Doug Ducey vs. Fred DuVal vs. Barry Hess Nonpartisan Candidate Guide For Arizona Governor's Race 2014

Are you looking for a nonpartisan voter guide to the Doug Ducey vs. Fred DuVal vs. Barry Hess Governor's race? One that will give you an unbiased, no-spin comparison of candidate positions on key issues? That's what our Campus Election Engagement Project guide will give you!
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Are you looking for a nonpartisan voter guide to the Doug Ducey vs. Fred DuVal vs. Barry Hess Governor's race? One that will give you an unbiased, no-spin comparison of candidate positions on key issues? That's what our Campus Election Engagement Project guide will give you! We are a national nonpartisan initiative working with college and university administrators, faculty, and student leaders to increase student participation in America's elections. For the 2014 elections we have created and distributed voter guides to campuses in more than 20 states so they can provide their communities with accurate information for informed voting. Because these guides have been so well received and are useful for all voting citizens who want to be better informed, we are also posting them here.

We developed our guides by analyzing information from trusted resources such as www.votesmart.org, www.ontheissues.org, www.ballotpedia.com, www.politifact.com, www.factcheck.org, www.vote411.org and from candidate websites, public debates and interviews, and statements in major media outlets. We also showed them to groups like campus Young Republicans and Young Democrats at the schools we work with to verify their fairness and lack of bias.

So here are the issue-by-issue stands for Doug Ducey, Fred DuVal and Barry Hess, with additional links at the bottom for each candidate if you'd like to dig deeper.

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Education: Do you support Arizona's Superior Court ruling to restore $317 million to K-12 education this fiscal year and $1.6 billion over 5 years? (Background: Since 2010 the state has implemented drastic K-12 funding cuts, ignoring voter-approved Constitutional requirement for automatic annual inflation increases. In 2013 the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the state had shorted public schools and issued a ruling requiring the state to increase public and charter K-12 schools by $317 million this fiscal year and $1.6 billion over five years to restore mandated school funding. For more detail on issue and candidate stands, see Arizona schools clamor for state to pay up, Did Doug Ducey make illegal cuts to education? And Education divides would-be governors)

Ducey: No. Is appealing court decision and states that he will continue filing appeals rather than comply with the ruling.
DuVal: Yes. Wants immediate reinvestment in schools and will veto any budget that includes education cuts. Also supports funding full-day Kindergarten
Hess: Unknown position on court ruling but believes education should be a private sector enterprise.

Education: Do you support providing vouchers to parents to send their children to private schools with public money?
Ducey: Yes. Supports parental school choice so that children have educational options when their local public schools are failing or have poor track records.
DuVal: No. Supports equitable funding of public system so that all children have opportunity for success, regardless of school district or family income.
Hess: No. Supports scholarships and private aid.

Education: Do you support increasing funding for higher education?
Ducey: No. Wants to maintain cuts implemented during recession, use funds to attract businesses to Arizona.
DuVal: Yes. Wants to restore state funding to previous levels. (Recession-induced budgets have reduced state funding of higher education per student money by 50%. As a Regent, tuition hikes during that time period were unavoidable, but DuVal believes they can be eliminated if state funding returns to previous levels. See Ducey, DuVal draw sharp contrasts in debate, GOP ad blasts DuVal for tuition hikes and College costs emerge as first issue in governor's race.)
Hess: Not with tax dollars. (See explanation of K-12 funding)

Elections: Do you support increasing restrictions on campaign donations?
Ducey: Supports current transparency laws & repealing Arizona Clean Elections Law
DuVal: Yes (Will make major ethics reform his first initiative, requiring every elected official and lobbyist in the state to abide by multiple new standards, including campaign donation restrictions and full disclosure. See Fred DuVal on government reform.
Hess: No. Supports state website to highlight candidate stands (For more details click here)

Environment: Do you believe that human activity is a major factor contributing to climate change?
Ducey: Unknown. States that fiscal issues are a higher priority.
DuVal: Yes
Hess: Believes science still being debated

Environment: Do you support taking government action to limit the levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere?
Ducey: No. Sees as federal overreach.
DuVal: Yes
Hess: No. Government should stay out of it.

Environment: Do you support government mandates and/or subsidies for renewable energy?
Ducey: Unknown but says didn't need subsidies to build his ice cream business
DuVal: Yes. Wants to establish new private-public partnerships and retrofit state facilities with wind and solar
Hess: No. Government should stay out of it for all types of energy.

Gay Marriage: Do you support gay marriage?
Ducey: No. Also opposes civil unions.
DuVal: Yes
Hess: Yes but government should not be involved.

Gun Control: Do you support enacting more restrictive gun control legislation?
Ducey: No. (Maintains an 86% rating by the National Rifle Association)
DuVal: Yes
Hess: No

Healthcare: Do you support the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare?
Ducey: Adamantly opposes
DuVal: Yes
Hess: No

Healthcare: Should your state accept federal funds so Medicaid will cover people earning up to 138% of the federal poverty line?
Ducey: No. But will oppose attempts to repeal
DuVal: Yes
Hess: Should be scaled back to avoid being another large welfare program.

Immigration: Do you support colleges and universities awarding in-state tuition rates to state residents who are not citizens?
Ducey: No
DuVal: Yes
Hess: No

Marijuana: Do you support efforts to decriminalize and/or legalize marijuana?
Ducey: No
DuVal: Yes
Hess: Yes. Interested in revenue and jobs

Minimum Wage: Do you support raising the minimum wage?
Ducey: No
DuVal: Yes
Hess: No. Wants to abolish it.

Social Issues: Should abortion be highly restricted?
Ducey: Yes
DuVal: No
Hess: Is pro-life but believes government should not be involved.

Social Issues: Should employers be able to withhold contraceptive coverage from employees if they disagree with it morally?
Ducey: Yes
DuVal: No
Hess: Unknown

Learn more about the candidates:
For the Arizona Republic's more detailed comparison of candidate stands click here.

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Other gubernatorial candidates include JL Mealer. Due to limited space, we can't include his positions, but invite you to check out his website.

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