The Legislature and You

An AS President must have extensive knowledge of the legislature and what impact the decisions made by our state representatives and senators have on Western students. I am the only person running for President with firsthand knowledge of the work required to bring funding and other support to campus. As VP for Legislative and Governmental Affairs for the last year, my first priority was the needs of Western students, and I was committed to expanding our influence in Olympia. This year, I organized Viking Lobby Day, which brought almost twenty students to Olympia to meet with legislators from across the state. A few weeks later, I went with the students of Western’s inaugural Leadership Advantage Program to meet with the chairs of both the Senate and House Higher Education meetings, as well as Governor Christine Gregoire’s chief of staff. On top of all that, I am also Vice Chair of the Western Chapter of the Washington Student Lobby, which is an organization committed to promoting the views of students across the state.

In addition to my work in the state legislature, over the last year I have traveled twice to Washington, D.C. to meet with our federal representatives and senators to discuss issues of great importance to Western students. On the second trip, which I organized and took over spring break with the current AS President and Legislative Liaison, we met with the staff of six of Washington’s delegation. Concurrently, I met with the executive staff of the United States Student Association, which is a nationwide organization that focuses on student issues at the federal level, to discuss federal issues and resources that they could provide to Western in order for us to be most successful.

When voting for your next AS President, do you want someone who will have to go through extensive legislative training before they can ask for increased state funding, or would you rather have someone who can think on his feet and deliver results on issues that you care about?