Teresa Collett's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Teresa Collett refused to tell citizens where she stands on any of the issues addressed in the 2010 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart, national media, and prominent political leaders.
Issue Positions
For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2010.
- Republican National Coalition for Life. 2010. 24 August 2010. Republican National Coalition for Life endorsed Teresa Collett in the 2010 general election. (www.rnclife.org)
- Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund. 2010. 24 August 2010. Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund endorsed Teresa Collett in the 2010 general election. "As a leading law professor and attorney, Teresa Collett has fought for pro-life legislation in Minnesota and served as a special attorney general for Oklahoma where she argued against sex-selection abortions. She is the director of the Pro-life Center at the University of St. Thomas and has testified before the Supreme Court regarding partial birth abortion and parental notification. She is challenging pro-abortion incumbent Betty McCollum." (www.sba-list.org)
- Teresa Collett. 2010. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life: Primary Election Voter Guide. Responded YES to the questions: "(1) Do you support the reversal of the roe v. Wade and Doe v. bolton decisions, so that elected legislative bodies may once again protect unborn children by limiting or prohibiting abortion?;" "(2) Would you support legislation to strictly limit abortion at least from the point in development that evidence suggests an unborn child has the capacity to experience pain?;" "(4) Would you vote to renew the current hyde amendment policy without weakening amendments?;" "(5) Would you support legislation to reinstate the Mexico City policy, and would you oppose any legislation that would prohibit a future president from reinstating the policy by executive order?;" "(6) Would you vote for the Child interstate abortion notification act, and oppose weakening amendments?" (webcache.googleusercontent.com)
- Teresa Collett. Life Issues. 24 August 2010. "The issue of abortion evokes strong emotions for almost everyone. Many people, including myself, believe that medical science proves a child comes into being at the moment of conception, - precious, fragile, and entitled to the full protection of our laws. For those of us who hold this belief, it is unbelieveable that corporations have constitutional protections, but unborn children do not. Yet, many honest, principled people believe that the moment of conception merely creates a potential human being. To many people the equality of women is dependent upon the ready availability of abortion. For too long the unborn child's right to life and the woman's right to equality have been pitted against each other; with supporters of each side attacking the other's good faith and methods of persuasion. I firmly believe in the unborn child's right to the protection of the law and I firmly believe in the right of women to be treated as equals in society. Women and children deserve better than legalized abortion. Whether we are pro-life or pro-choice, we can all agree that a woman should never be pressured to have an abortion by the child's father, her family, her friends, her doctor, or her employer. She should never feel that abortion is her only choice because the father refuses to help support the child he helped to create. And we can all agree that women who continue their pregnancies should have the support of the child's father, access to prenatal care and better resources to answer her questions about pregnancy and child care. In these shared ideals we can find a shared purpose: to restore the dignity of motherhood, to protect women from coercion and abuse, and to strengthen the support systems necessary to bring a child into this world." (www.collettforcongress.com)
- Teresa Collett. Teresa Signs the Defund Abortion Pledge. 24 August 2010. "Today Teresa Collett became the first Minnesota Congressional candidate to sign the Defund Abortion pledge, promising to oppose any efforts to force taxpayers to pay for abortions. Collett said, 'People's views on abortion reflect their most basic beliefs about who the law should protect. Like the majority of Minnesotans, I believe that the law should equally protect the strong and the weak; the healthy and ill; the old, the young, and the unborn.'" (www.collettforcongress.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Teresa Collett. Encouraging Job Creation. 24 August 2010. "We know that the private sector is the source of lasting economic growth and job creation...When I am elected to Congress I will work with Minnesota employers to ensure that the federal government does not stand in the way of innovation and expansion. Instead of burdening companies with expensive new mandates, higher taxes and more regulation, we need to encourage companies to start growing again. That means targeted tax-incentives for companies that hire new workers, increase hours or wages, and invest in expansion and product development. It also means supporting private investment in innovation and cutting edge research, while streamlining the process of obtaining patents for new discoveries. We need more jobs, not more government; more innovation, not regulation; and more faith in the entrepreneurial spirit of the American people. Together we can stop government from killing innovation and job creation, and bring a better economy back to the people of Minnesota." (www.collettforcongress.com)
