Culp’s Pullman visit draws about 100 people

PULLMAN — Washington gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp centered his message on upholding the state constitution and protecting citizens’ “God-given” rights this week at a Pullman rally.

Nearly 100 people gathered outside Tuesday in a field off of Wawawai Road to listen to speakers and music as part of what is Culp’s “Victory Protest” campaign.

Culp, who is challenging Gov. Jay Inslee, said the governor is overstepping his bounds as a public servant and using his power to run people’s lives and businesses. He brought up the state’s COVID-19 rules as an example.

“(Inslee) decided who’s going to work, who’s not going to work, who’s going to be essential, who’s not essential,” he said. “I don’t want the governor to have that kind of power to begin with.”

Culp said as governor he would educate people about what they should do to stay safe from viruses, but ultimately he would “let free individual citizens decide what’s best for themselves, their family and their business.”

He also criticized Inslee’s handling of the Black Lives Matter protests this year, particularly how he deployed unarmed National Guard troops and tried to negotiate with rioters.

“The United States government has a policy that they never negotiate with foreign terrorists, and the state of Washington should never negotiate with domestic terrorists either,” he said.

Addressing the recent wildfires that affected Washington, Culp attacked the governor for blaming the fires on climate change instead of poor forest management.

He criticized Senate Bill 5395, which is on the November ballot and would allow age-appropriate sexual health education for all students and excuse students at their parents’ request.

“It’s like a group of pedophiles got together and wrote that thing up,” he said.

Washington Attorney General candidate Matt Larkin and Washington state House Rep. Mary Dye were among the speakers.

Dye was critical of the governor’s office limiting people’s ability to go to church or gather politically during the pandemic.

“This is the time to question: Is this the way we want to live?” she said. “Do we want to live with the tyranny of a single-person rule? No, of course not.”

Karma, the K-9 German Shepherd who works with Culp at the Republic Police Department, also took the stage during the event.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.