Although my husband, Chuck Hardaway, is no stranger to expressing his opinions to readers, this is the first time for me.

I am a strong supporter of Victoria Jonas for re-election to the Maple Valley City Council. Victoria brings stability, a wealth of knowledge, and a historic perspective of where we have been to lead us where we as a city want to go. Most importantly, Victoria has a proven track record of her commitment to serve the residents of Maple Valley and the level headed good judgment for sound decision making.

A criticism I’ve heard from a few about Victoria is her length of time on the council. Do you vote someone out of office for doing a great job? How foolish is that?

One of Victoria’s strongest attributes is her professional approach to campaigning. She has always kept her campaign directed at the issues important to the public and never reverted to negative attacks against her opponent! I believe this raised the bar, not only on ethical behavior, but has provided us all an opportunity to think to our city’s future rather than be diverted to character attacks. I think this was reflected in Victoria’s landslide win of almost 67 percent over her opponent in her last bid for office.

Victoria is an unsung hero regarding service to our community. No matter what organization is holding a function, Victoria is usually there in attendance and often contributing platters of homemade candies or baskets of goodies. I’d particularly like to point out her 20 years of volunteerism to the Maple Valley Food Bank and her work as co-founder and volunteer market manager of the Maple Valley Farmers Market. She’s over there early every Saturday morning from June to October, without remuneration, interacting with the vendors and customers.

Maple Valley has received numerous accolades — even nationally — as to what a great place we are for families. We have fantastic schools, our business community is growing, we live in a well managed city where a real sense of community thrives. Handshakes for this progress go out to many. I’d say we are on the right track!

Voters know the form of good government they’re getting with Victoria Jonas — she has proven herself many times over as a proponent of fiscal accountability and responsibility. It’s important to Maple Valley to retain the effective leadership qualities Victoria has demonstrated.

Marge Hardaway

Maple Valley