Loren Culp promises to follow Constitution, rule of law if elected governor

Loren Culp is the Police Chief in Republic, Wash., and a candidate for Washington State Governor in the upcoming Aug. 4 primary. As of now, he is one of the leading Republican candidates.

Culp says he’s hearing from both Republicans and Democrats who are supporting his campaign. He joined the Todd Herman Show to share what hopes to accomplish if elected.

“I’m hearing from a lot of Democrats that are upset with the Democrat Party because they feel like it’s taking a hard left turn, running their cities into the ground, taxing people to death, making ridiculous regulations and rules in their cities and just ruining their economy,” Culp said.

Right now, he’s the police chief in a small town of about 1,100 people, but before that he ran his own business in the Olympia area for more than 20 years, and prior to that served in the U.S. military.

“Only veteran that’s running for governor, by the way,” he said. “So I’ve got a unique perspective on what’s going on in this state, not just from my law enforcement background for the last 10 years, but from my personal experience running a business in this state, it’s not a business-friendly state. It’s not a family-friendly state.”

Voters may notice that Culp’s campaign statement is missing from the voter’s guide. His campaign submitted it to the Secretary of State, but was told that the emails were never received.

“What I know is my campaign submitted it and it didn’t go through on the website, and then we tried to confirm that it had been put up there, and my campaign manager had a conversation with [Secretary of State Kim Wyman] last Sunday,” he said. “Then she put out a statement, she told my campaign manager that there was a glitch. And I’m not the only campaign that didn’t get information up, so I’m not sure what went on there, but we’re putting it out … on my Facebook page.”

Culp says he has more than 50,000 followers on his Facebook page.

“We’re over 50,000 people, and it’s because of my message of individual freedom and liberty and getting our government back within the confines of the rule of law, which is the Constitution of the state of Washington,” Culp said. “That’s the rule book for our government, and for 35 years we’d had Democrat control of the state. And they’re not following the rule book.”

Culp’s message as been the same since day one, which he said differs from some of his competitors.

“If you watch … my competitors, they have changed their tune. They have adopted a lot of my talking points and a lot of my positions on the rule of law and the Constitution because that’s the whole thing,” Culp said. “We need to return individual freedom and liberty to this state. And the only way to do that is to get our government to quit acting like a nanny, quit acting like our boss, and realize their role as a public servant, and get them back within the confines of the Constitution and the rule of law in order to allow us to live our lives.”

Culp assured that, as governor, he would appoint department heads that share his same mentality and recognize that government works for the citizens. Culp said he would have three rules.

“I’ve got three rules for everything, every bill that comes across my desk,” he said. “And number one, is it constitutional, because the Constitution is the rule book for our government? And number two, will this bill that they’re proposing help the citizens of Washington state? Because that’s the only special interest group I’m working for, is the citizens. And number three, can we afford it without any new taxes? So they’re either going to get on board or we’re going to have quite a few bills vetoed, which is fine.”

His top three goals as governor include eliminating the “excessive regulations that are strangling our businesses” as part of the Washington Administrative Code. As mentioned earlier, he also wants to appoint leaders who understand the servant role of government.

“So those are two huge things, and I’m going to be sending a letter to places like King County and Seattle to give them 60 to 90 days to get the criminals and the lawlessness under control in their cities, or the full force of the state of Washington will have to come in and do it for them, just like the governor of Texas did with Austin and they cleaned it up,” he said. “And I’ve got solutions for all of these things listed on my website.”

Culp is committed to applying the rule of law if he were to be elected governor.

“I talk about when the rule of law is followed and our government works within the confines of the rule book, which is the Constitution, it doesn’t matter what color of skin you have,” he said. “It doesn’t matter your income, your sex, your orientation, it doesn’t matter anything. Everyone is protected equally under the law when it is applied. … I will be that governor that applies the Constitution, the rule of law and keeps our government within its confines. And so everyone is treated equally.”

“That’s what this country was founded on. That’s what Washington state was founded,” he added. “Article one, section seven, says that no citizens shall be disturbed of their private affairs. And article one, section one, says that the power is inherent in the people and government is there to protect citizens’ rights. It’s a beautiful document. We just need people in government office to follow it. And I will.”

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