Expansion

The organization I represent, the Public School Superintendents' Association of Maryland, will not take a position on Question 7. Each Maryland voter must consider all the facts and cast his or her ballot on an expansion of gambling. What is perplexing, however, are the political advertisements against the expansion of gambling that justify the position based upon "broken promises. " A promise I remember in 2002 was that the General Assembly passed and the governor signed into law the Bridge to Excellence Act, pledging to increase state funding to Maryland public schools by $1.3 billion over a six-year time frame.

Del. Frank Turner raised a fundamental question of ethics in his Oct. 4 letter. Notably, does an elected official represent the citizens of his district or his appointed legislative position? Most of us believe that representation of the citizens comes first. Del. Turner's response to that principle stands in stark contrast. I do not fault his position on the issue of gaming. I fault his feckless justification for saying one thing and enthusiastically doing another. The citizens of Howard County's District 13 clearly come a distant second to Del. Turner's assigned duties as chairman of a legislative subcommittee.

Nixon's Farm in West Friendship has for 50 years been a fine place for country weddings in the converted 19th-century barn amid the grassy hills - "centrally isolated," the website calls the spot. Soon, though, a portion of the grounds off Route 32 could become the county's largest solar electricity generator, and the first built strictly to sell power to a utility. A Baltimore-based energy engineering and consulting company has Howard County's permission to build an array of 10,400 solar panels designed to generate up to 2 megawatts, enough power for hundreds of houses.

Two prominent Maryland Republican leaders from the recent past threw their support behind the gambling expansion plan crafted by Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly, contending that a new casino in Prince George's County will yield hundreds of millions in tax revenue for the state's schools. Former Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, who also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee, and former Republican national committeewoman Audrey Scott jointly endorsed the measure, which is up for a vote on the Nov. 6 ballot, according to the ballot committee supporting Question 7. "Partisan politics should not interfere with economic development and the creation of jobs," they wrote.

Gov. Martin O'Malley says the television ads opposing his casino gambling expansion law are "a bunch of West Virginia casino hooey. " In a very narrow sense, he has a point. But when it comes to the claims and counter-claims about Question 7 on Maryland's ballot, there's plenty of hooey to go around. What Mr. O'Malley specifically objected to is the repeated contention in ads from the No on Question 7 campaign that money from his plan to legalize table games at Maryland's casinos and add a sixth casino in Prince George's County won't go to education.

Wow. County Executive Ulman disagrees with your puritanical anti-gambling view (editorial, Sept. 27). Although you ascribe ulterior motives to his position, maybe he simply realizes that Marylanders like to gamble, and that they would like to gamble in Maryland. As a Maryland poker player who is tired of driving to New Jersey, Delaware and West Virginia, to play poker (a game that a New York judge recently ruled a game of skill, not chance), I urge Columbians to vote in favor of Question 7, which "allows" table games, including poker, so we can finally play here in a regulated, taxed, and secure Maryland poker room.

There's a good reason that a majority of Marylanders in a recent poll for The Baltimore Sun said they opposed the expansion of casino gambling in the state: We're pretty much grossed out by the whole thing. Politics is a messy business, but the politics behind the casino referendum should be declared a Superfund site. As Curt Anderson, leader of Baltimore delegates to the General Assembly, put it last summer: "It really makes you feel kind of unclean. " The way this matter became a question on the November ballot - a cynical Senate president manipulating the legislature and governor into a summer session, $5 million spent by lobbyists, backroom deals that muzzled opposition and got the governor the votes he needed, tax breaks for casino companies - represents all that's wrong with American politics.

Baltimore City's priorities are skewed ("Tide point and taxes," Sept. 26). It should be selling bonds to finance a new courthouse, not a business like Under Armour that is worth millions and could finance its own expansions. D. Morris, Edgewood

The Maryland Institute College of Art broke ground this month for The Commons II, a five-story $16.5 million residence hall on North Avenue near Mount Royal Avenue that will provide housing for 240 students in 80 apartments when it opens by the fall of 2013. The project will also include an auditorium, performance space and other amenities. The Commons II was designed by Hord Coplan Macht as an addition to The Commons, a 20 year-old residence hall that will get a $2 million renovation as part of the same project.

Kooper's North, the new pub in Mays Chapel, has been open only since the end of August. But judging by the crowds, it has already developed quite a reputation. At this point, that reputation is mostly deserved. Like its sister restaurants in Fells Point — Kooper's Tavern, Slainte Irish Pub, and Woody's Rum Bar — Kooper's offers a clever gourmet spin on pub-friendly burgers and sandwiches. However, service at the Mays Chapel outpost hasn't achieved the high standards set by the city locations.