Kathryn Lewandowsky
DemocraticQ1 America has a growing artificial intelligence (AI) industry, supporting cutting edge innovation and reshaping businesses, but raising concerns about education, ownership, and security. Application of AI technology has increased the demand placed on data centers, controversial for their resource use (such as water and land) and raising utility costs. What are your policy positions in regards to data centers and AI? What sources of evidence informed these policies?
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. This is the 4th Amendment to our US Constitution and part of the original Bill of Rights. (Enacted Dec. 15, 1791) These are interesting times we are living in. I am often impressed with the forethought of our founding fathers. Where they may not have had any concept of the threats we are now having to contemplate regarding Artificial Intelligence, they very well understood the harm that can happen when the government infringes on our fundamental rights to privacy. I believe that the direction our government and the corporations that so many of our elected officials serve are infringing on those constitutional rights and this must not be allowed to continue. This is the only way that we can guarantee our country remains as a shining example to the world in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” And with that I have to take the position that the continued progression of Data Centers across America must stop until there can be put in place laws that guarantee our constitutional protections of our right to privacy and also that there is accurate research on the environmental harms and the true costs that they incur.
Q2 What are your top funding priorities for environmental projects and research in our state? If you do not have specific priorities, how would you approach setting those priorities to ensure effective environmental stewardship?
I believe that until we can discover how we as humans can effectively draw down C02 levels that we must reduce our timber harvests and let the trees do what they do best. Our job then will be to incentivize companies to diversify their building products and techniques to use more sustainable crops like industrial Hemp and Bamboo which can be harvested every six months instead of relying on a crop that can only be harvested every 20 years. We can also use methods like timber thinning instead of clear cutting to lessen the impact on our forests by our human needs.
Q3 What are your opinions on the current state of science literacy, and how could K-12 education standards be adapted to improve the public understanding of and relationship building in science?
I am old and don’t have many small children around, but I hope that children are far more literate in science than their parents are. I think that if anything COVID showed us just how illiterate too many grown adults are when it comes to science. I’m not sure how best to address this problem. Possibly, if we can incentivize people to continue their education after high school we can improve our residents understanding of science. If we don’t do something different, we’re doomed.
Q4 The Bear Gulch Fire, one of 2000 recorded fires in 2025, was the biggest on the Olympic Peninsula in 70 years, burning over 20,000 hectares and causing $42 million in damages. What are your policies around fire risk management for the state?
I believe that our best protection from fire is to allow increases in our old growth forests. These forests already know how to protect themselves from fire. We need to get out of their way.
Q5 Puget Sound and the Washington coast are experiencing rapid changes, such as warming waters, ocean acidification, and ecosystem shifts, that have major impacts on Washington’s wildlife and fisheries. What policies and funding, if any, would you prioritize for fisheries management, scientific monitoring, and to help communities adapt to these shifts?
I have to admit that while I understand medical studies as that is my area of expertise, I am not an expert on these issues. I depend on the scientists who study these issues to offer proposed solutions to these problems. Then we need to enact those solutions and evaluate their effectiveness.