5 things about Gov. Jay Inslee that you almost definitely don’t know

I followed Jay Inslee on the campaign trail in 2012, when he ran for governor of Washington state. Most of these details were noted in a profile on Inslee that appeared in Seattle Business Magazine .

1. His Jimi Hendrix connection ... Frank Inslee, Jay’s dad, was a biology teacher at Garfield High School, at the heart of Seattle’s historically black neighborhood, and he taught Jimi Hendrix. Inslee is a Seattle guy: He was born in 1951, the son of Adele and Frank Inslee. His parents worked at Mount Rainier National Park during the summers, where they took their three sons hiking, and taught them the names of wildflowers and birds. Inslee has said they are why he appreciates nature — and why he presents himself as a dogged environmentalist. In 2008, Inslee co-wrote Apollo’s Fire, a book that outlines his ideas on clean energy and how it deserves a chance to compete with traditional energy. He dedicated the book to his parents.

Credit: AP Photo/Ted S. Warren



2. How he met his wife Trudi ... Jay Inslee met his wife Trudi Inslee in high school, at Ingraham High in north Seattle.

Trudi was a pretty blonde with blue eyes, and she has described being moonstruck when she first laid eyes on her future husband … when he walked through the doors of their portable classroom. Inslee was the varsity quarterback on the football team; he also helped the boys’ basketball team win the state title. Jay and Trudi married at age 21. They have three boys, Jack, Connor and Joe. Grandson Brody called his grandfather “Bobo,” after the gorilla. (Bobo, who lived at the Woodland Park Zoo, was taxidermied and is now behind glass at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle’s South Lake Union.) 3. Inslee has been comfortable winging his speeches...

Fran Moyer, a former legislative aide to Inslee, told me in 2012 about the time Inslee was a keynote speaker at an event. “We arrived in the parking lot and we were a little concerned,” Moyer recounted. “I said, ‘Jay, is the speech ready?’ and he said, ‘Do you have some paper?’ Most people couldn’t do that, they would need to be prepared, but his level of knowledge is very deep.” I put this story to aides for Sens. Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray and Chris Gregoire, who I was also reporting on at the time. These aides responded in kind, with raised eyebrows: Not preparing is something that male politicians can get away with.

4. Jay Inslee said he grew alfalfa in eastern Washington … This was his pitch to Washingtonians in 2012: “I’m the candidate who has driven a bulldozer in Bellevue and has painted houses in Burien and has washed dishes and waited tables in Edmonds, who has prosecuted drunk drivers in Yakima, who has taught community college in Yakima, who has grown alfalfa in eastern Washington, who’s represented the Hanford nuclear workers…” Let’s unpack that bit about the alfalfa.

The Inslees lived in a century-old farmhouse on four acres in Selah, in central Washington state, where Inslee prosecuted drunk drivers. Yes, alfalfa, which is a type of hay, grew on these four acres. But the Inslees were not bucking hay for money.