Chris Rockwood's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Chris Rockwood has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2016 Political Courage Test.
Wisconsin State Legislative Election 2016 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| The U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1973 that women have the right to choose abortion. Instead of passing unconstitutional laws to restrict that right, opponents of abortion should focus on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies by improving access to contraception and requiring responsible sex education. As a member of the Assembly, I will cosponsor legislation to reinstate Wisconsin�s Healthy Youth Act, which my opponent voted to repeal. | |||
1) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing Wisconsin's budget.2) State Spending: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.3) State Taxes: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.
| Yes | a) Tapping into Wisconsin's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Decreasing funding for public universities | ||
| No | c) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| No | d) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | e) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| Slightly Increase | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Environment | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Health care | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Small business taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Property taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | g) Sales taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | j) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Yes | k) Do you support applying sales taxes to all online purchases? | ||
| We should increase the income tax rate for the wealthiest Wisconsinites, which will raise sufficient revenue to allow repeal of the personal property tax, and we should allow counties and municipalities to levy sales taxes. My opponent is anything but the "fiscal conservative" he claims to be (and should be, as a CPA). He voted to reject federal funds for BadgerCare expansion, a terrible decision that is costing Wisconsin taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars for massive highway projects instead of finding a responsible way to pay for them. | |||
| We need a school funding formula that is not only simpler and more equitable but also restores Gov. Tommy Thompson's commitment that two-thirds of public school funding should come from the state, reducing the burden on property taxpayers and requiring the wealthiest Wisconsinites to pay their fair share. | |||
| Funding for transportation, including but not limited to highways and local roads, is inadequate because our gas tax has been frozen since 2006 and vehicle registration fees have remained the same since 2007. At the very least, we must return to indexing the gas tax for inflation. Also, local governments should be able to levy sales taxes (with the same exemptions as the state sales tax, of course). Local elected officials who might choose to raise (or reduce) taxes are accountable to voters every 2-4 years and should be trusted to act in the best interests of their constituents. | |||
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? | ||
| Wisconsin used to be nationally known for its bipartisan tradition of clean, open, honest, and transparent government. Gov. Walker and his allies turned our state?s longtime tradition on its head by drawing a new legislative map with an extreme partisan bias, eviscerating disclosure requirements in our campaign finance system, abolishing the respected Government Accountability Board, and changing laws to make political corruption more difficult to investigate. We need a nonpartisan redistricting process similar to the procedure used in Iowa, and we should return to public financing of elections for candidates who agree to abide by voluntary spending limits. | |||
| No | 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 legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| No | d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support delaying the seizure of assets by law enforcement officials until after a conviction? | ||
| We should legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana for multiple reasons: personal freedom (people should have the right to engage in activities that do not harm others, and marijuana is arguably less harmful than alcohol); criminal justice (to address the gigantic racial disparities in arrests and prosecutions for possession and use of marijuana); and fiscal responsibility (taxes on regulated marijuana sales would be a financial boon to the state and would allow increased funding of schools, transportation, and services along with reductions in other taxes, especially property taxes). | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | b) Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| c) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | |||
| Yes | d) Do you support increased state funding for job-training programs that re-train displaced workers? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| No | f) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support providing financial incentives to the private sector for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| Yes | i) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| No | j) Should employers be able to ask about applicants' criminal history before interviewing them? | ||
| No | k) Do you support the use of public funds for the construction of professional sports stadiums? | ||
| No | l) Do you support the enactment of right-to-work legislation? | ||
| I did not answer the question about reducing government regulations on the private sector because I do support it in some cases and don't support it in other cases. For example, I support reducing licensing requirements for certain businesses but do not support reductions in environmental regulations. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the national Common Core State Standards initiative? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| e) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | |||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from Wisconsin high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| I did not answer the question about state funding for charter schools because I support it only for certain charter schools. Specifically, I support public funding for "instrumentality" charter schools that are authorized by elected school boards and staffed with school district employees. I favor the removal of chartering authority from all entities other than school boards and a moratorium on expansion of school vouchers until and unless several years of data from Wisconsin's new report card system show that voucher schools are producing statistically significant increases in educational outcomes. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| 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 Wisconsin's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support increased regulations of the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry? | ||
| Today's Wisconsin DNR, with its "chamber-of-commerce mentality" under Secretary Cathy Stepp, is an embarrassment and a complete departure from our state's bipartisan tradition of environmental protection. I will fight to restore that tradition, which Governors Warren Knowles and Gaylord Nelson helped to establish. Our state government and the federal government need to acknowledge that climate change is the most serious threat to our country (and to the human race) and act accordingly. We must enact significant incentives for the aggressive development of wind and solar energy. I also support much stricter regulation of "fracking" and frac sand mining. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| 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? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| I strongly support universal, nationwide background checks for all gun sales, with the only possible exception being transfers between closely related family members. I also support tightening requirements for background checks and increasing the amount of training required to obtain concealed-carry permits. Wisconsin should not accept concealed-carry permits from other states with requirements that are any less stringent than ours. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| No | f) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| In the grand scheme of things, I do not support requiring individuals to purchase health insurance because I support the enactment of universal, nationwide health insurance for all Americans ("Medicare for all"). Short of that, I strongly support the establishment of a "public option" and believe that all states should be required to expand Medicaid as specified by the Affordable Care Act (instead of having the option to decline federal funding and opt out of the expansion). | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in Wisconsin's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Wisconsin's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Any and all discrimination based on sex or gender identity is a violation of individual rights. | |||
| 1. My most important priority will be strengthening public education and supporting public educators. All of our children have the right to receive a high-quality education in public schools that are equitably funded and overseen by democratically elected school boards. 2. I will advocate strongly for expansion of BadgerCare with federal funds, which will provide coverage to 83,000 more people while saving Wisconsin taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. 3. I will fight to restore Wisconsin's bipartisan tradition of clean, open, honest and transparent government and for nonpartisan redistricting, similar to the procedure used in Iowa. |
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