Of the two proposals for solving the traffic problems on Main Street, Chen' s plan is better for the city as a whole, as is clear from the fact that the principal supporter of Ripley' s plan is Smith Stores. Smith Stores, with its highly paid consultants, knows where its own interest lies and, moreover, has supported its own interests in the past, even to the detriment of the city as a whole.
The faulty reasoning in the argument above is most parallel to the faulty reasoning in the statement 'The planned light-rail system will clearly serve suburban areas well, since its main opponent is the city government, which has always ignored the needs of the suburbs and sought only to protect the interests of the city.'