Campaign 2008: Questions for Candidates

League of Women Voters^®
of the Upper Valley

Campaign 2008: Questions for Candidates

Searching for POSITIVE SOLUTIONS

Introduction. Climate Change. Water. Campaign Finance. Health Care. Trade Policy. Green Economy. Middle East.

Introduction

Tied to the 2008 Ilead Summer Program titled "Positive Solutions: Changing America's Crises Into Opportunities", these questions are grouped by topic.
Some of these questions are suitable for candidates for national office; other suitable for state/local office. Before the November 4th elections, you may to be able to ask some of these questions, when meeting candidates for national and state offices in the fall (This Election). We've organized these questions into four broad categories that fit with the League's structure for national issues: Representative Government, Natural Resources/Environment, Social Policy and International Relations.
The LWV of the Upper Valley does not endorse these questions - the purpose here is simply to start you thinking.

Climate Change / Carbon Reduction

These questions are based on two Ilead Sessions:

A July 9th talk "Solving the Energy Crisis + at a Profit + in an Age of Climate Change" by Hunter Lovens, CEO, Natural Capitalism Solutions Inc. and Co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute (More information)
An August 27th talk "The Climatic Disruption: Avoiding a Catastrophe", by George M. Woodwell, Founder, Woods Hole Research Center
An August 13th talk "Green is Green: How Cleaner Technology is Growing Businesses Bottom Line" by Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric Company (summary by The Dartmouth or by CNet)

1. In a nation admittedly addicted to oil, would you give greater priority to reducing energy usage or to measures designed for sustainability?
2. Do you see `energy independence' as achievable? How, or why not?
3. Do you think our nation should be a leader in carbon reduction? If so, what are the minimal first steps we might take?
4. Should the US to adopt the Kyoto Accord on Climate Change? If not, can you suggest an alternative to the Kyoto Accord, or modifications to that proposal?
5. Assuming that we must immediately reduce our nation's carbon footprint by 25%, would you consider giving tax incentives for those industries that reduce their use of fossil fuels and implement the use of renewable energy? Subsidies for individual homeowners who convert from fossil fuel use?
6. What are your priorities for foreign aid that might help promote better use of the earth's natural resources?
7. The earth's population is expected to increase by 25% in the next 12 years.
a. What governmental policies might lower global birth rates?
b. What measures will increase the protection of world's forests (and thus increase carbon sequestration)?

8. What measures would you prefer to stimulate specific initiatives to address our individual and corporate carbon footprints?
9. Al Gore has proposed a goal of100% renewable energy by 2020. Does this sound achievable to you? If not, what is your goal for renewable energy?
10. What is the mix of energy sources that you would like to see in the next ten years? In particular, what proportion should be for renewable energy?
11. How can state and federal governments play a positive role in speeding the development and use of renewable energy technology?
12. How would you support increased:
a. Efficiency in energy use?
b. Low carbon alternatives?

13. What incentives for lower carbon emissions [tax/other policies] would you support:
a. Cap and trade?
b. Carbon tax?
c. Other?

14. How would you support a more distributed energy system, so that alternative energy sources can tap into the grid?
15. What can state and national government do to encourage energy efficiency efforts by local entrepreneurs, small businesses and local government? Are tax breaks needed? If so, how generous should they be?
16. In the current energy policy, what current loopholes most concern you about our oil and corn-based ethanol programs?
a. What steps would you take to correct this?
b. What other loopholes would you like to close, to help promote carbon reduction policies?

17. What fraction of the federal R&D budget should go for energy?
a. Of this, how much should be devoted to research in alternative energy?
b. Would you add more to the energy portion or shift from another category?
c. If shift, from what category?

18. Would you support funding or other programs for higher education to help supply needed skills?
19. How would you repair the country's educational system, so that good-paying jobs in engineering and technology are filled by American workers (rather than rely upon workers with H1B visas)?
20. Little has been done to update/repair the national electrical grid.
a. What policies, such as eminent domain, would you consider using?
b. What time line would you suggest to improve the distribution of energy?

21. Does `green energy' offer the possibility of decentralized (more local) power hubs? Would this be a good idea?
22. What place should nuclear power play in our energy future? This energy supply has problems associated with it (such as waste disposal); what would you do to solve these problems with this energy source?
23. Coal fired power plants have many external costs. Given the heavy burden of air pollution from energy supplied by coal, and associated environmental problems associated with mining of coal, would you support a moratorium for now on new coal-fired power plants? [This is a LWV position]
24. What policies should state and federal government adopt, so that it plays a positive role as catalyst in development and use of renewable energy technology?
25. If elected, what would be your first steps to reduce carbon/non-renewable energy use?
26. What is your strategy to cause our nation and its citizens to respond personally to the challenge of global warming?

Water

Questions based on a July 30th talk "Water: Managing our Most Precious Yet Precarious Resource" by Marq de Villiers, Journalist, Editor and Writer, and Alice Outwater, Environmental Engineer and author of Water: A Natural History
1. Who should have the rights to underground water/aquifers?
2. Please speak to the federal water policy in western USA vs policy in eastern USA? Is there a need to change this policy?
3. If increased conservation is the cheapest way to increase the supply of water, then what conservation measures make most sense to you?
4. Water pricing can lead to wasted water use. What alternative pricing measures would you consider to correct inefficiencies in water use?
5. What incentives can we provide to encourage agricultural practices that don't waste our clean water? Specifically, please address irrigation practices and federal subsidies for irrigation.
6. What measures would you support to improve water quality:
a. Remove old dams
b. Increase protection of stream buffers
c. Adopt policies to protect or restore wetlands and wetland function.
d. Limit use of pipes to quickly remove stormater; adopt measures to keep stormwater on site.
e. Adopt water treatment policies that mimic nature by increasing the proportion of 'reserved' forest (minimally managed)?
f. Other?