- Teresa Collett. Limited Government. 24 August 2010. "When some business leaders put profit over principle, government intervened to regulate investments. And when regulation failed to ensure the complete safety of speculative ventures, government intervened still further in an attempt to guarantee success. This led to the massive corporate bailouts and expansion of government liability that has ground the economy to a halt." (www.collettforcongress.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Teresa Collett. Limited Government. 24 August 2010. "Like our founding fathers, I believe passionately in limited government. We live, unfortunately, in the age of mandates. Mandate is another word for the federal government requiring something to be done by the state government, the local government, or you. Mandates are the antithesis of personal freedom. We must stop governing by mandate. For example, education is subject to many federal mandates. Yet most of us would agree that local control over our children's education is best. Parents and the local community have the greatest interests in making sure children are well educated. A bureaucrat in a Washington, DC, office merely gets in the way of that goal. Good intentions are never enough to excuse unconstitutional expansion of government." (www.collettforcongress.com)
- Teresa Collett signed the Contract from America. "Stop costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the nation's global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global temperatures." (www.thecontract.org)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Teresa Collett. Teresa Collett for Congress. 6 July 2010. "Doctor waits 18 months for payments by Medicaid and had to stop seeing Medicaid patients. She fears Obamacare will cause the same problems with Medicare: Rob Bluey: This doctor fights Obamacare one patient at a time | Washington Examiner" (www.facebook.com)
- Teresa Collett signed the Contract from America. "Defund, repeal and replace the recently passed government-run health care with a system that actually makes health care and insurance more affordable by enabling a competitive, open, and transparent free-market health care and health insurance system that isn't restricted by state boundaries." (www.thecontract.org)
- Teresa Collett. Teresa Collett's Statement on Healthcare Reform. 22 March 2010. "Our health care system is the best in the world, but that doesn't mean it can't get better. We improve our system when we spur innovation to control the spiraling costs of health care, create incentives for personal ownership of health care policies, put a lid on frivolous lawsuits which drive up the cost of a doctor's visit for everyone, and allow the best companies to compete across state lines to bring the lowest prices for everyone. These are the real changes Minnesotans need, but innovation and competition are nowhere to be found in the bill that Representative McCollum voted for. Even the bill's better ideas, like increased scrutiny on insurance companies who drop patients when they need coverage the most, are drowned out by regulations and mandates guaranteed to raise, not lower, the cost of insurance for the average Minnesotan. Instead, the 2,000 page monstrosity passed by Representative McCollum and her cohorts does nothing but burden our already embattled middle class by adding a requirement that they get health insurance or pay a fee...I want to work to bring about real innovation and common-sense solutions to our health care problems, and I would like your help in doing so. If you think that you and your doctor can make better decisions for your health than bureaucrats in Washington; if you think that you and your spouse can make better decisions about your privacy than some looming federal agency; if you think that you should be worrying more about your children's health today than saddling them with the debt for your health tomorrow, then you need a new voice in Washington. I am running for Congress because I will be proud to be that voice, and bring responsive, responsible representation back to the 4th District." (www.collettforcongress.com)
- Teresa Collett. Collett Supports Repeal of Obamacare. 29 September 2010. "'Obamacare is full of wasteful and troubling provisions. It puts government between patients and their doctors and forces prices up by requiring taxpayers to pay for something as ridiculous and dangerous as Viagra for sex offenders. When I am elected I will work to repeal Obamacare and replace it with affordable, patient-centered solutions to problems in our healthcare system,' stated Teresa Collett." (votesmart.org)
