Ehrlich's letters to FCC involved no impropriety

Sadly, The Sun's article "Ehrlich urged FCC on behalf of Sinclair" (Nov. 27) left out crucial details that would have made the story balanced.

Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. wrote letters on three topics of interest to Sinclair Broadcasting in eight years in Congress. Other Maryland congressional delegation members who wrote letters on the same three topics include Sen. Paul Sarbanes, Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings and Rep.-elect C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger.

More than 80 pages of congressional letters were also sent to the Federal Communications Commission on these three topics at our request (and these, like Mr. Ehrlich's letters, we have provided to The Sun).

Mr. Ehrlich's April 2001 letter to the FCC, written at the request of another congressman, not at the request of Sinclair, inquiring about the status of a pending transaction, was most appropriate. This perfectly legal transaction announced in early 1998 had been languishing at the FCC for inexplicable reasons.

The FCC finally approved the transactions in December 2001 when it faced a deadline by the U.S. Court of Appeals to explain its unwarranted delay.

Mark E. Hyman

Hunt Valley

The writer is vice president for corporate relations of Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.

It was right to prod agency to do its job

The Sun's article "Ehrlich urged FCC on behalf of Sinclair" (Nov. 27) fails to mention that the Federal Communications Commission often uses inaction as a decision-making tool. Such government inaction is unconscionable, as it precludes individuals and companies from exercising their legal and appellate rights.

My company, Core Communications Inc., has the unfortunate distinction of having the oldest complaint pending before the FCC. When -- if ever -- the FCC will issue a decision is anyone's guess. And until the FCC issues a decision, we have no legal options.

In Congress, Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. consistently made clear that he expected government agencies to do their jobs. For the FCC, this means actually deciding the issues before the agency.

I applaud Mr. Ehrlich's efforts to demand that the FCC do its job. And I hope Mr. Ehrlich, as governor, will similarly demand that state agencies do their jobs.

Dead-letter offices -- federal or state -- should be eliminated, not coddled.

Bret Mingo

Annapolis

The writer is president of Core Communications Inc.

New boss already resembles old one

Even before being sworn into office as governor, Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has Marylanders wondering whether he is morally fit for the job ("Campaign offers new details on helicopter," Nov. 21).

Mr. Ehrlich criticized Gov. Parris N. Glendening for spending millions of taxpayers' dollars to pay for a jet necessary for transporting him and the first lady across this state. But now it is clear that Mr. Ehrlich has taken helicopter rides that the private sector allegedly helped pay for.

After Mr. Ehrlich's "Choppergate," what else can we expect from the GOP?

Carl A. Feely

Arnold

In his pre-election rhetoric, Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said electing him would change the culture of corruption in Annapolis.

Now we see that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Brian Flowers

Sparks

GOP actions favor big contributors

It didn't take long. In the last two weeks, the new Republican clout in Congress resulted in a huge giveaway to pharmaceutical companies at the potential expense of autistic children and the defeat of any extension of unemployment benefits for the needy ("Jobless benefits are not extended," Nov. 23).

The Homeland Security Act retroactively eliminates claims by children for autism that may have been caused by additives to vaccines. Of course, that has nothing to do with homeland security. But it makes the pharmaceutical manufacturers big winners.

Yet Congress took no action to extend unemployment benefits, which for many people now will end a few days after Christmas.

Is there any wonder what the holidays will be like in those homes?

It is doubtful that the swing voters who gave the Republicans control of Congress out of deference to President Bush understood that this was the type of agenda that they were empowering.

But just follow the money and it makes sense. Pharmaceutical manufacturers have shoveled funds into the Republican Party. Children and the unemployed are not able to make contributions.

Mitch Lambros

Towson

Price of Iraq war dwarfs drug costs

I quote from The Sun's article "Any war in Iraq to cost billions" (Nov. 24): "The Democratic staff of the House Budget Committee, using what it says are optimistic projections based on the 1991 Persian Gulf war, says a 30-to-60-day war ... would cost between $48 billion and $93 billion."

Compare those costs with the few measly billions a much-needed Medicare prescription plan for our senior citizens would cost.

Philip R. Grossman

Baltimore

Not invading Iraq could be more costly

The Sun's article concerning the huge cost of ousting Saddam Hussein brought to mind an interesting analogy ("Any war in Iraq to cost billions," Nov. 24).

Many years ago I read a letter to Dear Abby from a woman who wanted to go to law school but was apprehensive because it would take years to complete her studies and when she graduated she would be 52 years old.

Dear Abby's concise and insightful answer: How old will you be after those years if you don't go to law school?

What will be the cost -- in lives as well as money -- if we don't get rid of Mr. Hussein?

Howard B. Caplan

Hampstead

All human emotions have chemical basis

In Craig Nova's review of The Road of Excess, A History of Writers on Drugs, he claims that enlightenment through drug use is "silly" because one cannot experience "the otherworldly and the spiritual through chemistry, which is at once materialistic and mundane" ("Drugs and the writing life: fuzzy minds, self-loathing," Nov. 24).

But this argument has no foundation whatsoever. All experience is achieved through "chemistry": The brain -- its neurons, charges and chemicals -- is indeed "materialistic" (although certainly not mundane).

All human emotions -- whether as a result of trench warfare, skydiving or drug use -- are material and chemical in origin.

Len Gutkin

Baltimore