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Christopher Babbidge's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

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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.

Christopher Babbidge has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2020 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.

What is the Political Courage Test?
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.

Maine State Legislative Election 2006 National Political Awareness Test

The Political Courage Test asks candidates which items they will support if elected. It does not ask them to indicate which items they will oppose. Through extensive research of public polling data, we discovered that voters are more concerned with what candidates would support when elected to office, not what they oppose. If a candidate does not select a response to any part or all of any question, it does not necessarily indicate that the candidate is opposed to that particular item.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding abortion.

a) Abortions should always be illegal.
b) Abortions should always be legal.
c) Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
X d) Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
X e) Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
f) Prohibit public funding of abortions and to organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
Reproductive questions are ultimately the mother's to answer, and her privacy should not be violated by government intrusion except to ensure proper education and medical safety.

State Budget: Indicate the funding levels (#1-6) you will support for the following general categories. Select one level per category.State Taxes: Indicate the tax levels (#1-6) you will support. Select one level per tax.

Slightly Increase a) Education (Higher)
Maintain Status b) Education (K-12)
c) Emergency preparedness
Slightly Increase d) Environment
Maintain Status e) Health care
Maintain Status f) Law enforcement
Maintain Status g) Transportation and highway infrastructure
Maintain Status h) Welfare
Maintain Status a) Alcohol taxes
Maintain Status b) Capital gains taxes
Maintain Status c) Cigarette taxes
Maintain Status d) Corporate taxes
Maintain Status e) Gasoline taxes
Slightly Decrease f) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
Slightly Decrease g) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
Slightly Decrease h) Property taxes
Maintain Status i) Sales taxes
Slightly Decrease j) Vehicle taxes
No l) Should the state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
Undecided m) Should accounts such as a “rainy day” fund be used to balance the state budget?
No n) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
Consistent with the voter mandate, we vastly increased state funds for K-12 education, which I supported. To balance the budget, I approved late cuts to DHHS. York County Community College and the university system need more funds, and higher ed $ dovetail with economic development. Long-term infrastructure needs for roads and bridges justify a beyond-the-budget transportation bond, and the difficult-to-reverse impact of unabridled development justifies increased $ for Land for Maine's Future.
Slightly Increase: luxury taxes, sales tax expansion
Comprehensive tax reform requires balance. Sales tax exemptions should be reevaluated in that process. I would explore decreasing corporate income taxes in favor of a profits-based tax to permit economic expansion. We have increased the cigarette tax and provided personal tax relief via property tax rebates. Regarding my district, I have dedicated myself these two years to protecting Kennebunk from a tax increase caused by a cost-sharing shift adoped by the previous legislature.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding campaign finance and government reform.c) Do you support limiting the following types of contributions to state legislative candidates?

Yes a) Do you support the current limit of terms for Maine governors?
No b) Do you support the current limit of terms for Maine state senators and representatives?
Yes 1) Individual
Yes 2) PAC
Yes 3) Corporate
Yes 4) Political Parties
Yes d) Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
Yes e) Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns?
Yes f) Do you support adopting statewide standards for counting, verifying and ensuring accuracy of votes?
No g) Do you support prohibiting media exit polling of voters until all polling locations in Maine are closed?
Yes h) Should Maine recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
I support Maine's Clean Elections laws. I support public financing of candidates who meet a threshold of legitimacy. Term limits have forced into retirement many knowledgeable public servants who, once back in private life, choose not to embrace the personal sacrifice that returning to the Legislature entails; this means increased reliance on lobbyists/bureaucrats for information and increased power of the Executive at the expense of the Legislature. I support increasing term limits from 8 to 12 years.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding crime.

a) Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff.
b) Implement the death penalty in Maine.
X c) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
d) End parole for repeat violent offenders.
e) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
f) Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes.
g) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
h) Require that crimes based on race, ethnic background, religious belief, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation be prosecuted as hate crimes.
i) Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
j) Strengthen sex-offender laws.
k) Support the restriction of the sale of products used to make methamphetamine (e.g. tablets containing pseudophedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine).
l) Support the continued publication of Maine’s sex offender registry.
As I see it, the proper role of the Legislature is to make law and set penalties in ranges that allow professionals in the courtroom to find truth, assess relevant factors, and administer justice. The safety of our community requires firmness. The conscience of American society requires fairness. I resist the popular temptation to mandate harsher punishments that have unintended negative consequences.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding education.

