Wenatchee Mayoral Candidate Admits He's Blacklisted from Numerica Performing Arts Center
Former city councilman Bryan Campbell refused to follow Covid-era rules, pushed past PAC employees to enter the building and later refused apologize for behavior
In September 2021, Wenatchee mayoral candidate Bryan Campbell and his wife attended a production of “Mamma Mia” at the Numerica Performing Arts Center in Wenatchee.
Due to the pandemic, the PAC announced on its website, social media, and via email that the venue was requiring patrons to wear masks and provide proof of COVID-19 vaccinations prior to the show. The news was also in The Wenatchee World.
But that night Campbell, his wife, and a friend did not comply with the rules and pushed past PAC employees to get into the building.
“The PAC made a change to admittance requirements shortly before the event but patrons weren't notified. In addition to masks, proof of vaccination was required for entry. I happened to have my card and handed it over, but my wife didn't possess hers. As I was searching my phone for a copy of hers, an 80+ year-old friend of ours arrived and was denied entry without his card,” he wrote on Facebook. ”His Applarian partner was already inside and he started to panic. I thought a medical episode was imminent so I put my hand on his shoulder and said, this is ridiculous come on, and we went inside.”
Campbell wrote that they watched “a fabulous show,” went home that night, and after that left for a cruise. They came home to a letter banning them from the PAC.
“We met with Mike Salmon, Steve Robinson, and Woody Lotts to explain and my wife apologized for following us into the play. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough and the PAC demanded a written apology for our outrageous behavior and agreeing to adhere to all entrance requirements in the future. I wrote a letter of apology that said I was sorry that they chose to require vaccination cards without notifying their patrons and I was especially sorry that they put their employees in the middle. My behavior wasn't the outrageous behavior involved and I therefore won't apologize for it,” he wrote.
I heard about Campbell and his wife “bum-rushing the door” at the Mamma Mia show from a source soon after it happened. But at the time Campbell was not an elected official, nor was he running for office.
So I decided to keep the info in my back pocket and wait.
Then he filed as a candidate for mayor of Wenatchee and made it past the primary. At that point, I figured it was worth asking the guy who might be mayor if he could actually step foot in one of the most important public spaces in our community.
So I did.
On Aug. 29, I sent Campbell the following email:
“Hi Bryan,
Now that the primaries are over I am planning on writing something about the Wenatchee mayoral race and had a couple of questions.
On your signs and website, you say you want to ‘promote faith and family values.’ What faith do you mean? And how would you go about promoting your faith if elected?
Are you a member of Grace City Church? If so, were you encouraged to run for mayor by any pastor? Have you received any material or monetary support from GCC members or leaders?
During the pandemic, it came to my attention that you were blacklisted from the Numerica PAC because you refused to wear a mask while they were mandated indoors and attempted to get into the building without putting one on. Was that issue resolved and are you able to enter the PAC now? Do you believe the Covid-19 pandemic was a hoax, or that the vaccines for it are part of a conspiracy of some sort?
Thank you for your time.”
I followed up with a call on Aug. 31 and left a voicemail on his personal cellphone that afternoon.
A few hours later Campbell posted this on Facebook.
Campbell has not responded to my questions as of Sept. 1, but he did respond to my email and said he would send responses soon.
He did respond to local retired educator Dorothy Ferguson though, who sent him the following email on Aug. 26:
“Hi Bryan, I appreciate how you communicate the details of issues facing our community and analyze possible solutions. One of your F words is Faith. As mayor how are you going to ‘Promote Faith and Family Values for your children's future?’ Thank you.”
Campbell responded a few hours later with the following:
“Hi Dorothy,
Thank you for your question. I believe in the saying, "families that pray together, stays together". If children grow up in a faith based environment, they tend to retain that way of life. I also plan to work closely with school Superintendent Kory Kalahar regarding the curriculum in our public schools. We need to be sure our children are being educated in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and life skills, and not wild ideologies. We need leaders that share these principles and lead by example.”
Ferguson is a retired educator, and she forwarded me the email thread.
“I worked in schools for 20 years, we did not have time for ‘wild ideologies.’ We were focused on teaching reading, writing, math and science. If folks attended school board meetings they would know the focus is on student achievement and graduation,” she wrote.
She expressed alarm at local right-wing activists organizing to harass local school boards and other elected bodies.
Update as of Sept. 2
Campbell got back to me on Saturday, Sept. 2 with his responses to my questions. Here are his answers:
1) "‘Promote faith and family values’ isn't on my signs or my website. ‘Fighting for YOUR Faith, Family and Freedom’ is. That statement is pretty clear. Therefore I mean YOUR faith. I won't be promoting my faith if elected.”
2) “No, I've been a life-long member of the First United Methodist Church, and since being married in the Catholic Church in 2003, I've also been a member of Holy Apostles and Saint Joseph Catholic Churches. I don't know if I've received any material or monetary support from GCC members or leaders, who are they?”
3) “The information that came to your attention is incorrect. I was wearing a mask, presented my vaccination card, and entered the building with my mask on. That issue isn't resolved because even though I questioned why I wasn't notified about their recently changed entrance protocol yet complied, I was banned from the PAC because I assisted a very distressed elderly gentleman inside to get to his partner, that also wasn't notified of the new protocol and didn't have his card with him. The answer to your last question is, no.”
Update as of Sept. 3
Before I called Campbell I reached out to J. Woody Lotts, the PAC’s executive director. Lotts said he didn’t want to comment on the matter until he spoke with the PAC’s board president, Steve Robinson. He said he would get back to me by Monday.
I was going to wait to publish anything about this issue, but Campbell took to Facebook with his statement and I was nonplussed. So I decided to publish what I had and update the piece next week after the PAC weighs in.
Lotts got back to me today with this statement from him and Robinson.
“The incident which occurred between Bryan Campbell and the Numerica PAC is a private matter between the Numerica PAC and one of its patrons. As such, it is not appropriate to go into detail explaining our position; suffice to say the Numerica PAC strongly believes that the facts of this incident fully support the reasonable actions the Numerica PAC has taken to date,” Lotts wrote.
When any candidate, for any office, leads with mention of “faith and family values” my antenna goes up. Neither their faith or their version of family values is a plus for holding public office.
Once again, you’ve shared important insight into the character of an individual running for public office. His lack of respect for the community he wants to represent has been noted.