- Teresa Collett. Obamacare Forces 3M to Cut Health Care Coverage to 23,000 Retirees. 7 October 2010. "Iowa Senator Charles Grassley stated in the Wall Street Journal, "For all the employees who were promised they'd be able to keep their current benefits after the health care law passed, I'm worried that the recent changes we've heard about are just the beginning." "I agree with Senator Grassley and when I am elected I will work to repeal Obamacare and replace it with affordable, patient-centered solutions to problems in our healthcare system," stated Teresa Collett." (votesmart.org)
- Teresa Collett. Immigration. 24 August 2010. "With the new immigration bill recently passed in Arizona, we are once again debating how our nation should deal with the problem of illegal immigrants. Like most issues these days, the choice we are presented with is a choice between two equally strong claims: the demand that we secure our borders and protect the well being of American workers and the demand that we welcome those who enter our nation in search of the freedoms and economic prosperity that characterizes the American way of life. Common sense tells us that both are valid arguments and I believe the solution lies not in acting on one claim while completely denying the other, but in achieving a common sense combination of both. First and foremost, we have to secure our border. An open border is an immigration problem, a national security problem, and an invitation to drug smugglers and human traffickers seeking to secretly enter our country... Securing our border is the first and most valuable step we can take to secure our country. Until we do this, we cannot effectively solve the problem of the illegal immigrants who are already here. The more difficult questions arise when dealing with those who have been law abiding citizens in their homeland and have entered this country illegally. Many of these people have been in this country for a period of years and they have depended upon nothing but their own industry and hard work to establish lives here. We must neither criminalize those who have contributed to our communities in spite of their unlawful entry, nor should we grant amnesty to those who flaunt our laws. Rather, we should institute a system of substantial civil fines for those who have come here illegally, but have abided by all other laws while contributing to our society. It is a just punishment for the offense they committed when entering illegally." (www.collettforcongress.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Eagle Forum. 2010. Project Vote Smart: Interest Group Endorsements. 23 September 2010. Eagle Forum endorsed Teresa Collett in the 2010 general election. (votesmart.org)
- Birkey, Andy. 2010. Minnesota Independent: Teresa Collett to take on McCollum. 20 April 2010. "Collett has a long resume of opposing abortion and same-sex marriage at the state and federal level, including testifying before the U.S. Senate against same-sex marriage and representing Congressman Ron Paul and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons in 'defending the partial-birth abortion ban before the United States Supreme Court in Gonzales v. Carhart.'" (minnesotaindependent.com)
- Catholic Culture: American couples, law professor appointed to Pontifical Council for the Family. 1 October 2009. "Professor Collett has actively defended pro-life and pro-family legislation." (www.catholicculture.org)
- The Catholic Spirit: Speakers urge Catholics to reclaim marriage's true meaning. 26 January 2010. "Father Dufner spoke about the nature and purpose of marriage, while Collett spoke about the civic role of marriage, how the legalization of divorce damaged the culture, and how same-sex unions further threaten marriage...The government is invested in marriage because marriage promotes the common good by ensuring the community's future, Collett said. 'Marriage, in the law's eyes, is consummated and exists because of the unique human experience of sexual intercourse. It's the only human act that can unintentionally create a human life,' she said. Because a child needs protection and thrives best when raised by its biological parents, the government is interested in supporting the marriage institution, she said. Because same-sex unions are incapable of unintentionally reproducing, civil interests initially invested in marriage do not apply to them...The legalization of same-sex marriage may not seem to have an immediate impact on those in a traditional marriage, but it will hurt them the same way divorce afflicts culture now, Collett said. 'It will develop a culture where procreation and marriage are permanently severed,' she said. Collett pointed to tangible effects already evident throughout the United States: the use of public resources to promote same-sex unions as morally equivalent to marriages, accusations of discrimination against those who speak or write against same-sex marriage, work- and school-related repercussions, and the stripping of public funding or tax-exempt status from non-profit institutions that deny equal treatment of same-sex couples as married couples." (thecatholicspirit.com)
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