriously asking for $13.7 billion more for Ukraine. I dont think anyone in this government realizes what $30,000,000,000,000 in debt actually means. That is why I support a balanced budget amendment." (twitter.com)
- "How many more Billions of taxpayer $$$ does Pelosi, Biden, and the democrat party send to Ukraine before Putin decides that he is going to plunge the world into a nuclear war? At what point does sending weapons to Ukraine mean that USA is at war with Russia #AskingForAFriend" (twitter.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
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.
| Pro-life | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| No | c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for abortion procedures? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| re d) When the life of the mother is at issue, every effort should be made to save both the mother and the child. Should the child die while trying to save both lives, then this is not an abortion. | |||
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.3) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing California's budget by marking Yes (Y) or No (N).4) Public Pensions:To mitigate California's public pension shortfall, do you support:
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Environment | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| h) Other or expanded categories: | |||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Tobacco taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| No | a) Tapping into California's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| Yes | c) Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining | ||
| Yes | d) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| Yes | e) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| Yes | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Yes | a) Increasing contributions by current and future employees? | ||
| Yes | b) Hybrid retirement plans that combine guaranteed and privately-managed benefits? | ||
| Yes | c) Raising the retirement age for new employees? | ||
| d) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| By eliminating the income tax, people would have more money to spend and this money would spur the economy in this state. The increase in sales taxes collected would greatly help our cities and counties. | |||
| California has been overspending for too long. It is time we start making more people independent and stop depending upon Government for their existence. The size of Government has greatly grown and it is time to start looking at how Government can do more with less just like every other private business in this country has done over the last 20 years. | |||
a) Do you support limits on the following types of contributions for state candidates?
| No | 1) Individual | ||
| Yes | 2) Political Action Committee | ||
| Yes | 3) Corporate | ||
| No | 4) Political Party | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| I do not support that a group of unaccountable individuals are in charge of the redistricting of this state. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| No | b) Do you support the California prison realignment program? | ||
| c) Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | |||
| Yes | d) Do you support decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| e) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | |||
| f) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | |||
| Yes | g) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| re c) while I support alternatives to incarceration, these alternatives are work programs where the prisoner must work off his debt to society and to the victim. re e) depends. An 8 year old is a minor and should not be held to an adult standard. A 17 year old based upon the crime may need to be charged as an adult. re f) depends. A DA should be allowed to bring such charges based upon the age of the minor and circumstances of the case. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| e) Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | |||
| No | f) Do you support the high speed rail project between San Francisco and Los Angeles? | ||
| No | g) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| re e) I support increased spending on infrastructure of our roads and bridges because we need it, not because it will create jobs. | |||
| No | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support a merit pay system for teachers? | ||
| No | c) Is the tenure process for public school teachers producing effective teachers? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| No | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from California high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | 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)? | ||
| No | c) Do you support state funding for improvements to California's energy infrastructure? | ||
| No | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| No | e) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| At this time, our California budget is in a mess. While there are some projects that I could support, in this state's current financial situation, the state should not be funding energy development. Instead, we should look for ways that we can encourage private enterprise to make the investments that are necessary for California's future. | |||
| No | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | |||
| Yes | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| f) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | |||
| re b) depends upon the reforms. re f) depends. I would support if the doctors are prescribing marijuana in a controlled environment like a hospital. | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| No | b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to form civil unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in California's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in California's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles: | |||
Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any campaign activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.