It is disturbing that Angel Taveras, a lawyer, would call information from the U.S. Census “rhetoric” while calling information received from welfare applicants “hard data” (“Rhode Island not a ‘welfare magnet,’ ” Commentary, Feb. 18). Perhaps he is speaking in his role as a poverty activist, not a lawyer.

In his claim that Rhode Island’s lenient and generous welfare benefits do not attract applicants, he writes, “The only hard data about newly arrived families and public benefits is that collected by the state Department of Human Services for FIP applicants.” He should have written, “from FIP applicants.” Let me explain.

Last year, when the rules changed so that people who used up their welfare benefits in other states could no longer move to Rhode Island and restart the clock, a public hearing was held on July 17 to iron out the details. In this hearing, poverty advocates requested that when determining if an applicant was ineligible, the sole source of information would be the applicant.

Do you want to accept that we have a problem, as outlined by Census data (see my Feb. 11 letter “Poor flood into Rhode Island for the welfare”), or do you want to believe that we do not have a problem, as claimed by the people applying for benefits?

Acknowledging the problem is the first step to recovery.

BILL FELKNER

Ashaway