THE CONFERENCE:
(11/2008)
(1/06)
Statement (2/05)
-Capitol
Correspondent:
*********
Life Insight:
Columns-2008
2008 PL Conferences
*********
2008
Throughout this website, the NCC provides links to other websites solely for the user's convenience. By providing these links, the NCC assumes no responsibility for, nor does it necessarily endorse the websites or organizations linked.
Primary Election May 2006
Check the Candidates’ Views on Issues
Nebraska's 2006 Primary Election took place on Tuesday, May 9. On that day, voters in many areas of the Cornhusker State determined which candidates advanced to next November’s General Election ballot.
This special election feature is published on the Nebraska Catholic Conference website, with links from the websites of the Archdiocese of Omaha and the Dioceses of Lincoln and Grand Island, 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.
Neither the Nebraska Catholic Conference, nor any of the three Nebraska dioceses, endorses or opposes any candidate for public office. Rather, they cooperatively facilitate this means of information for Catholic Nebraskans.
All candidates for the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives were mailed an identical questionnaire. A separate questionnaire was used for candidates for Governor and the Nebraska State Legislature, but it was identical for all candidates in that category. All candidates for the same office were contacted in the same manner and advised of the same opportunity to respond. All candidates were given the same deadline for responding, several weeks after the questionnaires were mailed. Reminders were mailed approximately three weeks, two weeks and one week prior to the deadline.
The cover letter that accompanied each questionnaire advised 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 stated in the cover letter. All original responses are on file at the Nebraska Catholic Conference office, 215 Centennial Mall South, in Lincoln.
Consistently, the Catholic Bishops of the United States have emphasized that while the Catholic community is quite diverse, representing different political affiliations and perspectives, all members of that community are called to ensure 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.
It is the sincere hope of the Nebraska Catholic Conference and the three dioceses that Catholic Nebraskans avail themselves of the information provided by this special project. Only a little time is required to do three important things: first, review the full text of each question; second, study the responses to those questions as part of becoming an informed voter; third, be sure to vote in the upcoming General Election in November, when a new survey will be sent out to the remaining candidates.
Questionnaire for Candidates
 |
Governor and State Legislature Questions (full text below)
| ||||||
|
U.S. Senate/House of Representatives Questions (full text below)
|
Full Text of the Questionnaire for Gubernatorial & State Legislative Candidates (below)
Abortion
If Roe v. Wade were overturned and states could once again prohibit abortion, in your view, to what extent should abortion be prohibited in Nebraska?
Do you support or oppose the use of public funds for abortion (e.g., paying for abortion, promoting abortion, subsidizing organizations that provide 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?
Death Penalty
Do you support or oppose repealing the death penalty and replacing it, as the maximum sentence for first-degree murder, with a mandatory sentence of imprisonment for life without parole, subject only to the constitutional power of the Board of Pardons (Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State) to commute sentences, and with order of mandatory restitution?
Education
Do you support or oppose providing state support, by means of education-expense tax credits, vouchers, and/or tax credits for donations to K-12 scholarships programs, to bolster the ability of families to choose any elementary and/or secondary school—public, private or religiously affiliated—they deem best for their children?
Embryonic Research
Do you support or oppose enacting a ban on biomedical research that involves the destruction of live human embryos, in order to obtain their stem cells, regardless of the origin of such embryos, i.e., whether in vitro fertilization or cloning?
Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide
Do you support or oppose changing Nebraska law to make it legal for physicians to administer lethal injections or give lethal drugs to terminally ill patients who request that their deaths be caused in this manner?
Health Care
In your view, what are the role and the responsibility of state government in helping to meet the health care and long-term care needs of those who are materially poor (i.e., low-income and few assets)?
What concerns do you have, if any, about the public-policy emphasis on community-based services as the foremost means for implementing Nebraska’s behavioral health system?
Immigrant Policy
Do you support or oppose ensuring, by means of legislation, that (newly arrived) immigrants, who are employed, paying taxes and otherwise residing in Nebraska, have access to basic public benefits, such as in-state tuition for higher education, Medicaid coverage for low-income pregnant women, driving privileges (licensing) and compensation for work-related injuries, regardless of their immigration status?
Marriage/Family Life
In your view, what public policy changes and/or initiatives should be pursued, if any, to address the high social and public costs of failed marriages and the State’s interest in promoting stable marriages, especially for the sake of children?
Tax Policy
Do you support or oppose preserving tax-exempt status for property owned by religious, educational and charitable organizations and used predominantly for religious, educational and/or charitable purposes?
Welfare Policy
Do you support or oppose the "family cap" welfare policy, which excludes from additional cash assistance any child born to a mother who is already receiving aid for dependent children?
Full Text of the Questionnaire for Gubernatorial & State Legislative Candidates (below)
Abortion
What is your position on amending the United States Constitution to protect the right to life of prenatal human beings (Human Life Amendment)?
What is your position on using federal funds for abortion?
Agriculture/Conservation/Rural Development
What is your position on setting real payment limitations as a means of targeting income support to small- and medium-sized, family-owned-and-operated farms and saving money to reinvest in programs that promote rural development and entrepreneurship?
What is your position on preserving full funding for the Conservation Security Program, so that all qualifying farms and ranches can receive program benefits for carrying out intensive conservation measures?
Cloning
What is your position on enacting a ban on cloning processes that create human embryos for any purpose?
Death Penalty
What is your position on abolishing the (federal) death penalty and replacing it with imprisonment for life without possibility of parole?
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, through education-expense tax credits, vouchers, or tax credits for donations to fund K-12 scholarships, to enhance the ability of families to choose any K-12 school—public, private or religiously-oriented—they deem best-suited for the education of their children?
Education-Expense Tax Credits
Vouchers
Scholarship Tax Credits
What is your position on providing the educational benefits and services of federal K-12 programs to students and teachers from private and religiously oriented schools on a basis equitable to that of public school students and teachers?
Embryonic Research
What is your position on providing federal funds for research that involves the destruction of live human embryos in order to obtain their stem cells for experimentation (embryonic stem cell research)?
Foreign Policy
In your view, what principles should guide U.S. foreign policy in order to advance the cause of lasting peace in the Middle East?
Health Care
In your view, what public-policy initiatives or alternatives, if any, should replace or modify the current mixed-financing system of health care coverage, in order to secure access to affordable, quality health care for all persons in the U.S.?
Immigration Reform
What is your position on a public-policy response that would provide the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants already in this country an opportunity to work legally and earn the right, over a designated period of time (e.g., six years), to obtain permanent residency and eventual citizenship in this country?
Marriage
What is your position on amending the U.S. Constitution to provide a national definition of marriage as only the union of a man and a woman?
Religious Liberty
What is your position on exempting faith-based providers of social services and health care from secular laws that would otherwise require them to conduct or engage in activities contrary to tenets of their religious faith?