Jerry Knirk: McConkey falsely accuses Dems of not willing to debate

To the editor:

Honesty matters in our elected leaders. I intended to run my campaign with a positive tone, but must respond to Mark McConkey’s false statements. In the Sept. 29 article about the Republican town halls, McConkey asserted, “We worked for a couple weeks to do a debate forum, and in the end they, Jerry [Knirk] and Susan [Ticehurst] decided not to participate.” In an Oct. 6 article he stated, "They held up our scheduling for 2 1/2 weeks, and then had concerns about being in an enclosed structure." These statements are untrue as the emails between us demonstrate.

We received one invitation on Sept. 7 containing no details. After two requests for information, he provided details on Sept. 10, allowing us to evaluate the plan. We responded on Sept, 13, three days later, agreeing to debates but objecting to the inside in-person nature, with two events inside buildings and one in a tent with walls, his choosing the moderators, and the lack of a mask requirement, contrary to CDC recommendations.

As demonstrated numerous times, including the recent White House super-spreader event, unmasked events in enclosed spaces are inappropriate. We felt that such an event would place the voters at risk unnecessarily.

We wanted to meet with the voters and offered to do safer Zoom events with co-moderators. He never responded. He did not “work” with us. It was a take-it-or-leave-it offer, totally unlike how I reached out to him to do a debate in 2018 when we worked together and co-moderated the event.

Falsely blaming your opponent for your failure to work toward a safe solution is not the way candidates or elected officials should behave. I work with others to develop solutions, maintaining respect for them and honesty.

Rep. Jerry Knirk

 Freedom