Our PDA chapter for NY's CD 14 compiled this platform of questions some time ago to ascertain candidates' stances on the issues we care about. We haven't yet polled a candidate for national office to my knowledge, and some of the items already are in need of updating, but we thought we'd share it here because we're interested in hearing what other PDA members in NY think about it in relation to their own activities. So here it is . . .

1) Do you support the repeal of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the immediate restoration of habeas corpus for all people, citizens and non-citizens alike?

2) Would you support a statute to require that public airwaves be made available for reasonable amounts of time with adequate frequency in both primary and general elections to any candidate for federal, state or certain local offices (e.g., mayoral or city council) who has achieved a level of support of 5% or more in an applicable reputable poll?

3) Do you support the use of instant run off voting in all federal state and local elections? Do you agree that the Electoral College should be abolished and replaced by the direct election of the president by popular vote and also employing instant runoff voting?

4) Do you believe that there should be an independently verifiable paper trail for every vote cast in the United States, uniform rules for same day voter registration and requirements for voter identification. that are not unduly expensive or otherwise burdensome to lower income citizens and elderly?

5) Do you agree that all convicted felons who have served their sentence should have their voting rights fully restored?

6) Do you agree that the full Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives should begin an immediate investigation into allegations made in the report of then ranking member, Rep. John Conyers entitled: The Constitution In Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes, and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution and Cover-ups in the Iraq War and similar allegations made by Greg Thielmann, formerly of the U.S. State Dept’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Lt Col. Karen Kwiatkowski (ret.) formerly of the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense’s Near East South Asia Section and others that President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and other key members of the Bush administration purposely manipulated and misused national security intelligence data in order to make the case for a preemptive invasion of Iraq in March, 2003?

7) Do you agree that if these allegations or any others either relating to the war in Iraq or other aspects of the Bush administration’s conduct that may properly be taken up by the House Judiciary or another committee of the House of Representatives are found to rise to the level of “high crimes” within the meaning of the impeachment clause of the U.S. Constitution, that the Judiciary Committee should vote out articles of impeachment against President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and any other administration official still serving who is held by the committee(s) to be guilty of such crimes?

8) Would you support the creation of a special House committee to investigate waste fraud and abuse by military contractors in Iraq?

9) Would you be in favor of a Congressional apology to the people of Iraq for the deaths, maiming, economic and environmental destruction that has been visited upon them as a result of the illegal and unjustified invasion and occupation of their country?

10) Would you be in favor of the adoption of a plan for the orderly and safe withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraq at the earliest possible date?

11) Would you support a Congressional Resolution opposing any preemptive or preventative military action against Iran consistent with U.S. obligations as a signatory of the UN Charter, and do you agree that only the UN Security Council has the authority to authorize war unless the United States is faced with a clear, imminent threat and must act rapidly for its immediate self-defense?

12) Would you support a budget resolution that suspends all funding for research, design, development, refurbishment of new and old nuclear weapons, and which stipulates that the work of weapons labs be funded only to dismantle and secure nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons?

13) Would you support a resolution calling on the President to begin immediate negotiations with the 9 nuclear weapons states, Russia, China, UK, France, Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea to eliminate all nuclear weapons as was agreed in the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970 by the year 2020.at the latest?

14) Do you agree that Congress should halt all appropriations for "missile defense" and space weapons and call on the President to reverse our recent vote in the First Committee of the United Nations in which the US was the ONLY country in the entire world to oppose beginning negotiations on a treaty to prevent the weaponization of space?

15) Do you agree that Congress should immediately withdraw the $27 billion in funds it voted to subsidize nuclear, fossil and large scale bio fuels and instead establish a sustainable energy program along the lines envisioned by the Apollo Alliance, using those funds for a ten year crash program to wean ourselves off fossil fuel and phase out nuclear power which is potentially lethal to people, the environment and a potential target of terrorists?

16) Do you agree that Congress should pass a bill to extend Medicare coverage to all Americans who are in need of health insurance or who would prefer such coverage to private insurance?

17) Do you agree that Congress should monitor all programs receiving federal funds organized by churches and other religious organizations and deny funding to all such programs that are found to be engaged in religious proselytizing as a condition of participation or employment discrimination based on a prospective employee’s religion or lack thereof?

18) Do you agree that Congress should restore the Office of Science and Technology, and establish procedures to keep it independent of religious and corporate influences. that have nothing to do with professional, peer reviewed scientific evidence and data?

19) Do you support equal marriage/civil union rights; repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act; and the repeal of the military’s “Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy?”

20) Do you support the right to reproductive freedom including legal abortion?

21) Do you support the decriminalization of personal drug use, in particular marijuana?

22) Do you support the idea of progressive taxation at the federal, state and local level, not only for wages and salaries but also for income derived from dividends, interest and capital gains?

23) Do you support the Employee Free Choice Act introduced in the United States Congress in 2005, which would require that the NLRB recognize the union's role as the official bargaining representative if a majority of employees have authorized that representation via card check?

24) Do you support abolition of the death penalty through enactment of federal and state laws and internationally through passage of United Nations agreements?

25) Do you support criminal justice reform at both the state and federal levels including enactment of “second chance” legislation, drug treatment programs as an alternative to incarceration, and repeal of “three strikes” legislation and mandatory minimum sentencing?