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General Election:
November 4, 2008
Check the Candidates’ Views on Issues; Be Sure to Vote
Nebraska's 2008 General Election will take place on Tuesday, November
4. On that day, voters throughout the Cornhusker State will determine
their representation in numerous, vitally important public offices.
In "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship," their
reflection on the current election year, the Catholic Bishops of the
United States remind us that in the Catholic tradition, "responsible
citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral
obligation." They emphasize that the responsibility
to make political choices rests with each person and his or her properly
formed conscience.
This special election feature
is provided as a means of promoting faithful citizenship and political
responsibility among Catholic Nebraskans. It provides an
opportunity to become better informed about positions and views of
numerous candidates whose names will be on voters' ballots.
Neither the Nebraska Catholic
Conference, nor any of the dioceses, endorses or opposes any candidate
for public office. Rather, they cooperatively facilitate this source of
information.
All candidates for the United
States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives were mailed an
identical questionnaire. A separate, state-based questionnaire was used
for the candidates for the Nebraska Legislature; it too was
identical for all candidates in that category. All candidates for the
same office were contacted in the same manner and informed of the same
opportunity to respond. All candidates were given the same deadline for
responding, approximately seven weeks after the questionnaires were mailed.
Reminders were mailed approximately five weeks, two weeks and one week
prior to the deadline.
The cover letter that accompanied each questionnaire informed the candidate of the opportunity
to make comments on every question. With few exceptions comments appear
just as submitted. In a few instances, some editing was necessary in
order to meet a word limit set forth in the cover letter.
All original responses
are retained by the Nebraska Catholic Conference. This website has
been updated to include any responses received after the deadline for
publication in the diocesan newspapers.
Consistently, the Catholic
Bishops of the U.S. have emphasized that while the Catholic
community is quite diverse, representing different political
affiliations and perspectives; all members of that community are called
to make sure that political life serves the common good. This call to
political responsibility is neither partisan nor sectarian, but a call
to reinvigorate the democratic process. For more information about
the Church's call for "Faithful Citizenship," please visit the program's
official website:
www.faithfulcitizenship.org. It provides an outstanding array
of resources for Catholics of all ages, including prayerful reflections
and expert analyses, based upon Catholic social teaching of several of
the most pertinent policy issues of this national election.
It is the sincerest hope of the
Nebraska Catholic Conference, under the direction of the Diocesan
Bishops, that Catholic Nebraskans will avail
themselves of the information provided by this feature. Only a
little time is required to do three important things: first, study the
full text of each question; second, review the responses to those
questions as part of becoming an informed voter; third, be sure to vote
on Tuesday, November 4.
Questionnaire for Candidates
U.S. Senate/House
of Representatives Questions (full text below)
State Legislature Questions (full text below)
United States
Senate & U.S. House of Representatives
Abortion
What is your
position on using federal funds for abortion?
Agriculture/Rural Life
What is your position on setting real and effective
payment limitations as a means of targeting income support to small- and
moderate-sized, family-owned-and-operated farms and a means of saving
money to reinvest in rural development and entrepreneurship?
Economic Assistance for Families
What is your position on providing federal tax
relief to low-income, working families to sustain them above the poverty
line (e.g., refundable child tax credit and/or earned income tax
credit)?
Education
What is your position on providing federal
financial support, by means of education-expense tax credits, vouchers
and/or tax credits for corporate and individual donations to K-12
scholarship-granting programs, to enhance the ability of families to
choose any early childhood education program or elementary or secondary
school—public, private or religiously-based—they deem best for their
children?
Embryo Research
What is your
position on using federal funds to subsidize research that involves
destroying live human embryos in order to obtain cells for
experimentation (embryonic stem-cell research)?
Environment
What is your position on including strong
anti-poverty provisions in legislation seeking to mitigate global
climate change, in order to protect and assist displaced workers and
poor people in the U.S. and in the most vulnerable developing countries
around the world in adapting to the consequences and costs of climate
change and climate-change legislation?
Foreign Policy
What is your position on permitting the
preventative use of U.S. military force in situations in which there is
not clear and compelling evidence of an imminent attack on the U.S.?
Freedom of Conscience
What is your position on enacting legislation to
ensure that providers of health care or social services are not coerced
into providing or participating in health care or services that conflict
with their moral and/or religious convictions?
