[Plugin: Event Calendar 3] Category does not set, conflict with Magic Fields

I am running this plugin along with Magic Fields which also sets a default category for the write panel. I have a strange bug where the correct category checked as the DOM loads, but when the page resolves the check disappears and the box is grayed out. I need to keep the MF functionality as it is controlling many sections of the site, but I do not need this redundancy of two plugins competing to set the category so I would be ok with hacking this functionality out from EC since it is already being set by MF but I imagine this is principle to how it works. Can I set this variable var $event_category; somehow to force the check in.. or maybe I need a conditional in the other plugin to remove this functionality just for events category…

Any ideas on what I can do to fix this ?

https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/event-calendar/