The Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci once observed that the greatest deception a man can suffer is from his own opinion. And all too often of late, Garry P. Smith (“Unions exert influence over Hawaii politicians,” Star-Advertiser, Letters Aug. 23) and others tend to base their opinions upon their own groundless assumptions, without any due regard for fact and truth.

As a lifelong old-school Republican — emphasis on “old school” — I vigorously object to Smith’s spurious character assassination of current and former Democratic public officials such as Mayor Kirk Caldwell, Lt. Gov. Josh Green Green’s chief of staff Brooke Wilson, and former Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, implying that these honorable public servants are somehow corrupted by unions without offering any evidence whatsoever of a quid pro quo arrangement.

Did Smith check voting records and/or public filings with the state ethics and campaign spending commissions before leveling such otherwise serious allegations? Innuendo and inference are not evidence of anything, except perhaps one’s own gullible credulity. And trafficking in rumors to besmirch another’s public reputation reflects a clear lack of common decency.

Whitney T. Anderson

Waimanalo

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