Response by Betty White, House District 147, Montgomery County
August 7, 2012
Democracy Rising PA
www.democracyrisingpa.com
717-249-3300
P.O. Box 618, Carlisle, PA 17013
“Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people
are right more than half of the time.” – E. B. White
2012 Questionnaire for Legislative Candidates
The following questions are based upon public opinion research conducted by Terry
Madonna Opinion Research in December 2011. The survey was conducted using the
standards of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, www.aapor.org. The full
survey results and methodology may be found at 2012 Public Integrity Poll.
Ballot Access
95% of PA voters favor having the same requirements for all candidates to get on the ballot,
regardless of party affiliation.
1. Do you support having the same requirements for all candidates?
a. If so, what will you do if elected to enact equal ballot access laws?
b. Do you believe the Constitution should be amended to provide for equal ballot
access?
c. If not, why not?
“Answer A: Introduce legislation that will create a healthy and fair balanced ballot. (i.e
Signature requirements for each political level)”
Gift Ban
93% of PA voters favor prohibiting public officials from taking anything of value from those
who are trying to influence their decisions.
2. Do you support or oppose this prohibition?
a. If you support it, what will you do if elected to enact this prohibition?
b. If you oppose it, what is the basis of your opposition?
“Answer A: I believe any gifts accepted by candidates, should be documented and available
for public review.”
Campaign Finance Reform
88% of PA voters favor changing how political campaigns are financed in PA. In particular,
65% of PA voters favor providing some public funds for political campaigns in order to
reduce the influence of special interests.
3. Do you support providing some public funds for political campaigns?
a. If so, how would you do it? To which offices would it apply? How extensive would
public funding be? What will you do if elected to enact such a program?
b. If not, why not?
c. Do you believe that there is no need to improve campaign finance laws?
“Answer B: No, The money can be put towards funding education instead.”
74% of PA voters favor limiting the amount of money any individual or group can contribute
to a political candidate.
4. Do you support limiting campaign contributions?
a. If so, what do you believe the limit should be for each public office? What will you
do if elected to enact such limits?
b. If not, why not? Do you believe there is no need to improve this aspect of campaign
finance laws?
“Answer A: Yes, Would like to analyze current contributions data before deciding a course of
action.”
5. Generally speaking, do you agree with voters’ desire to change how political campaigns are
financed?
a. If so, what changes will you pursue if elected to office?
b. If not, why not?
“Answer A: Yes, Limit on influence contributions”
Initiative, Referendum, and Recall
87% of PA voters favor amending the state Constitution to provide a process of citizen
initiative to propose laws, a right that exists for citizens in 24 other states.
6. Do you support amending the Constitution to provide for citizen initiative?
a. If so, is there a state on which you would model a system for PA? Which state and
why?
b. If not, why not?
“Yes and No, I believe that citizens should have that right and I would like to see how this
amendment would be worded because am not sure if an amendment would guarantee that
right will be respected.”
87% of PA voters favor amending the state Constitution to provide a process of citizeninitiated referendum to accept or repeal laws enacted by the legislature, a right that exists
for citizens in 24 other states.
7. Do you support amending the Constitution to provide for citizen-initiated referendum?
a. If so, is there a state on which you would model a system for PA? Which state and
why?
b. If not, why not?
“Yes and No. I believe that citizens don’t need a Constitutional amendment to declare a
referendum to accept or reject any law. This is their right and placing these items on the
ballot would be the most effective way to speak.”
88% of PA voters favor amending the state Constitution to provide a process by which
citizens may recall elected officials, a right that exists for citizens in 19 states with respect
to state officials and in 29 states with respect to local officials.
8. Do you support amending the Constitution to provide for recall elections?
a. If so, is there a state on which you would model a system for PA? Which state and
why?
b. If not, why not?
“No, there is a process in place to recall elected officials.”
Other Amendments to the Constitution and a Constitution Convention
PA voters favor a number of other amendments to the Constitution. For each of the
following, please state whether you support or oppose the proposed amendment and your
reasons for support or opposition.
9. 87% of PA voters favor requiring elected officials to resign from office when they decide to
seek election to a different office. Do you support or oppose this change in qualifications for
office? Why or why not?
“Yes, If they seek another office and win someone will have to fill the loss then they go
home.”
10. 86% of PA voters favor requiring the legislature to adjourn before election day so that a
lawmaker’s record is final before voters are asked to vote for him or her. Do you support or
oppose adjournment before election day? Why or why not?
“Yes and No, how much information can be provided to voters if they adjourn prior to
election and if the voters are dissatisfied with the lawmaker’s record under the current
system they get the opportunity to vote them out in the next election.”
11. 82% of PA voters favor requiring lawmakers to wait at least 48 hours after amending a bill
before voting on it on final passage. Do you support or oppose this waiting period? Why or
why not?
“Yes and No It depends on the bill, if the bill will is an emergency measure 48 hours might
be too long for helping citizens in need.”
12. 72% of PA voters favor changing the way legislative districts are drawn. Do you support or
oppose changing the redistricting process? Why or why not?
“I support change that will benefit the citizens not party. There should not be redistricting
everytime the controlling party changes.”
Page 4.
13. 62% of PA voters favor reducing the size of both chambers of the General Assembly by the
same percentage.
a. Do you support or oppose reducing the size of the legislature?
b. If so, how large should each chamber be?
c. If not, why not?
“I support reducing the size of legislature as long as the citizens are able to receive the
improved service by these reductions. The size can only be determined when research is done
to answer the first part of my response.”
14. 68% of PA voters want to hold a Constitution convention to debate and recommend changes
to the Constitution on a number of subjects.
a. Do you support or oppose holding a Constitution convention? Yes
b. Do you believe the citizens or the legislature should determine the subjects to be
debated at a convention? Both
c. 71% of PA voters favor the selection of delegates to a convention being chosen in a
way that ensures accurate representation of the citizenry and not by elections in
legislative districts. Do you agree or disagree with this preference? Why or why not?
“I disagree because there should be fair representation for each legislative district.”
Thank you for answering these questions.
Please email your answers to tim@democracyrisingpa.com, or send them by surface mail to
P.O. Box 618, Carlisle, PA 17013.