While I certainly don’t look favorably on the many jaunts taken by members of Congress of both parties over the years, it is useful to have both clarity and fact when repeating an accusation of the kind leveled at Jay Inslee by Martin Stever (“Praise of Rep. Inslee too much for this reader,” Feb. 5).

His allegation is that Inslee took his wife on a “$1,000,000 trip to Copenhagen” and supported the assertion with an Internet citation.

Looking up Stever’s information, one finds that it was nearly 20 members of Congress, including six Republicans and that the total cost, sans military aircraft, did in fact run up to a million plus.

However, the suggestion that the Inslees spent this kind of public money is inaccurate – actually false.

It is noted that Stever failed to cite the Republicans who made the jaunt, whether it was for official Congressional business or not.

I am sure Mr. Stever would not be comforted by data for similar kinds of trips made during the Bush/Cheney administration or others.

However, he has taken aim at our sitting representative, and it does not make Stever’s concerns that much more important when looked at for the whole story.

In the end, there is no question members of Congress do need to be more sensitive about how committee members travel and the expenses involved, no matter whether they are Democrats or Republicans.

Mr. Stever and others on any side of the partisan lines would also do well to be more careful about offering information that is less than complete, to say the least.

Joseph Honick

Olympus Beach