he former Republican Leader’s An April 29 letter, “Leadership, Poverty,” falsely maligns Democratic leadership by presenting phony statistics.
The letter claims unemployment rates of cities run mostly by Democrats ranging from 11 percent to 22 percent.
Apparently, the writer surfed the Internet and found a website that cited data to support his ideology.
I searched the unemployment rates using the more legitimate Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Of all the cities mentioned in the letter, I found the latest unemployment rates ranged from a high of 6.2 percent (Syracuse, N.Y.) to a low of 3.8 percent (shared by Birmingham, Ala., and Jackson, Miss.).
I implore people of any persuasion: Please do not present “alternative facts” to win a debate.
Facts are easily verified and deception just misleads the reader and corrodes your credibility.
Thomas A. Rogers,
Port Angeles