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The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund and asked of all candidates for this office.
See below for questions on
Economy and Jobs,
Health Care,
Energy Policy,
National Security,
Immigration Reform
Click on a name for candidate information. See also more information about this contest.
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1. In this time of high unemployment and budget deficits, what are the most important steps that should be taken to improve our nation’s economy and sustain job creation?
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Answer from Wendy Brooks Leece:
Raising the minimum wage would hurt businesses as employers are having to adjust to the financial effects of the ACA. Costs would be passed on to consumers. Instead, Congress needs to focus on creating more jobs. The 2012 JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) has been successful and an innovative way for entrepreneurs to get financing, grow and go public. Congress must continue to look for ways to reduce regulations and look for ways to encourage entrepreneurship and free enterprise.
Answer from David Burns:
Jobs discussion, please see campaign web site.
Answer from Suzanne Joyce Savary:
America's `job creators' are the small business entrepreneurs, not the large corporations. When we allow tax breaks to those with the greatest accumulation of wealth in our country and penalize small business owners the result is the chaos we saw in 2008. Additionally, Wall Street was originally the place for smaller companies to raise capital, now it resembles a casino more than a viable financial resource for our country's true job creators.
We need comprehensive financial reforms to grow a strong economy, increase employment and rebuild our middle class. A robust and fair financial system will allow for greater economic growth, which provides the basis for much of our national security.
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2. What, if any, changes should be made to federal health care policies or programs?
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Answer from David Burns:
Congress will hammer the Affordable Care Act into a functional form.
Answer from Suzanne Joyce Savary:
Three pieces form the foundation of the ACA, 1. Insurance reform. 2. Medicaid expansion. 3. Individual mandate.
The insurance reform changed the way we buy insurance. Some of the changes enacted ensured that insurance companies may no longer charge higher premiums or deny coverage for pre-existing conditions such as being born female. (Previously women were charged 3 to 15% higher premiums than men.) Additionally, parents could continue to cover their children until age 26, insurance companies could no longer sell `junk policies' which covered so little and had out of pocket maximums so high that one hospital stay could bankrupt a family.
The Medicaid expansion increased eligibility levels to 133% of the Federal Poverty Level ($23,550 for a family of four). Since every State covers those who have no income, expansion almost exclusively covers the working poor and their families.
The federal mandate requires that individuals have basic health care coverage or face a penalty of $97 per year per adult and $47.50 per year per child or 1% of the family annual income, whichever is greater. (No penalty is assessed to families whose taxable income is below 133% of the federal poverty level.
Of these three foundations the only one with which I have an issue is the individual mandate. I believe that we can be more effective by offering incentives for obtaining coverage rather than enacting penalties for those who do not.
There is no question that legislation like this was needed and the fact that over 8 million Americans have signed on to the exchanges to purchase insurance shows response to this groundbreaking legislation was as favorable as anticipated.
Answer from Wendy Brooks Leece:
We should allow private sector providers to sell their policies across state borders to introduce competition to the 35 U S health insurance companies, keep prices low and offer a variety of plans appealing to different sectors of the market. Federal bureaucracies administering Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA must be consolidated and audited for duplication of services. We must get rid of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) which ultimately would ration care for Medicare patients.
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3. What are your priorities with respect to our nation’s energy policy?
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Answer from Suzanne Joyce Savary:
Currently our nation does not have a comprehensive energy policy. As a result we are frequently in a position of responding to crisis rather than following a strategically planned policy. America needs an energy policy formulated around our goals of independence from foreign imports, development of domestic resources, including clean energy resources and continued implementation of high standards for efficiency. Additionally, the tax breaks currently enjoyed by the oil and gas industries could save the American Taxpayers about $4 billion per year or be used to create incentives to move the fossil fuel industry to embrace renewables.
Answer from Wendy Brooks Leece:
I would be sensitive to environmental concerns and weigh the benefits of new energy resources to consumers.
Answer from David Burns:
Reduce CO2 emissions.
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4. What, if any, changes should be made with respect to our nation’s security, including our national defense or anti-terrorism measures?
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Answer from Wendy Brooks Leece:
Protect our personal liberty from government intrusion. Strong national defense. Congress alone should declare war.
Answer from David Burns:
Stay vigilant. Everyone's due process rights are constitutionally protected.
Answer from Suzanne Joyce Savary:
The United States still possesses the most powerful and capable military in the history of the world and we should focus on what allowed our military to become dominant: a dynamic economy and public/private partnering for investment inresearch and development. By continuing to invest domestically in scientific advancement, American manufacturing, stable financial markets and a highly trained and educated workforce we can continue to be a worldwide model of leadership. These proven strategies as a cornerstone of domestic security gives us the capacity to defend ourselves in a changing world with shifting outside players.
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5. What is your position on the issue of immigration reform? What, if any, changes to legislation or policy would you support?
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Answer from Wendy Brooks Leece:
First, our borders must be very secure. Penalties for illegal entry must be in place before we implement a path to citizenship. Enforcing employer sanctions and e-verify will open jobs to Americans. Congress must attach strings to any financial support to Mexico to force Mexico to care for its people and help them prosper. A rigorous process to become a US citizen would include tests in English, America's history and government, the Constitution and free enterprise system.
Answer from David Burns:
Immigration discussion, please see compaign web site.
Answer from Suzanne Joyce Savary:
The senate passed an immigration reform bill last year and it is currently stuck in the house with little hope of moving through the partisanship that has made this the least productive congress in history. I support this legislation along with the bipartisan committee that drafted it and the 68 Democrat and Republican senators who voted for it. This legislation contains four key principles:
Streamlining legal immigration:
This legislation would provide visas to foreign entrepreneurs creating new businesses here, helps the most promising foreign graduate students in math and science legally stay in this country after graduation, and reunites families in a timely and humane manner.
Earned Citizenship and Accountability:
Undocumented immigrants must be held accountable and this legislation does that by requiring they pass background checks, pay taxes and a penalty, go to the back of the line, learn English and pass a test on American history and civics. It requires everyone to play by the same rules.
Cracking Down on Unscrupulous Employment practices:
We need to stop unscrupulous employers from gaming the system by knowingly hiring undocumented workers. The legislation stalled in congress holds these companies accountable, and gives employers who want to play by the rules a reliable way to verify that their employees are here legally.
Strengthen Border Security:
The proposal gives law enforcement the tools they need to make our communities safer from crime, enhances our infrastructure and technology, and strengthens our ability to remove criminals and apprehend and prosecute threats to our national security.
Responses to questions asked of each candidate
are reproduced as submitted to the League.
Candidates' statements are presented as
submitted. References to opponents are not permitted.
The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.
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League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
