Kendra Carroll, the Virginia-based vice president of human resources for Transtector Systems/Smiths Power, with one year of experience with the company, can certainly spin the truth however she wants. However, the sequester is a convenient scapegoat for the new Smiths Power group, now based in Richmond, Va., which laid off 15 Hayden-based employees on Tuesday. This brings the total number of Idaho layoffs to approximately 30 in the last 15 months.

If you dig a little deeper, you might find the problem within the brand new management team in Virginia, or perhaps within the London team, headquarters of parent company Smiths Group, rather than with the easy target of the sequester. Fifteen Idaho-based employees, many with 15, 20 or 25 years of experience with the company, no longer have jobs at an employer that has been solid in the North Idaho community for more than 20 years. Thirty (or more) Idaho-based employees have been let go in the last 15 months. Who knows how many more will be gone by December?

Business is business, I suppose. But please, Kendra, truth, rather than convenient spin, would be appreciated.

GORDON MYERS

Coeur d’Alene