The writer’s assertion that Denny Heck bashes tea partiers or anyone else on TV or in person is fanciful.

I have had many opportunities to hear Heck speak in various places, from coffees to public forums. I cannot recall him bashing anyone. He advocates rational, empirically sound solutions to the difficult problems we face. Coming from him, that is not idle. He is a man with substantial experience in the Legislature and in the executive offices of government. He knows whereof he speaks.

In addition, after Heck left government service, he created one of our state’s significant nonpartisan institutions – TVW. Then he went into the private sector and created an important business that now employs about 350 workers. Isn’t that the kind of person we need to represent the 10th District in Congress?

His advertisements appear daily on the television, and in every one he insults and denigrates tea party members and their politics. While I am not a member and have never attended a tea party event, I know a number of people who are tea party members. They are all hard-working, law-abiding, responsible citizens.

Watch his advertising, and you will see that he singles out this group and will never support nor even consider their views or concerns. So much for reaching across the aisle. Knowing that he disdains and disrespects an entire group of his constituents should disqualify him as a candidate for this office.

Muri joined Heck in the fourth public forum held in downtown Olympia that was organized in part by the Olympian newspaper. The TNT gave extensive coverage on some of the the issues, but rightfully did not include many that were Washington state issues in current referendums.

But the TNT missed reporting the discussions on cleaning up Puget Sound. Heck expressed general views. Muri went into detail covering the immediate need for Congress to fund a modern Solo Point Sewage Treatment Plant for Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Funding is the responsibility of Congress.

Muri has 22 years experience as a military officer with five of these years in management work at JBLM. Additionally, for the past nine consecutive years, Muri has been the Pierce County Council member for the county district covering JBLM, which is the leading contributor to the 10th Congressional District economy.

Muri is the best candidate for the JBLM task.

Why not hold everyone to the same standards? In this article, Democrat Derek Kilmer’s quote against his Republican opponent in the 6th District, Bill Driscoll, stood out: “There are 253 millionaires in our Congress, and he would like your vote to make him No. 254.”

His argument can be used against his fellow Democrat running in the new 10th District, Denny Heck, as well. Heck is a millionaire, as is Bill Driscoll; however, Kilmer has endorsed Heck, despite the fact that if elected, he would add to the numbers of millionaires already in Congress.

It seems that Kilmer does not apply the same standards when it comes to his own party. If Driscoll should be counted out because of his personal finances, then so should Heck. Let’s play fair.

Being a 22-year Air Force veteran, Muri understands veterans issues and is committed to protecting veterans and their families. He is also very aware of the significance of Joint Base Lewis-McChord and its contribution to the South Sound economy.

During his time on the County Council, Muri has always been available to his constituents and willing to hear their views on the various issues. He would continue to represent us and the 10th District well in Washington, D.C..

I and other veterans are rallying around Heck as someone we can rely on to work for us. He is the right man to represent veterans and the entire 10th Congressional District.

Heck was passionate about bringing everyone he could together to realize the danger that women’s health care is facing. He showed how he is really going to fight for women’s right to choose and how he is the right choice for the 10th Congressional District.

I contacted the candidate’s headquarters and got a replacement the following day. This morning (Monday), as I left for work, I saw that this new sign had been destroyed in the same fashion.

I don’t know what the motive is and frankly don’t care; the result is the same. These actions result in the suppression of my right of political speech. If anyone knows who has done this you need to step up and report them to the Edgewood Police Department at 253-798-4721 (press 1; the reference case numbers are 12-260-0398 and 12-261-0313).

I was struck by the many false claims and half-truths in this letter supporting Pierce County Councilman Dick Muri for U.S. Congress, mostly about the Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama – a law which I strongly support, and so does Denny Heck.

Heck will be a solid voice for middle-class residents of the 10th Congressional District by supporting laws such as the Affordable Care Act which introduce common-sense reforms into the health insurance market, prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, and slow the growth of Medicare by $700 billion – not just cutting money from the program as the writer claims.

Heck has also promised to reduce our deficit in a responsible, balanced way by asking the most fortunate to pay their fair share and removing waste from programs while not cutting benefits.

Furthermore, Heck has pledged to not use any super PAC money in his campaign. I admire his integrity by not using undisclosed donations from those who do not have the interest of middle-class Americans in mind.

Those are the middle-class values I have and that Heck will represent in Congress.

Heck is most certainly defending middle-class values. He wants to stimulate jobs that would bolster the middle class in America. He knows that investing in roads, bridges, schools and other public facilities would create the jobs that allow people to live a middle-class life.

Just ask some of the people who are working on street-improvement jobs in Steilacoom or who upgraded parts of Steilacoom Boulevard in Lakewood last year. These improvements were funded by state and federal government grants, not by Pierce County nor, for the most part, by those two city governments.

Heck knows Washington could be a global leader in high-tech manufacturing jobs. He wants to invest in technical education so we can have a work force ready to develop and fill those jobs.

Heck’s parents were a telephone operator and a truck driver. As a successful small businessman, he understands true middle-class values. He knows what needs to be done to make the middle class strong once more.

That makes him the best candidate to represent us in the other Washington.