Health Care
In your view, what public-policy reforms or
initiatives, if any, should replace or modify the current
mixed-financing system of health care coverage, in order to ensure that
quality, affordable health care is accessible for all persons in the
U.S.?
Immigration
What is your position on instituting an
earned-legalization program that would allow unauthorized aliens, who
have been living in the U.S. for a specified minimum period of time and
who do not have criminal records, to earn permanent residency and
eventual citizenship by paying fines, demonstrating sound character,
gainful employment and payment of income-related taxes and agreeing to
become English-language proficient?
Marriage
What is your position on advancing to the states
for ratification a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that
would provide a national, legal definition of marriage as only the union
of a man and a woman?
Personal Priorities
What three public-policy issues would you most like
to address as a member of the 111th United States Congress?
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State Legislature
Candidates - Full Text of
Questions
Abortion
If Roe v. Wade were overturned and states
once again could prohibit abortion, in your view, to what extent should
abortion be prohibited in Nebraska?
What is your position on using state funds for
abortion (e.g., paying for, promoting and/or facilitating abortion;
subsidizing organizations that provide and/or refer for abortion)?
Agriculture/Rural Life
What public-policy changes and/or initiatives
should be pursued, if any, to bring about greater economic development
in Nebraska’s rural communities that depend on agricultural production?
After more than 20 years as the public policy of
the State of Nebraska, Article XII, Section 8 of the Nebraska
Constitution—otherwise known as Initiative 300—was invalidated as
federally unconstitutional by Federal courts. Assuming due regard for
the legal parameters of these rulings, what is your position on enacting
a statute to restrict the use of limited liability entities (e.g.,
corporations) by uninvolved investors (i.e., those not actively engaged
in farming or ranching) to buy Nebraska farm or ranch land or to invest
in farming or ranching operations in this state?
Death Penalty
Because its sole method of execution, the electric
chair, has been ruled to be unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court,
Nebraska is left with statutory authority for imposing the death penalty
for certain convictions of first-degree murder, but no valid, legislated
means for carrying it out. Given this situation, what is your position
on repealing this existing statutory authority (i.e., abolishing the
death penalty) and replacing it with mandatory imprisonment for life
without the possibility of parole (subject
only to the constitutional power of the Board of Pardons—Governor,
Attorney General, Secretary of State—to commute sentences)?
Education
With respect to the overall landscape of elementary
and secondary education in Nebraska: what is your view of the
particular roles played by (a) public schools; (b) state-approved or
-accredited private and religiously-based schools; and (c) home schools?
What is your position on providing state financial
support to enhance the ability of families to choose any state-approved
or -accredited early childhood education program or elementary or
secondary school—public, private, or religiously-based—they deem best
for their children, through education-expense tax credits, vouchers, or
tax credits for corporate and individual donations to
scholarship-granting programs?
Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide
What is your position on making it legal for
physicians to administer lethal injections or to provide lethal drugs to
terminally ill patients, who, while mentally competent, voluntarily
request that their death be caused in this manner?
Health Care
In your view, what public-policy changes and/or
initiatives should state legislators pursue, if any, to make adequate
health care more affordable and accessible for all Nebraskans,
especially poor families and children, fixed-income elderly and persons
with disabilities?
Immigrant Policy
In your view, what role and/or actions should state
government undertake, if any, with regard to enforcement of Federal laws
and policies that govern the unauthorized presence of non-citizens in
the U.S.?
What is your position on the current state law that
makes it possible for a student whose immigration status is unauthorized
to pay resident, in-state tuition rates at the University of Nebraska,
state colleges and community colleges if such student satisfies all of
these requirements: (1) resided with his/her parent or guardian while
attending high school in Nebraska; (2) graduated from a high school in
Nebraska or received an equivalent diploma in this state; (3) resided in
Nebraska for at least three years prior to graduating from high school
or receiving an equivalent diploma; and (4) provides an affidavit
stating that s/he will apply to become a permanent resident of the U.S.
at the earliest opportunity of eligibility to do so?
Welfare
Policy
What is your position on allowing participation in
postsecondary education, including that leading to a baccalaureate
degree or an associate degree, as well as vocational education, to
fulfill work-activity requirements under self-sufficiency contracts
developed for Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) recipients and allowing
such participation to continue for as long as the recipient is pursuing
a degree and remains eligible for the program?
Personal Priorities
What three public-policy issues would you most like
to address as a member of the 101st Nebraska Legislature?
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