Thank you for your editorial "Reckless slots politics" (July 29). It does more than point out Martin O'Malley's newly stated and ill-advised position on not putting slots in at Arundel Mills Mall, and the detrimental implications of yet another income-delaying boondoggle to Maryland's financial health, not to mention the taxpayers' burden. The editorial also illustrates the governor's penchant for political opportunism and another example of his feeble and fallacious attempts to paint Bob Ehrlich as a lobbyist for special interests.

As Mr. O'Malley knowingly sat quiet throughout all the legislative implications and previous machinations relative to the Arundel Mills slots issue, so too was there nary a word or effort regarding long-standing MARC train service deficiencies prior to this election campaign.

The governor's constituents should remember his "Ehrlich supports special interests" blarney from the last election, when he opportunistically accused then-Governor Ehrlich and the PSC of being in the pockets of BGE and deferentially allowing the 72 percent rate increase for residential customers. Subsequently, as written in The Sun by Thomas Firey, the Public Service Commission, controlled by Gov. Martin O'Malley, approved a 50 percent rate increase layered on top of the General Assembly-approved 15 percent hike that eventually resulted in a 72.5 percent BGE rate increase.

Now, in this election, the Sun editorial rightfully points out O'Malley's "bogus attempt to tie the Republican to the BP oil spill" and the lame "guilt by association" attempt to spin the Cordish Cos. brief contract with Mr. Ehrlich's law firm into this latest version of special interests bugaboos. Maybe Mr. O'Malley should be told that special interests bugaboos such as BGE and Big Oil have nothing on the teachers' union and opportunistic promises of additional billion-dollar expenditures of money the state does not have for education — no less fiscally reckless than denying the state hundreds of millions of slots tax dollars over the next several years.

Dennis Peltz, Perry Hall