Alia: Hawthorne admits that he has influence with high government officials. He further admits that he sold that influence to an environmental interest group. There can kind of unethical behavior.
Martha: I disagree that he was unethical. The group that retained Hawthorne’s services is dedicated to the cause of preventing water pollution. So, in using his Hawthorne also benefited the public.
What this question is testing
Your task
Break the argument into its conclusion and evidence, then do exactly what the question stem asks with that structure.
Common trap
Answers that sound relevant to the topic but don't connect to the argument's actual reasoning.
Winning move
Predict what a right answer must do, then test each choice against the conclusion-evidence gap.
Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.