[Vision2020] Congressional candidates answer questions

[Donovan Arnold]

Anyone stupid enough to answer this survey is too stupid to be governing or representing the State of Idaho. 
  
  _DJA

Mark Solomon <msolomon at moscow.com> wrote:    Congressional candidates answer  questions  This from Randy Stapilus' blog today:  (http://www.ridenbaugh.com/index.php/2006/05/05/choosing-questions/#more-296 )
  He  reports on answers from candidates for Idaho 1st Cong. District to a  survey jointly sponsored by a coalition of very conservative Idaho  groups. It's a very scary read.
  

  Mark Solomon
  ********
  

  Choosing questions
  by Randy Stapilus 
  
  Some states, Washington and Oregon for two, develop statewide and  localized voter guides which include information about the candidates  for office, and information from the candidates - campaign statements  and so on - included as well. They can be helpful assists to voting.
  
  Idaho doesn't have such a publication, but it does have this primary  season something called the Gem State Voter guide, published by a  collection of very conservative groups - Idaho Values Alliance  (conservative Christian, led by Bryan Fischer) , Education Excellence  Idaho (principally backing charter, private and home school options),  Idahoans for Tax Reform (an anti-tax group, led by Laird Maxwell), This  House is My Home (another Maxwell group, aimed at undercutting land use  planning), and Idaho Chooses Life (anti-abortion, led by David Ripley).  Word is that their voter guide will be distributed through churches and  allied organizations around Idaho.
  
  What's interesting in these surveys is both the nature of questions  asked, and who responds, and how.
  
  In this survey - in the range of questions posed to candidates, which  understandably vary somewhat from office to office - some subjects are  addressed in detail, while quite a few other fields are skipped. You'll  not find much here about economic issues (aside from taxes and property  rights), environmental matters (though salmon and dam breaching are  referenced briefly), education, health, law, crime and the judiciary  (except where they touch on sex-related or religious matters).
  
  What's  in? Here are some of the questions posed to candidates for the  Republican nomination for Idaho's 1st U.S. House seat (in the form of  support or oppose the proposition):
  
      Amend U.S. Constitution to define marriage as  between one man and one woman
      Vigorous prosecution of obscenity laws
      Ban abortions except to save the life of the  mother
      Parental consent for underage girls to get an  abortion
      Woman to receive an ultrasound picture of her  unborn baby before an abortion
      Require women to receive thorough information about  abortion risks and development of unborn child before an abortion
      Federal ban on all human cloning, including  embryonic stem cell research
      Return control of education to state and local  government
      Teach the Bible as literature and history in public  schools
      Abstinence-only sex education in public schools
      Education tax credits to expand parental choice in  education
      Post Ten Commandments on public property
      Impeachment of judges who exceed their  Constitutional authority
      Protect right of chaplains to pray according to  their convictions
      Retain "under God" in the Pledge of  Allegiance
      Continue property tax exemption for churches
      Continue right of churches to address public policy  issues without losing tax exempt status
      Continue right of churches to distribute  non-partisan voter guides
      Elimination of all budget earmarks
      Reduce government spending rather than raise  taxes
      Reduce welfare programs
      Pledge not to raise taxes, fees or rates
      Freeze federal spending for non-defense outlays
      Simplify the IRS Code with a flat income tax
      Social Security choice of investing in individual  retirement accounts for younger workers
      Federal Balanced Budget Amendment
      "Just compensation" for home and property  owners when government land regulations reduce property values
      Allow teaching man is a created being, not an  evolved being
      Allow teaching Ten Commandments is the foundation  of western law
      Allow teaching man's law should be consistent  with God's law
      Allow teaching basic  rights are a gift of God, not government
      Allow teaching the proper role of government is to  protect rights given to man by God
      Legal use of firearms as a defense against  criminals, without fear of being prosecuted or sued
      Allow convenience store workers to carry firearms  behind the counter
      Law-abiding citizen's right to carry a concealed  weapon
  
  Of the six candidates for the nomination, Sheila Sorensen and Robert  Vasquez did not respond. (Sorensen presumably figured the crowd that  gets and uses this guide isn't her natural constituency; Vasquez'  reasoning is a little less clear. Nor did most of the few Democrats  cited in the report respond.) The other four - Skip Brandt, Bill Sali,  Norm Semanko and Keith Johnson - all said (according to the guide) they  were in support of every one of the propositions in the list above.
  
  Realizing that, you might want to review the list above one more  time.
  
  All of them also said they were opposed to:
  
      Homosexual adoption of children
      Taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood
      Physician assisted suicide
      Use of eminent domain for economic purposes
      "Sexual orientation" language in hate crimes  legislation
      Casino gambling on Indian lands
      Internet gambling
  
  The degree of unanimity on all of these issues, pro and con - a few  these topics may represent broad consensus but most are true hot  buttons - is striking.
  
 The four candidates did split on a few  issues. On "Remove jurisdiction from the U.S. Supreme Court over  religious liberty issues," Brandt said he opposed, Johnson declined to  say, and Semanko and Sali said they were in favor. On "Line item veto  for the president," Brandt said he opposed, Sali was undecided, while  Johnson and Semanko said they were in favor. Interestingly, on "Abolish  the IRS and replace with a national sales tax," Sali was the one  undecided while the other three were in favor.
  
  Still,  whatever you conclude from all this, the survey throws a bright light  on these candidates. And suggests some followup questions, as well, in  the short stretch of campaign season remaining.
  _____________________________________________________
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