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 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.

To what values is he referring? Are they the values of an unemployment rate of over 8 percent, with an estimated 23 million Americans either unemployed or no longer looking for employment?

Are they the values of Obamacare, which promised that medical insurance rates for the middle class would be reduced but have instead, increased?

Are they the values of the Obamacare that defunds Medicare by $716 billion so that senior citizens will ultimately be rolled into Obamacare, whether they want it or not?

Are they the values of a spending spree that has increased our nation’s debt to over $6 trillion and requires the U.S. to borrow 40 cents of every dollar spent?

Is he really suggesting that “middle-class values” include burdening America’s children with not only an enormous debt but also deep dependence on China, the nation holding America’s credit card?

Those aren’t the “middle-class values” that I grew up with, nor are the values of Dick Muri. He has a solid record of eliminating excessive spending while enhancing efficiency and services for the citizens of Pierce County. Those are the “middle-class values” the 10th District needs and deserves.

That’s why I enthusiastically support Muri for Congress.

The article gave me great insight into the motivation of congressional candidates Stan Flemming and Dick Muri. Flemming criticized Muri, saying he “chose to blow off the constituents of the 10th District so he could sit and dine on a bbq chicken luncheon which he felt was more important.”

That luncheon was a Pierce County Council study session. As I see it, Flemming’s priorities were politics over doing his job as a County Council member. Muri chose doing the job he was elected for over campaigning for election. Flemming “blew off” the voters of his district in favor of getting elected to Congress.

I voted for Muri, and in view of Flemming’s penchant for putting politics over doing his current job, I made the right decision.

Let me get this straight. We in University Place are supposed to forget that a modern library was destroyed because it was inconveniently located. We are to forget about all of the shops and restaurants that once served the community and paid taxes. We are to forget that elected officials promised us that Town Center would be profitable for the city and “put us on the map.”

But now they say that we should be satisfied with a cafe, a child play area, a replacement for our more-than-adequate library, a city hall and the promise of an apartment building with space for retail. At least we’re not going broke, they insist.

The letter writer says that “most of us in UP know Stan Flemming” and know that he cares about the city and its growth. I’d say that’s the minimum requirement for the job. Competence and common sense are also required when spending the people’s treasure.

Flemming was involved with the planning and helped approve this fiasco. In contrast, Dick Muri recognizes that Washington, D.C., is both broke and broken. Do we really want to send someone who can’t recognize a very questionable financial scheme and put him in an office where he will be required to consider multibillion-dollar projects?

The writer is correct: Intelligent voters will decide this election. That’s why I’m supporting Muri for Congress.

Dick Muri has stated that his comments about University Place’s Town Center are important to his campaign. He continues to state that UP will go broke because it can’t pay back the millions of dollars it borrowed to develop the Town Center project.

If this is so important to his campaign, why didn’t he tell the truth? He should have talked to Ken Grassi and the City Council for the facts before relying on rumors.

So the town project is moving slowly; it is still moving. A cafe with a child play area opened recently, and there are plans for an apartment building with retail shops in the works.

If this statement is so vital to his campaign, then Muri is in trouble, because intelligent voters are not going to buy into his falsehoods. Most of us in UP know Stan Flemming and Ken Grassi, and know that they care about UP and its growth, about making UP one of the nicest and safest towns around and a place where people want to live.

As a member of the University Place City Council, Flemming did not protect the property rights of area merchants or the taxpayers when he supported building of the new Town Center.

This project was designed to bring upscale retail outlets to the area, while at the same time building a new city hall. To make room, and before a single “upscale” merchant had been successfully recruited, the power of eminent domain was used to force out existing taxpaying merchants (remember Stortini’s?) and a topnotch modern library was torn down.

To date, all University Place has to show for this is a new city hall, a replacement library, fewer taxpaying merchants and a multimillion-dollar debt service that city taxpayers will bear for many years.

In public debates, Flemming refers to himself as a conservative. His action on the City Council was not one of conservative caution; it was the action of a politician who got caught up in a grandiose plan and the hope of leaving a legacy.

Well, the legacy he’s left in University Place is one we can’t afford in Washington, D.C.