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Colin Goldman'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.
What is the Political Courage Test?

California State Legislative Election 2008 Political Courage 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.
d) Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
e) Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
f) Abortions should be subject to a mandatory waiting period.
g) Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
Abortion is a matter of personal, private choice. Such that personal, private choices are to be circumscribed by legislation, if at all, that ought to occur at the state and local level. The Federal government has no appropriate Constitutional role in this matter on either side of the issue and only serves to worsen what is already a difficult matter of public debate. In all cases, the general public should not be compelled to fund or subsidize the abortion decisions of other individuals. Private actions ought to remain private.

State Budget: Indicate what state funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.State Taxes: Indicate what state tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one level per category, you can use a number more than once.

Greatly Decrease a) Education (Higher)
Greatly Decrease b) Education (K-12)
Greatly Increase c) Emergency preparedness
Greatly Increase d) Environment
Greatly Decrease e) Health care
Greatly Increase f) Law enforcement
Greatly Increase g) Transportation and highway infrastructure
Greatly Decrease h) Welfare
Eliminate a) Alcohol taxes
Eliminate b) Cigarette taxes
Eliminate c) Corporate taxes
Maintain Status d) Gasoline taxes
Eliminate e) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
Eliminate f) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
Eliminate g) Property taxes
Maintain Status h) Sales taxes
Maintain Status i) Vehicle taxes
No 1) Should state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
No 2) Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget?
No 3) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
Undecided 4) Should California increase the tax exemption on luxury items (yachts, airplanes, and motor-homes) purchased and stored outside of the state from 90 days to 1 year?
5) Other or expanded principles
The role of government is to provide for the common good; to manage those very limited elements of the social contract that can not be more fairly, effectively, and efficiently handled by the private decisions of citizens. Such that these elements, such as managing public property (citizen-shared resources), enforcing laws and maintaining public safety, are left to whither in favor of feel-good, but ineffective social spending, such as a broken down government-run education system and a welfare system that does little to nothing to help the impoverished, the common good of our state suffers immensely.
It is appropriate for the government to fund its limited functions through the imposition of taxes upon its citizenry. These taxes should be kept to a minimum, be based in large measure upon consumption activity (i.e., those who drive more ought to pay more in fees toward road maintenance), and be connected to some measure of fiscal accountability. Are we getting what we paid for? A logical question that nobody in Sacramento sees fit to ask, because they know the answer to that question and it reflects very poorly upon their basic responsibilities to care for the public trust.

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?

No a) Do you support the current limit of terms for California governors?
No b) Do you support the current limit of terms for California state senators and assemblymembers?
No 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?
No e) Do you support imposing spending limits on state-level political campaigns?
No f) Should California participate in the federal REAL ID program?
Yes g) Do you support giving the redistricting authority of the state legislature to a California citizen council?
No h) Do you support the California state government using eminent domain to seize private property for the purpose of private development?
Sacramento is filled with hacks. Not entirely, but mostly. Hacks who are beholden to party politics and major donors over the interests of the public. However, the solution to draining the swamp in Sacramento is not to circumvent the basic democratic authority of the public: to vote for whomever they feel is in their or their family or communities best interest. The solution is to educate voters to demand actual results and accountability from their elected officials. The shift of mindsets of large blocks of voters in this nation has always been a lengthy journey.

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) Support the death penalty in California.
c) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
X d) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
X e) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
f) Support state and local law enforcement officials enforcing federal immigration laws.
g) Support hate crime legislation.
I remain amazed and disheartened that in 2008, state and local officials are still directing massive amounts of law enforcement resources toward the arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of large numbers of non-violent offenders, most especially those arrested for personal drug offenses, while violent criminals remain both at-large or about to commit further crimes, in part because these law enforcement resources were directed elsewhere. If just one violent crime or sexual assault occurs because police officers were busting people growing marijuana, there's blood on somebody's hands.

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

a) Support state funding of universal pre-K programs.
b) Support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students (No Child Left Behind).
X c) Support state education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students.
X d) Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams.
X e) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any public school.
X f) Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
g) Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
X h) Support using a merit pay system for teachers.
i) Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
j) Support allowing illegal immigrant high school graduates of California to pay in-state tuition at public universities.
The government run education system in California is badly broken. It has been for some time and shows no sign of restoration. Sadly, those who most require assistance in education are those least served by the system. Upwards of 2/3 of minority and economically disadvantaged students remain locked into badly failing schools. The system doesn't need to be revamped, it needs to be overhauled. Realistically, the powerful players behind these institutions will prevent it from behind properly overhauled. In the interim, I support all policies that provide options for students with no other options but their local, failing public schools.