7. Is there a public "right" to protect our supply of groundwater?
8. What should be our public policy for the removal of groundwater for commercial purposes, such as bottling or mining practices?
9. Both NH and VT have adopted (or are considering) legislation that consider water a "public trust". What are the implications of this, with respect to NAFTA and foreign corporations, or to the interests of other states/regions in our own country?
10. Hydroelectric dams can have considerable effect on watersheds. How much should we rely on this resource? Thinking about funding and other external costs, what other power sources deserve consideration/preference? Should we be shifting water from one watershed to another?
11. How would you balance the numerous demands on water resources by agriculture, industry and consumers?

Campaign Finance Reform

These questions are based on a July 16 talk "Money and Politics: Real Reform" by John Rauh, Founder and President, Americans for Campaign Reform (More info from LWV)
1. Do you support the principle of public funding for:
a. Presidential contests?
b. Congressional contests?

2. Fundraising questions:
a. How much time do you spend fund raising? [for incumbents]
b. Would you like to reduce the time needed for fund raising?

3. What are your ideas for reducing campaign costs? Is that a viable alternative to public funding?
4. If public funding for elections were "adequate" (say up to $1.2 million for a House race)
a. Would you support such a bill?
b. Would you make use of this funding, if adopted?

5. Airwaves belong to the people. Do you think the media have a responsibility to provide free airtime to congressional/presidential/ other political contests?
6. What ideas would you support to reduce the amount of time needed for campaigns?
7. What disclosure measures should apply on who is providing funding for federal elections, including bundlers, leadership PACs and 527 entities?
8. A challenger, particularly in rural or poor region of the country is at a huge disadvantage in reaching the needed threshold to gain name recognition or qualify for public funding (if it were available). What ideas do you have to correct this disadvantage?

Health Care

These questions are based on a July 23rd talk "Health Care Solutions: Quality, Cost and Access" by Elliott Fisher and Gerry O'Connor, DHMC leading researchers on medical economics and solutions (selected articles)
1. To reduce costs and improve medical care, should we provide a chronic care health system, in parallel with critical care treatment?
2. Would you implement changes to require insurance companies to simplify and equalize coverage for all who request coverage (say, to eliminate cherry picking)? If so, what changes would you support?
3. How can our country ensure equitable distribution of primary care?
4. What incentives do you support to encourage medical graduates to live and stay in rural areas?
5. What changes would you support to help address disparities in medical access and coverage (say in certain rural or urban areas)?
6. If public money is used for most drug research, why are drug costs here so much higher than in other countries? What measures would correct this disparity in drug costs?
7. Would you support legislation to prohibit physicians from getting incentives to use certain prescriptions?
8. Should some portion of drug profits be dedicated to research (say, for rare illnesses where there is little chance of recovering costs)?
9. What changes would you support in the health care payment system to reduce waste and excessive costs, whether Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance?
a. What ideas would you support for changing our reimbursement system?
b. What about overuse of specialists or excessive testing?
c. How would you encourage reduction in overhead / administrative costs?

10. What changes would you support in tort and other reforms to help reduce costs of medical malpractice coverage?
11. Would you protect the Medicare Trust Fund, to protect future recipients? If so, how?
12. Do you think that it is possible to have a private system of health coverage, with system efficiencies similar to the recently revised VA system?

Trade Policy

Questions based on an August 6 talk, "A New Deal for Globalization" by Matthew Slaughter, Tuck Professor and recent member of the President's Economic Advisory Council (More info)
1. What do you propose to improve the economic environment in Vermont and NH?
2. What impact has globalization had on the economy of Vermont and NH?
3. Would you consider changing the FICA tax to make it less regressive and removing the cap as a way to fix Social Security? (For National level candidates)
4. What would you do to make our children better able to compete in a global economy?
5. What can Vermont and NH do to make our university system more affordable for our children?

Green Economy

Questions to be based on a August 13th talk "Green is Green: How Cleaner Technology is Growing Businesses Bottom Line" by Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric Company.

International Relations: The Middle East

Questions based on an August 20th talk, "A Stable and Progressive Middle East. More than a Dream?" by Haviland Smith, former Chief Analyst at Central Intelligence Agency (More info also Rutland Herald article)
1. How would you rebuild our reputation and alliances in the rest of the world?
2. How would you communicate with Iran?
3. Under what circumstances should our country use a military approach to accomplish diplomatic ends? Please supply examples.
4. In the past eight years, one of our goals has been to promote democracy elsewhere.
a. Is this realistic given the existing tensions in other corners of the world?
b. What do you think our policy should be in this regard in the Middle East, where culture is so very different from ours.

5. The Israeli--Palestine peace process seems to be at an impasse.
a. Do you have any fresh ideas to help resolve and defuse tensions in this situation?
b. Is a settlement possible? What are the next small steps that should be taken in this area?
c. What is your position on expansion of Israeli settlements on the West Bank?

6. The Iraqi people now have a constitution and have expressed a desire for a deadline for the removal of foreign troops. Would you support a timetable? What should the timetable be in this regard? If we were to leave, what would be our non-military role in the region?
7. What is the proper role for the United Nations to have in solving international conflicts?
a. The supply and delivery of intelligence has been studied and greatly modified in the past eight years. How far should we go in the integration of our intelligence services?
b. What are the minimal protections that we owe our citizens?

8. Some analysts discuss Afghanistan as having a three P's problem: Poppies, Pashtuns and Pakistan.
a. Can/should the `surge' approach be translated to Afganistan?
b. What do you see as a constructive approach in dealing with Pakistan and the Taliban?

Comments, suggestions, questions? Contact our webmaster. Last revised: January 26, 2012 07:05 PST.