2020 WCV Legislative Candidate Questionnaire

Washington Conservation Voters (WCV) ensures Washington’s decision makers keep our environment protected, healthy, and vibrant. Over the last four decades, we have elected environmental champions, held our elected leaders in the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of state and local government to the highest standard, and built statewide momentum for environmental campaigns through innovative voter outreach efforts and community organizing. Through our work, WCV is committed to making sure all people in Washington state have a healthy environment and a strong, sustainable economy.

Additionally, WCV is committed to dismantling systemic racism and advancing racial equity and environmental justice in all that we do. We work with the understanding that the same beliefs, practices, and systems that create and perpetuate interpersonal and institutional racism, also create and perpetuate environmental destruction. Solving one cannot be done without solving the other. There is no environmental justice without racial justice and economic justice.

About this questionnaire: WCV thanks you for taking time out of your busy campaign schedule to complete this questionnaire. Your responses will be an important factor in our endorsement consideration. Your answers to this questionnaire are private and will not be shared publicly, unless noted in the question. No one answer will guarantee an endorsement; all answers will be weighed into our decision making process.

Instructions: Please fill out the questionnaire completely. If we do not receive a timely submission, we may not be able to consider you for a WCV endorsement. Please contact endorsements@wcvoters.org with any questions.

Candidate Information

First Name

Last Name

What position are you running for?

Phone - Candidate: (Where you can be reached after the campaign)

Email - Personal or other

Campaign Information

Campaign Name

Campaign Website

Campaign Address

Campaign Address Line 2

City

Zip

Campaign Phone

Campaign Email

Your experience

Please describe what motivates you to run for public office and what or who inspires you?

If you are running for this office for the first time please attach a copy of your resume or a list of your professional and civic experience that provides an understanding of your qualifications to service as an elected official.

Please attach your resume

The issues below affect all of our communities. Please write one to two paragraphs in response to the question and include specific efforts you will undertake to address these issues.

Yes/No Questions

Do you acknowledge that human actions are a contributor to climate change?

YesNo

There is a growing grassroots and youth movement asking candidates to sign the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge. Nofossilfuelmoney.org was created by national partners in 2017 and since that time, more than 2,000 politicians from 49 states have committed to reject campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry. Have you signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge?

YesNo

Washington Conservation Voters launched the Evergreen Future Campaign which includes a 4-year policy platform as a science-based road map to act on climate, protect clean water and healthy forests, hold corporate polluters accountable, and address environmental health disparities around the state. The platform is overwhelmingly supported by voters. we’re asking candidates and elected officials to commit to the action we need in WA state to combat climate change and build communities that allow everyone to have a healthy, affordable place to live. Do you commit to support and advance the platform and ideals of Evergreen Future?

YesNo

If yes, we would like to promote your support by adding your name to the list of supporters on the WCV website. Please let us know if you would like other opportunities to promote your support (e.g., testimonial, local events, etc.)

If you have comments, please include them here:

Issues

Today, there are growing threats that we have never seen in our state. Our salmon runs are down 90%. We lose 800 acres of vital habitat and forest around Puget Sound every single year. And the climate crisis continues to threaten families across the state with drought conditions, deadlier forest fires, and pollution that harms our health. Whether you are black, white, indigenous, Asian, or Latino, we all face the impacts of this crisis together.

The decisions we make over the next few years will set the future course for our state. There is no time to waste. We need state leaders who are committed to bold action, because that is what it will take to build a sustainable for the next generation of Washingtonians.

The issues below affect everyone. Please write about the following issues facing our environment, and what specific efforts you will undertake to address these issues.

Act On Climate

What similarities do you recognize between COVID-19 and climate change response and preparedness. How can lessons from COVID-19 prepare us for developing and implementing a response to climate change?

Washington is a model for other states on developing a robust clean energy economy that provides workers with sustainable jobs, uplifts the communities most impacted by pollution and the climate crisis, and protects our unique environment. How will you use your position as an elected official to hold our state's polluters accountable to transitioning to a 100% clean energy economy and achieving our greenhouse gas emission targets, as just passed this 2020 legislative session?

For the past two sessions, the House has passed the Clean Fuels bill, while the Senate has refused to take it up. Transportation emissions are the largest source of greenhouse gas pollution in Washington. How would you advance policies that invest in accessible transit, increase an equitable transportation system, and ensure that the ways we fund transportation does result in reduced emissions?

Clean Water and Healthy Forests

Washington state grows some of the best trees in the nation. These trees can act as a natural climate solution. Natural climate solutions protect public health, local economies, and the quality of life for communities. How will you increase investments in solutions that increase carbon sequestration and provide resilient defense against fire, flooding, and sea level rise?

How will you support funding in the state budget for natural resources, essential programs, and infrastructure investments to clean water, good jobs, and win/win opportunities such as supporting community-based forestry?

Salmon runs have declined by 90% due to a combination of loss of habitat and pollution. How will you use your position as an elected official to recover salmon?

Chemicals in everyday products and land management practices are harmful to people, drinking water, and wildlife. How will you use your position to reduce use of these substances?

Environmental Justice and Public Health

Climate change, water pollution, and air pollution disproportionately affect communities of color and people with lower incomes. What is the relationship between public health, equity, and pollution in your community and what legislative policy solutions will you advocate addressing these inequities?

Under the U.S. Constitution, treaties with Native nations are the supreme law of the land. How will you support meeting legal obligations to treaty tribes?

Hold Corporate Polluters Accountable

One lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic is that public health disparities, air polution, jobs, and access to services like health care, housing and food are all connected. As we move towards tackling the economic recession, should we be relaxing environmental requirements in order to help industries rise to the challenge of creating jobs and spurring economic growth?

Who is your campaign team?

Consultant

Campaign Manager

Fundraiser

Other

Contact Information