WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

Jessyn Farrell’s “Meet the New Member”

This year the HDC welcomed nine new members to the House of Representatives. Last week they began rolling out a series of “Meet the New Member” blog posts in an effort to better acquaint readers with the newest faces around town.

Representative Farrell took some time to answer a few questions for her installment in the series. Here is what she had to say:

Q: Is there a moment, or an image, you’ll remember most from your first day as a lawmaker?

A: It’s one week in and I don’t really remember the first day!  But something that has really stuck with me about the first few days is hearing the former governor referred to as “Her Excellency” and recalling the huge debates that our founders had about how to refer to President Washington.  Adams wanted some pomp and circumstance and others accused him of being a royalist.  I felt a strong connection to those men who set up our commitment self-government over 200 years ago and how cool it was to be a part of that inspiring tradition!

Q: What inspired you to run for office?

A: I really believe we need more moms at the table – we make major policy decisions that affect working families and it’s important to have the perspective of those who are on the front lines of trying to make a living, take care of kids, and give them the very best. Now I get to actually try to be a working mother in this very intense, demanding environment. That alone will be a great challenge

Q: Imagine being governor for a day, and able to pass any legislation. What problem would you fix?

A: Climate change – it is settled science that we are in a 13 year window – give or take a few years – to cut our carbon emissions drastically to ensure that we don’t complete wreck our climate (the threshold being keeping the earth’s global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius). The climate has already warmed and we are already seeing the effects of that with extreme weather events. But if warming goes beyond 2 degrees Celsius it is predicted that we will experience extreme heat-waves, declining global food stocks, loss of ecosystems and biodiversity, and life-threatening sea level rises. This is very real to me as my kids won’t even be twenty by the time that window will have closed.

Q: If we peeked at your iPod, who would we see?

A: The eensy weensy spider and other favorites of the 2-4 year old age group.