Stephany Rose Spaulding
1. Will you commit to working on campaign finance reform and what are your ideas to reduce the influence money has right now in politics?
Yes, I will commit to working on campaign finance reform. Right now communities can ask of candidates to refuse all Corporate PAC monies, as we have at the Committee to Elect Stephany Rose Spaulding as a means to reduce the influence of money in politics right now.
2. Will you support a stronger response from the IRS to police non-profit entities that are clearly not following 501C3 rules? For example: the NFL and the NRA?
Yes.
3. Will you support redesigning our military to defend our country from a military attack instead of its current design of projecting power around the world? How could this be accomplished?
Yes. As a 21st Century leading nation, diplomacy must be at the center of our Department of Defense and State Department’s goals. Unfortunately, Democrats and Republicans alike in Congress have ceded too much authority to the Executive Branch. One of the most immediate ways Congress can shift the dynamics of the military from a global police force is to reclaim the articles of war that have been given over to the Executive Branch over the past 20 years. Additionally, we can shore up our State Department with actual diplomats. Under the current administration, our State Department is only operating at about a third of its capacity. Finally, I would work to shift funding the development of military machinery and artillery to a focus of cybersecurity and intelligence.
4. Will you support the eradication of the US Homeland Security? Please explain. Do you support legislation to ban private correctional facilities?
No, I will not support the eradication of US Homeland Security, primarily because there are 14 agencies including FEMA, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Coast Guard that fall under the Department of Homeland Security, as well as over 240,000 employees. Protecting the United States from internal and external threats is of extreme importance and we can not be a 21st century nation open to the threats of our sovereignty, especially that which rests in Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security. However, Customs and Board Protection as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement both need to be restructured and or abolished. Customs and Board Protection is the largest law enforcement agency in the nation with the least amount of oversight. Having sat in on congressional hearings discussing the lack of oversight for CBP shocked me as a taxpayer. We must require just and equitable accountability standards for the CBP. Moreover, ICE as we know it must be eradiated. The corporatization and privatization of detention centers that function as punitive correctional facilities has deteriorated our nation’s immigration practices.
5. Do you support the closing of all private ICE detention centers in Colorado? Do you support mandatory third party inspections of all private Federally-contracted correctional facilities in Colorado? What are your thoughts regarding Immigration Holds? Do you support an unequivocal ban on family separation of migrant and immigrant families?
Yes, I support the closing of all private ICE detention centers in Colorado and beyond. I support mandatory third-party inspections and I support an unequivocal ban on the separation of migrant and immigrant families. Immigration holds needs massive reformation. First, we must immediately cease classifying migration as criminal/felonious. Second, all people—citizens or not—in the United States must be protected by due process, which immigration holds often violate. No one should be held for months and years on end without due process—but often they are in immigration holds. Therefore, we must get people’s requests speedily addressed/processed so they can move forward with their lives.
6. What is your solution for the Healthcare Crisis in Colorado and in our Country? Do you support health care for individuals who are so disabled they are unable to seek health care on their own? Do you support a non-profit single-payer health care system?
I support Medicare for All, single-payer health care, which would certainly extend to comprehensively covering individuals who are and are not disabled. As a leading nation in the 21st Century, we must provide all that one needs to be well human beings vision, dental, hearing mental wellness, substance use treatment, preexisting conditions, long-term coverage, reproductive planning, maternity care–full wellness coverage. Overall when people are well cared for, our nation thrives.
7. What will you do to restore rights at the federal level for Lesbian, Gay, and especially Transgender individuals? Do you support the opportunity for transgender individuals to serve in the military? Do you support the government offering resources to LGBTQIA+ individuals?
Yes, I support the opportunity for transgender individuals to serve in the military and to be protected while doing so. Additionally, this administration egregiously has rolled back several anti-discrimination policies and practices in housing, healthcare, and education meant to protect LGBTQ+ individuals. I will work to reverse these discriminatory policies by codifying gender identity as part of sex discrimination, protecting the rights of those in transition, and post-transition to receive medical care and health care coverage, as well as protecting LGBTQ+ students at schools and providing states funding to make accommodations for LGBTQ+ students.
8. Will you support and advocate for the elimination of the filibuster in the Senate? If not, how do you plan to achieve any progressive reforms/initiatives, since we won’t have a filibuster-proof majority in 2020?
Yes, I will advocate for the elimination of the filibuster.
9. Will you support the Green New Deal? What other policies do you support to battle the climate crisis? How will you work to get something meaningful passed?
Yes, I support the Green New Deal. I support ceasing to subsidize the fossil fuel industry and to end fracking on national public lands. The vast majority of Americans support the goals of the Green New Deal even if they have never read the resolution. They would love to see a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, a guarantee of good American jobs, zero-emissions energy sources, and more. The work of passing actual legislation to reach these goals has to then be the focus. We can get meaningful legislation passed by demonstrating to Congressmen and Congresswomen alike the jobs and infrastructure benefits that will come to Americans in their districts.
10. The United States is facing many problems today, what would be the first thing you would change if you could wave a magic wand and make it happen?
The absolute first thing I would change is the GOP maintaining the Senate and having Mitch McConnell as the majority leader. Much of the legislation that needs to be passed such as Immigration Reform, Environmental Sustainability, and expanding Health care has not been voted upon because of the antics of McConnell. Thus, if we are to move our country forward, we can not have a petulant politician as the leader of the Senate.