Gov. William Donald Schaefer said today he has stopped writing his sometimes controversial letters to constituents because the recipients had gone public with them.

"I've stopped writing letters now. They are no longer private letters . . . I get accused of being thin-skinned," Schaefer said in an aside today at a Board of Public Works meeting.

For years Schaefer has responded personally to letters sent to him or to various newspapers. A few of those letters -- including some that insulted the recipients -- became public recently when newspapers published copies.