Richard Stiek's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Richard Stiek has demonstrated Political Courage by telling citizens where he stands on the issues he may face if elected.
New York State Legislative Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | |||
| b) Should abortions be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy? | |||
| 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? | ||
| The US Supreme Court has already decided the limits of where a state can intervene when an adult woman may want to have an abortion. Also, the Hyde Amendment precludes the use of state funds to pay for an abortion. The issue is where funding goes to an entity for other services, thereby freeing up money to subsidize abortions. This circumvention of the Hyde Amendment should not be authorized and the loophole should be removed. | |||
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 New York's budget.
| Maintain Status | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Health care | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Sales taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (mid-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| j) Other or expanded categories: | |||
| No | a) Tapping into New York's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| No | 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 | ||
| No | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| The problem with state spending isn't in that we spend too much, although our government clearly does, but it is the manner in which the money is spent. There needs to be more accountability in the state agencies on how the money we do spend is allocated. | |||
| There is a significant hurdle when state employees realize no significant impact from the biggest recession since Franklin Roosevelt brought this nation out of the great depression. As a result, the average private citizen bears that pain and burden. We must allow for some negotiated contracts to have an escape clause so that the burden of difficulty is shared, by all. | |||
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 | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support partial funding from state taxes for state level political campaigns? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support moving primary elections for state and local officials to June from September to coincide with congressional primaries? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | 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 decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| Yes | e) Should a minor who sends sexually-explicit or nude photos by cell phone face criminal charges? | ||
| No | f) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Regarding minors who are accused of a violent crime, if they are over the age of 16 and, after objective psychological testing, demonstrate the capacity to appreciate their crimes, then they should stand for the crimes they commit. The point of a majority for trial as an adult is to protect children who shouldn't know better from punishment more appropriately directed to adults. However, if the child is near adulthood and commits an aggregious violent crime, then they should be held to account for it. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support increased spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support legalizing casino gambling? | ||
| No | h) Do you support the construction of a new, larger convention center at the Aqueduct racetrack in Queens? | ||
| No | i) Do you support increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 per hour? | ||
| I support a public-private partnership to train displaced workers. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support the state government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Yes | g) Should illegal immigrants who graduate from New York high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| For New York students at New York public schools, we should provide financial incentives for them to graduate and be successful, mainly in the forms of tuition credits. We need to hold all of our teachers accountable, and instead of securing tenure and job security second-to-none, we must have teachers who fail our students held accountable. | |||
| Yes | 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)? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support state funding for improvements to New York's energy infrastructure? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support state funding for open space preservation? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| No | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | d) Should a license be required for gun possession? | ||
| No | e) Do you support limiting gun purchases to one per person per month? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support a waiting period for gun purchases? | ||
| No | g) Do you support a state ban on assault weapons? | ||
| Regarding gun shows, if they are a commercial enterprise, then I support background checks, but if it is a swap meet among gun owners, then the requirement should be waived, as it places too great a burden on the law abiding citizen gun owner. A waiting period is necessary to avoid acts of passion, but they should not be overly burdensome, more than 3 - 7 days, which then hinders the exercise of the second amendment. | |||
| No | a) Do you support a universally-accessible, publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| No | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| No | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes? | ||
| The Affordable Care Act fails to address the reality, which is our shortage of family care physicians. In order to make health care more affordable, we need to incentivize younger people to get into medicine, and we need to make residencies more available to train these graduates. | |||
| No | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| Yes | b) Should New York continue to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in New York's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in New York's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| While we must protect individuals from discrimination, we must also account for professionalism and provide an affirmative defense for employers if the individual is simply a poor performer. | |||
| In my first 100 days, I will introduce legislation to restrict any property tax increase when property values objectively decline, require all future mandates be fully funded and existing mandates to be funded within five years or be deemed void, and provide a refundable tax credit (immediately realized) to small businesses (under $500,000) for each hire equivalent to one-half of the projected payroll tax of the employee, provided that the employee remains with the company for at least six months. |
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