This is going to be a long thread, so please read through the whole thing for the full story.

I was invited to participate in the Spokane Talks Candidate Debate at 9am on a Wednesday morning next month.

This is the response my campaign manager sent them to the invitation, explaining why, like their primary event, I am unable to attend.

This is the startling response we received from Spokane Talks Executive Producer and Founder, Kent Adams.

This is exactly the kind of culture that our campaign deals with every day, and that we're working so hard to change.

This organization has no understanding of the plight of working folks, particularly working parents. As an ICU nurse when my son was in school, I wasn't leaving work for teacher conferences. I was working 12 hour days trying to save lives. School conferences were after work.

With their refusal to follow basic public health guidelines, this is exactly the kind of attitude that has made it harder for people in E. WA to get back to work, and for us to be able to get our kids back to school safely. It's not helping us move forward, it's holding us back.

For the record:
All of the other candidate events I have been invited to have either been scheduled with consideration of candidate availability, or have been scheduled in the evening so that working people can participate, both as candidates and viewers.

This is the only one demanding that, as the sole healthcare provider in my clinic on the days that I'm there, I cancel patient appointments in order to accommodate their schedule. I have always put the care of my patients over partisan politics, and I always will.

All of the other candidate events I have been invited to have followed public health guidelines, including all non-partisan events. This shocking response makes it perfectly clear that this is not intended to be a non-partisan event.

My opponent has ignored invitations from several genuinely non-partisan organizations who have scheduled their events around candidate availability. I hope he receives the same speech from Kent Adams about taking his run for office seriously, but we all know that won't happen.

Every woman that reads that email knows that this is not the response that would have been given to a professional man in the same situation.

The nearly 700 individual donors that have helped us raise over $127,000, the 40+ organizations that have endorsed me, and the volunteers who have dedicated over 600 hours of their time so far to help us reach voters for this general election have all done so because... (cont)

Because they know exactly how seriously I take this race. I am extremely hardworking and dedicated to the people of our community, and that is exactly what I will continue to be as our next State Representative.

Continued thanks to all of the folks that are working hard together with me because we are ready for better.

In solidarity,

Lori Feagan
*Serious* Candidate for 4th LD State Representative, Position 1