John Wiles' Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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John Wiles has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2018 Political Courage Test.
North Carolina State Legislative Election 2018 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| It is not the position of government to regulate personal decisions and determine what is best for an individual in relation to reproductive health. Beyond Reproductive Rights, there should be educational means to prevent situations that require such a trying and unfortunate position to make a determination like abortion. | |||
1) Budget Stabilization:Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing North Carolina's budget.
| No | a) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| No | b) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees? | ||
| No | c) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients? | ||
| Yes | d) An income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| Taxation is a necessity of government function. Smart revenue policy ensures that services and infrastructure can be maintained. NC is one of few states that have a Constitutionally capped income tax; NC is currently capped at 10%. Further caps severely handicap the State from providing services that benefit the middle-class and aid through crisis events like natural disasters. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support any limits on campaign contributions to state candidates? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the use of an independent AND/OR bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| No | d) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| The single greatest threat to our democracy is moneyed interest buy legislative powers to write and enact laws to their benefit. Political contributions should be limited by amount and to individual donors. Districting should not lean support in either direction by design, districts should be independently drawn and approved by an independent commission. Voter ID is a suppressive tool and nothing more. No research has verified a systemic issue with voter fraud. Any Voter ID law should come with legislation to mandate free identification and automatic voter registration. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes? | ||
| No | c) Should a minor accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Capital punishment should be applicable in very few instances and must be handed down in the most severe and heinous of crimes. Marijuana has been proven to have numerous medical utilizations that would ultimately help with curbing the opioid epidemic and providing necessary relief to chronically ill patients. Marijuana legalization would also free up our strained criminal justice system and allow law enforcement to focus on more pressing and dangerous issues. Immigration laws are the responsibility of the federal government and that should not be passed to our local law enforcement. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | b) Do you support lowering state taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support reducing state government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support expanding access to unemployment benefits? | ||
| No | e) Do you support requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive benefits? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of North Carolina? | ||
| The purpose of government is to promote the welfare of the citizens. At times economic growth can be promoted through government spending. Wages have not grown with inflation and cost of living. A living wage is something that must be addressed if we are to build citizens that are financially capable of escaping the social aid programs and becoming effective contributors to our economy. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards in North Carolina? | ||
| No | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Should immigrants unlawfully present in the United States who graduate from North Carolina high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support increasing funding for the state education budget? | ||
| No | e) Do you support North Carolina's "Innovative School District" program? | ||
| A national structure to the subject matter is necessary to accommodate a population that is increasingly mobile. Students should not miss subject matter because a parent must move from state to state for their job. Public schools are the responsibility of the General Assembly, the focus and effort to support and improve public schools should be the only priority. The state education budget benefits the very framework of a strong citizenry and economy, without question the state education budget should be increased. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state government regulations of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| With the technology present to effectively off-set and supplement our energy needs we must stop obstructing legislation that ignores renewable energy. The full use of federal and state funding to ensure and protect our air and drinking water is imperative. As the natural disasters that have struck our communities across North Carolina have shown, we must not longer ignore the changing climate and we must use every resource to protect our people and property. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | c) Should teachers be allowed to bring guns into the classroom? | ||
| No | d) Should a license be required for gun ownership? | ||
| Responsible gun owners are neither the concern or focus of firearms legislation. No reasonable person believes that taking firearms away from lawful citizens is even a possibility and I will fight to ensure that the rights to gun ownership are protected. However, legislation that strengthens and ensures that lawful citizens are the only ones lawfully purchasing and possessing firearms is necessary. Every lawful gun purchase should be documented in order to ensure that those individuals that should not have access to legal firearms are not slipping through the cracks. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support Medicaid expansion through North Carolina's health care programs? | ||
| No | c) Do you support requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support legislation that grants citizens the right to choose to die through euthanasia? | ||
| No | e) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| The opioid epidemic is not a matter of law and order, this is not something that we can arrest our way out of. We must hold pharmaceutical companies responsible for misleading advertising and dispensing of dangerous and highly addictive narcotics. The solution is with education, diversion, treatment, and support systems which need to be fully funded. Medicaid expansion would provide coverage to nearly one million North Carolinians, create thousands of quality jobs, and keep North Carolinians tax dollars in state. For-profit Health Insurance companies must be taken control of to lower the outrageous cost in NC. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in North Carolina's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in North Carolina's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support greater efforts by North Carolina state government in closing the pay gap between men and women? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the removal of Confederate monuments from public spaces? | ||
| Consenting adults should be permitted to love each other, regardless of outside opinion. Therefore, protection from bigotry and discrimination should extend to those individuals targeted simply for who they love. Without question, the gender and ethnic wage gaps should be closed and illegal. Memorials to individuals that fought for their homes and the simple ways of their lives, which most Southern Confederates were not slave owners, should be presented in spaces intended for history; like museums and battlefields. Those Confederate ideals which prevail the defense of these monuments have no place for public and inclusive locales. | |||
| By shifting the tax burden from the working-, middle-class and requiring that corporations and the top percentages of wealth pay their fair share in taxes, I will fight for a fair revenue system. With this fair revenue system, fully funding Public Education and promoting vocational/apprentice training as well as improving access and lowering cost of healthcare are the two top priorities for my time as your Representative. This will be accomplished by eliminating unnecessary spending and bad policy from backroom legislating that has taken over our General Assembly. I will be "Putting People First." |
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