Mary Till's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
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Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Mary Till 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.
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.
New Hampshire State Legislative Election 2014 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? | ||
| Abortions should always be legal as long as the fetus is not viable outside the womb. Regarding parental notification, when a child is the victim of incest, notifying parents may endanger the child. In cases of minors, if the child does not voluntarily seek to provide parental consent, then a judge should be asked to provide the consent. Abortions should qualify for public funds in the same way any other health procedure would qualify. | |||
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 Hampshire's budget.
| Slightly Increase | a) Education (higher) | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Education (K-12) | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Health care | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Law enforcement/corrections | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Transportation/infrastructure | ||
| Maintain Status | g) Welfare | ||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Gas/Oil taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Property taxes | ||
| Yes | a) Tapping into New Hampshire's "rainy day" fund | ||
| No | b) Increasing tuition rates at public universities | ||
| No | c) Reducing or eliminating public worker collective bargaining | ||
| No | d) Reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions | ||
| No | e) Instituting mandatory furloughs AND/OR layoffs for state employees | ||
| No | f) Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients | ||
| I support increased to education funding because an educated work force draws new businesses to NH. I support increases in environment and transportation funding because these programs increase the livability of NH and also because they promote job growth. | |||
| Except for state and federal aid, the main source of funding for local government and local schools is the property tax. When other revenue sources that have a broader base are increased, it becomes possible for the state to share more revenues with local towns and cities, thereby allowing them to decrease the burden on property taxpayers. | |||
| I support balancing New Hampshire's budget by improving NH's economy through job growth and increased tourism. I do not support balancing the budget on the backs of state employees or Medicaid recipients. A rainy day fund is meant to be used in hard times and replenished when times are good. Thus it should be used to help balance NH's budget when anticipated revenue sources do not materialize. It should not, however, be a planned part of a proposed budget. The proposed budget should be balanced without resorting to money in the rainy day fund. | |||
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 | ||
| 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? | ||
| I believe that voters should provide proof of residency when they register to vote. When they actually vote, they should only have to verify the address on their registration and sign the voter registration book. If additional identification is needed, NH law provides a variety of acceptable documents to prove identification, not all of which are government-issued. | |||
| 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? | ||
| 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? | ||
| Juvenile courts are designed to deal with the special case of minors accused of a crime. No minor should automatically be tried as an adult. A juvenile court should rule on whether the circumstances are such that the minor should be tried as an adult. | |||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | 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 government spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| f) Do you support providing direct financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure? | |||
| Yes | g) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage? | ||
| Government regulations are designed to protect the public from private actions by corporations such as polluting air, land or water. As long as the regulations serve the purpose of protecting the public, they have a place in our society. Financial assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure should not be automatic. However, it may be appropriate in some cases. | |||
| Yes | 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 Hampshire high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities? | ||
| The Principal should know his/her staff well enough to evaluate a teacher's effectiveness. He/she should not rely on test scores or a couple of hours sitting in a class room to evaluate a teacher's work. Vouchers are great if your child is selected otherwise they take money away from the school that your child is attending. Students have a variety of learning modes, and often a public school cannot address all of them. Public Charter Schools can fill this gap. They are more flexible and can try new methods. Once proven, these methods can be migrated to traditional public schools. | |||
| 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 Hampshire'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? | ||
| The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast has cut carbon emissions by 29% since 2009 while generating more than $1 billion in net economic benefits, according to Environment Northeast, a nonprofit focused on addressing climate change. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| I believe in the right of responsible adults to own guns. I also believe in keeping our communities and our schools safe from irresponsible, often mentally unstable people who would use the guns to hurt our children or innocent people, and even themselves. That's why I support increased funding for community mental health centers. I also support reasonable gun legislation that balances the rights of gun owners with those of ordinary citizens to be safe from gun violence. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | c) Do you support interstate health insurance compacts? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of sexual orientation in New Hampshire's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in New Hampshire's anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| d) Other or expanded principles: | |||
| In no special order, my priorities are to get money out of politics, label genetically modified foods, and protect the vote by requiring post-election audits of the vote count. I believe the cost of these programs are minimal and could be covered by a registration tax on PACs, a small tax on food producers, and money from federal Help America Vote Funds. There are numerous other issues of great importance which I support, but, in my opinion, they are receiving adequate attention already. |
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