LYAC’s Conversations with Jay Inslee, Loren Culp, Marko Liias, and Denny Heck
Afew members of the Washington Legislative Youth Advisory Council (LYAC) recently sat down virtually with the four candidates running for the two highest statewide offices. The Council’s conversations with the two candidates for governor — Jay Inslee and Loren Culp — and two candidates for lieutenant governor — Marko Liias and Denny Heck — focused primarily on issues of importance to youth, although all of the topics covered have relevance to Washingtonians of every age. The discussions with the gubernatorial candidates were conducted in partnership with the Washington State PTA and Seattle CityClub.
The questions we asked the different candidates varied. Topics included, but were not limited to, climate change, education funding, health care, disadvantaged students, the prototypical school model, police, the school-to-prison pipeline, bipartisanship, homelessness, equity in government, civic education, public school curriculum, and mental health.
To learn more about LYAC, its role as the official youth advisory body to the state legislature, and its projects, visit our website here.
Jay Inslee
Loren Culp
Mr. Culp declined to be interviewed via Zoom, and instead suggested an audio-only conference call. LYAC agreed, but due to his lack of cellular data access at the time of the interview, he then requested that he answer our questions in writing. LYAC again agreed, so as to ascertain at a bare minimum his policies on topics of importance to students. The Council emailed him the questions (which were the exact same as those posed to Governor Inslee), and rather than answering them, his campaign directed us towards his website.