a) Support national standards and testing of public school students.
b) Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any public school.
c) Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
d) Increase state funds for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure).
e) Increase funds for hiring additional teachers.
f) Support teacher testing and reward with merit pay.
g) Endorse voluntary prayer in public schools.
h) Require public schools to administer high school exit exams.
i) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
j) Increase funding for Head Start programs.
X k) Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
X l) Support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods.
m) Support abstinence-only sexual education programs.
Testing to meet standards is imperative (we've always done it to some degree), but we must ensure that its benefits don't blind us into permitting testing to overwhelm the learning environment of the classroom. I would support public school choice if it caused no negative financial impact on students left behind. I have worked hard to protect MSAD 71 financially.

Employment: Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding employment.Affirmative Action: Should race, ethnicity or gender be taken into account in state agencies’ decisions on:

a) Increase funding for state job-training programs that retrain displaced workers and teach skills needed in today’s job market.
b) Reduce state government regulations on the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion.
X c) Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
X d) Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families.
e) Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
X f) Include sexual orientation in Maine's anti-discrimination laws.
g) Increase the state minimum wage.
a) Public employment
b) State college and university admissions
c) State contracting
These statements are only relevant to the status guo and therefore may misinform the reader about my priorities. I was a strong advocate of a 4% increase in the minimum wage for each of the next two years to bring it to $7. It was a big vote in a controversial and close decision, is now the status quo, I didn't check it above as I don't favor a higher wage in that time period.
Once a candidate for employment or college has ALREADY successfully met qualifying criteria that would justify his/her selection, THEN race or gender may be used by those with defined affirmative action plans that have justifiable goals as one positive factor in the process of final selection.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding the environment and energy.

X a) Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
b) Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, and oil).
c) Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
d) Increase funding for improvements to Maine's power generating and transmission facilities.
X e) Support funding for open space preservation.
X f) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
Maine's energy costs, like all northeastern states, are very high, and my work on the Utilities and Energy Committee has been to look out for the interests of consumers and businesses by pursuing adequate supply at reasonable cost. I have been part of a pro-active state government that is addressing these issues head on. In addition, I have promoted conservation and alternative energy projects, and sponsored cell phone recycling legislation.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding guns.

a) Maintain and strengthen the enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
b) Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
c) Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
d) Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
X e) Require background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows.
f) Require a license for gun possession.
X g) Support notifying individuals protected by an abuse order when the abuser attempts to purchase a firearm.
I believe 2nd amendment rights can be preserved without sacrificing safety in the community. Common sense dictates that unstable people shouldn't be permitted to get concealed weapon permits and people who have a history of resolving life's conflicts with criminal behavior shouldn't have access to guns. Battered spouses, for instance, deserve every practical protection government can provide. Those actions, however, need not jeopardize hunting and target practicing as long-held Maine traditions by law-abiding citizens.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding health.

X a) Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
b) Transfer current Medicaid recipients into managed care programs.
c) Limit the amount of punitive damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
X d) Support patients' right to sue their HMOs.
e) Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
X f) Continue to support Dirigo Health in Maine.
g) Legalize physician assisted suicide in Maine.
X h) Continue to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
Regarding health issues, I support the empowerment of the PATIENT to make decisions regarding their doctor, their HMO, the specifics of their care, and, in certain situations, their end of life. I support Dirigo Health, a pioneering program addressing both costs and coverage, recognizing that uninsured Maine citizens cause significant costs to be transferred to the rest of the population.

Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding welfare.

a) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
b) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
c) Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
d) Redirect welfare funding to faith-based and community-based private organizations.
X e) Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to extend health and child care subsidies to the working poor.
f) Support marriage promotion programs for welfare recipients.
g) Eliminate government-funded welfare programs.
I believe in government assistance to needy Mainers, but not to the point of it becoming a disincentive to work. Treatment, both physical and mental, and education are the vehicles to get out of poverty. These programs must leave recipients with their dignity, while recipients need to recognize personal responsibility for their own future. But care for the elderly and the handicapped are the responsibility of a civilized society,
I am committed to promoting a strong and vibrant economy, investing in Maine people and small business, preserving our quality of life and our environment, promoting strong educational opportunities, opposing discrimination, fighting energy costs, advocating for good health care, and helping our seniors fight costs and maintain independence. It's has been a great privilege to represent Kennebunk these past two years in pursuit of making Maine an even better place to live.

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