A couple of weeks ago Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the U.S. House of Representatives about the horrors sure to accompany enforcement of the new Arizona immigration law.

However, his testimony seemed less compelling after a congressman from Texas asked him whether he had read the law. Holder allowed as how he had not read the law but had been briefed on its content by reading the newspapers.

Similarly, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, whose testimony a few days later before the U.S. Senate also recited the possible horrors of Arizona’s new law, was asked by Sen. John McCain if she had read the law. No, she replied, she had not read the law. Nonetheless, she was sure she would not have signed it were she still Arizona’s governor.

And now the Seattle City Council has voted unanimously to boycott Arizona and to refrain from doing business with most (not all) things Arizonan. I wonder: Have any of the council members read Arizona Senate Bill 1070?

Whatever happened to “facts and data will set you free” or “look before you leap”?

John Humphrey, Bellevue