Choices of Democracy: Iraq launched today with the following premise:

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VFW VA 2006 Election
Audio Forums
Select Question to hear Response


1. What is your position on establishing a budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs as a separate and independent budget from all other government budgets?

2. How would you ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs receives sufficient funding to consistently provide for the Health Care and Benefits of our nations military and retirees?

3. Women are an important part of our military. What do you think should be the role of women serving in combat?

4. How would you ensure that Congress authorizes and fully funds legislation that allows all disabled military retirees (regardless of percentage of disability) to receive their full military retirement  pay and disability compensation without offset?

5. Our Active Duty, Reserves and National Guard are assigned to duties throughout the world.  Many units have been required to do multiple assignments in hazardous areas. What would you do to ease the current burdens on our troops?

6. Veteran's service organizations provide veterans, their dependents and survivors aid in the preparation and prosecution of claims for benefits free of charge. Few, if any, require the assistance of a lawyer. What is your position on permitting private for profit attorneys to practice at the initial claim level in the VA regional offices and be paid from the earned benefits of the men and women who served our country?

 

The NAACP Virginia Conference of Branches and their members are extending this open invitation to all the Virginia Senate and Virginia House Candidates to participate in the

NAACP VA
2006 Election
Audio Forums

These neutral, non-partisan, not-for-profit forums are part of  an ongoing effort to engage our membership, our deployed military community and our state's voters in the democratic process .

The Virginia Conference of Branches will be asking questions of the Candidates on behalf of our membership over the course of the 2006 Elections.
 
Candidates are asked to take the oppurtunity to personally reply via phone to the following questions.

1. Do you agree with the Supreme Court's landmark decision in the case of Grutter vs. Bollinger, University of Michigan Law School et al, (Grutter concludes that diversity is a compelling interest in higher education and that race is one factor that can be taken into account to achieve a diverse studen body)?  Please discuss.

2. Do you support an immediate increase in the minimum wage?  If so, by how much and over what period of time;  If not, is it foreseable that you could support an increase at any point during your term in office?

3. Would you support reinstating the draft system?  If not, what would you propose to ensure enlisted troops are recruited at equal numbers across all socio-economic levels?

4. Do you believe it is appropriate for persons convicted of a felony offense to have their voting right reinstated after they have completed their sentence and are no longer on probation and parole?

5.  Although anti-racial profiling legislation now exists, minorities continue to be detained and arrested at higher levels than their white counterparts, what responsibiliteis, if any do you believe the Federal Government has to eliminate this gap?

• Candidates need never be in the same place at the same time to participate.
• Candidates responses will be posted in the order they are received with no editing.
• Candidates will be provided with a phone number and personal access code.
• Candidates can record their responses from anywhere home, office, car, the campaign trail.
• Candidates will be provided 90 seconds for their responses.
• Candidates will have an oppurtunity to review and record their responses as many times as they wish.
• Candidates content will be donated to the public domain through the Internet Archive after the Election.

For more information or to request your phone number and pin to participate, e-mail choicesofdemocracy@gmail.com or call (336) 273-4371

Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to your support.