Editor’s note: The Maple Valley and Covington Reporter will publish Letters to the Editor from citizens concerning political issues and candidates.

The candidates may publish letters, responses and opinions on the their blogs. The Reporter has offered blogs to all candidates.

The following letter refers to a blog entry on Stanette Marie Roses’ blog. She is a candidate for City Council Position No. 6 and she is challenging Councilwoman Victoria Laise Jonas .

My Name is Rick Pasko. My wife, Sharon, and I have been in business in south King County for 35 years. Over the past several months a candidate for Maple Valley City Council Position No. 6 has attempted to smear the candidacy of her opponent, Victoria Jonas, by suggesting that contributions I made to the Maple Valley Food Bank and the Farmers Market in some way benefitted the campaign of Victoria Jonas.

This candidate has libeled my reputation and my business in letters to the editor of several local newspapers. The donations I have made to the Food Bank and to the Farmers Market were free-will donations to local charities. Those charities are wisely being supported by Council woman Victoria Jonas and several other members of the City Council. Councilwoman Jonas’ opponent to Position No. 6 seems to resent the good work Ms. Jonas is doing in our community and with our local charities by claiming that contributions I have made to local charities are in some way improper or “wrongly intended.”

Stanette Rose seems willing to put the interests of her campaign above the interest of charities in our community. Would she have me and my fellow citizens stop making donations to charities simply because Council woman Victoria Jonas shares our concerns for the disadvantaged in Maple Valley?

Ms. Rose is correct in claiming that many people in the Maple Valley (including myself and many of my friends) believe that Victoria Jonas is the most effective candidate for Position No. 6 on the council. Ms. Jonas has not resorted to libeling fellow citizens or questioning the motives of people such as myself who choose to make voluntary contributions to local charities. I ask that my fellow citizens beware of any candidate, such as Stanette Rose, who are willing to besmirch the actions of others for the benefit of their own campaign.

Rick Pasko

Maple Valley