Gov. Jay Inslee
After more than 10 years as Washington state’s governor, Gov. Jay. Inslee decided not to seek a fourth term in office. While it’s debatable whether he will finally get some sleep, Inslee is sure of a few things that he shared in a short, pre-holiday interview with the Northwest Asian Weekly’s Carolyn Bick. He expressed his appreciation and gratitude for the support of the state’s Asian American community, as well as the way the state pulled together, during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, and underscored the need to stand steadfast against othering and Asian American hate.
NWAW: Can you share some initiatives or policies you championed that you feel specifically benefited Asian Americans?
Well, I think a lot of things benefited Asian Americans as it benefited everyone else in the state, and I always sort of think in those terms.
Obviously, our actions to save lives during COVID were equally important to the Asian community, and I want to thank everyone who pulled together to save lives, which we did because we made difficult decisions that saved thousands of lives.
Our climate work has been enormously successful, leading the nation, and it’s people in this community who will suffer the pangs of climate change like everyone else going forward.
I think we’ve done a lot to try to stand up against hatred and fear that, unfortunately, continues to trouble this community. And a lot of different measures we’ve had—both in speaking against that hatred, but in acting against it in a variety of ways, including in education and adoption of the country’s first Office of Equity, and actions to make sure we stand up against hate crimes—I think that we’ve done quite a bit to particularly embrace the importance of this community to the state’s heritage, which is so important.
It is very painful to me to see this continue in our society. You would hope this would have been extinguished, after the abuse of folks who came from China to build our state and the Japanese internment. You’d hope that that othering that happens to some folks in the Asian community would have been defeated. But we have to realize it’s not defeated yet.
We have to be aggressive in confronting it. I think we have, every chance that we can, including bringing into leadership of the state people in the community, like my chief of staff in multiple offices, Joby Shimomura, and our deputy chief of staff, Kelly Wicker, and so many other folks who provided great leadership in our state government.
NWAW: What more can be done to address the specific challenges facing Asian American communities, particularly in areas like economic opportunity, healthcare, and education?
Kelly [Wicker] was one of the leaders of a trade mission to Vietnam looking for those economic opportunities. I wasn’t able to go because, unfortunately, I contracted pneumonia. So I didn’t get to go with her, but she led it.
It was a wonderful trip. We know that economic opportunities abound in Asia. And we have been very active trying to explore those.
I certainly have gone on trips, economic trips, to Japan, and China for that matter. Last night, I met the consular general from Japan … and we talked about continuing to explore economic opportunities of these markets that we’ve continued to try to open. And one of the things we’re really focused on is keeping open market opportunities in some of our Asian customer countries. And we’ve been somewhat successful about that.
I’m concerned about that right now, because of the Trump proposal of these across-the-board tariffs, which I’m concerned would cause a response of retaliatory tariffs by some of the countries where we have markets right now. We don’t want to lose markets in Asian countries for agricultural products or any of our other high-tech products.
I’m hoping that the president doesn’t really injure the economic opportunities of Asian Americans in the rest of our state [as a result of] closing those markets, because we are an export-driven state. It’s where we do very, very well. And so if we close these markets, it’s going to be really damaging to the Asian American community, and the whole state.
NWAW: How do you view the role of the Asian American community in shaping the political landscape, both locally and nationally?
It’s becoming increasingly important, from Mai Linh Thai to Joe Nguyễn. Joe Nguyễn has been a great leader on climate change. Mai Linh Thai, on so many issues involving civil liberties, has been a tremendous legislator.
And so we’re seeing leadership emerge, and it’s really great for the state of Washington to have that leadership.
NWAW: On a national level, what do you see as the most pressing issues that Asian Americans should be aware of, and how can they get more involved in advocating for change?
Well, we have to be aware of the threats posed by Donald Trump, who’s made his political career by stoking fear of the other. And that, unfortunately, sets the stage for othering folks in the Asian American community. It sets an undercurrent of acceptance of fear and hatred. And that’s really unfortunate. We just have to be aware of that threat.
I mentioned the economic concerns we have to keep, because we have a lot of great Asian American entrepreneurs in our state who export products. And we want to make sure those markets, so they can sell their products to Asia, [aren’t] closed down by a trade war. That’s a concern.
And then we have a climate change concern. I mentioned this, because it’s so dangerous to our communities and to our grandchildren.
The Asian American community has been so important for literally centuries in the state of Washington. When you think of centuries ahead, we want that community to still have a vibrant agricultural industry, a vibrant place to live, and a vibrant educational system. All those things are jeopardized, if we’re all breathing forest fire smoke and all the snow’s gone on Mt. Rainier, and we have droughts that jeopardize our economy.
That affects everybody, not just Asian Americans, but I think it’s important.
NWAW: What are you most proud of during your time as governor?
I think the way the state pulled together against the COVID virus—that was a threat that our state’s really never experienced before. And I was very proud of our state, because we embraced some basic values in our approach to that.
Number one, we followed the science. We didn’t reject science. We were led by it. And number two, we cared about each other and each other’s health. And we were willing to make some hard decisions that protected health. And number three, that we were so successful. If we’d had the same fatality rate as Mississippi, we would have lost an additional 18,000 Washingtonians. So we made hard decisions.
And I was called upon to make some of those hard decisions. But they ended up saving thousands of lives. And I think we should feel good about our compassion and wisdom, during this, as Washingtonians.
NWAW: Are there any decisions or policies that you would have approached differently?
Well, I think, just in general, always, you can always point to some tactical things that didn’t work out, but no major policy things that I would revisit.
I was thinking the other day—I had Ray LaHood, who’s a Republican congressman, who I knew was a great guy—I came to ask him [in 2013] to help talk to Republicans, to help Republicans embrace the transportation package. And they were abusive to him.
He weathered it, but it was so embarrassing how they treated him. A U.S, congressman, a very good Republican and good standing, who was a former Secretary of Transportation, actually. And they were just—I’ve never experienced rudeness to a fellow colleague in any other circumstances. I felt for Ray, and I was very disappointed in the Republicans.
But I don’t have any regrets about the direction of the state.
NWAW: Is there anything you’d like to say to the Asian American community who have supported you throughout your tenure?
Well, thank you. I’ve had tremendous support from the community, both politically and substantively, by giving us leadership from the community that’s helped our state and our administration succeed. And I look forward to becoming even more growth-oriented in so many different ways.
And it’s good to have a community that’s so dedicated to democracy. So thank you.