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

a) Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers and teach skills needed in today’s job market.
X b) Reduce state government regulations on the private sector.
c) Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
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.
f) Increase the state minimum wage.
g) Support laws that prevent employers from dismissing employees at will.
X h) Support financial punishments for those who knowingly employ illegal immigrants.
i) Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
j) Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
Such as the laws currently exist, they need to be respected. Those that violate the law ought to be punished. This includes employers who illegally hire workers. Move to change the law, don't ignore the law. That's anarchy. Business in the state needs no more assistance from the state than to get its overbearing, unwieldly, politically motivated tentacles out of each and every aspect of a businessperson's business.

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

X a) Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
X b) Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, oil, etc).
c) Support providing financial incentives to farms that produce biofuel crops.
X d) Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
e) Support funding for improvements to California's power generating and transmission facilities.
f) Support funding for open space preservation.
X g) Limit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
h) Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
Such that we all share air and water and other natural resources which can not always be entirely privately accorded, the government does have a role in assigning a cost to those who consume public resources. This would include the emission of gases into your neighbor's airspace. While I support the role of political leaders in publicly promoting alternative energy sources, I do not support the compulsion of the public to pay for the constantly changing and often uneducated whim of politicians as to energy solutions.

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

No a) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows?
Yes b) Should citizens be allowed to carry concealed guns?
No c) Should a license be required for gun possession?
No d) Do you support current levels of enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
No e) Do you support current state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns?
I do believe that the Second Amendment to the Constitution provides for the unlimited right of private citizens to bear arms, such that it does not create an irrefutable and immediate public safety concern. The ownership of almost all forms of manufactured guns for private use does not create such a concern. The licensing of personal firearms by the government is antithetical to their free bearing by private citizens.

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

a) Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
b) Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
c) Limit the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
X d) Allow patients to sue their HMOs.
e) Require hospitals and labs to release reports on infections that are a risk to public health, while not compromising patient confidentiality.
X f) Legalize physician assisted suicide in California.
X g) Support allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
There is a necessary role of government in caring for those who absolutely can not care for themselves, including in their own basic medical care. This is part of our social contract at citizens. However, the number of individuals who require becoming wards of the state is a relatively small fraction of the population. When the do-gooders among us promote the expansion of social services to the great mass of the general population, they only serve to diminish the ability of the state to care for that smaller subset that actually needs supervision and care.

['Indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding social issues.', 'Legislative Priorities']

Yes a) Should California continue to recognize domestic partnerships between same-sex couples?
Yes b) Should same-sex couples be allowed to marry?
Yes c) Should California provide state-level spousal rights to same-sex couples?
No d) Do you support a moment of silence in public schools?
Yes e) Do you support voluntary prayer in public schools?
Yes f) Do you support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods?
No g) Do you support abstinence-only sexual education programs?
No h) Should the state government consider race and gender in state government contracting and hiring decisions?
No i) Do you support affirmative action in public college admissions?
No j) Should California continue affirmative action programs?
No k) Do you support state funding of stem cell research?
No l) Do you support state funding of embryonic stem cell research?
Yes m) Do you support allowing pharmacists who conscientiously object to emergency contraception to refuse to dispense it?
Get government out of private business and personal matters. Why have we given government the authority to sanction romantic partnerships of any kind? Why do we trust government to educate our children on serious matters such as sexuality when they have trouble just filling potholes with billion dollar budgets? Such that government has been granted such authorities over private interactions, the government must maintain as open and inclusive a stance as possible. However, the superior solution remains the elimination of politicians and legislators from our bedrooms, classrooms, and businesses.
Overhaul the government run education system such that those families truly needing assistance to properly educate their children receive actual assistance in educating their children, rather than commiting their children to a failing and potentially dangerous school. This means real options in education for those who cannot provide such options for themselves. This also means drastically downsizing the public education system such that it can properly provide for these students. Is our goal to actually help those in need or is our goal to keep feeding the institutional beast? For far too long, it's been the latter.

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