Merger of business groups a win for Baltimore

Congratulations to Calvin Butler, chair of Greater Baltimore Committee, and Brian Pieninck, chair of Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, and their respective boards for successfully orchestrating the planned merger of the two organizations (“Business advocacy groups Greater Baltimore Committee and Economic Alliance will merge,” Jan. 26).

The Greater Baltimore Region needs this bold leadership and vision. The merger will benefit all stakeholders.

Thanks to Calvin and Brian.

Bill Jones, BaltimoreThe writer is past president and CEO of the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore.

Having Andy Harris as your congressman hurts

I regularly read Dan Rodricks’ column, and agree with most everything he writes. I especially like it when he points out the many shortcomings of Rep. Andy Harris, as he is always spot on.

His latest column on the hypocrisy of Mr. Harris (“Andy Harris, Hall of Fame Hypocrite, ‘votes no and takes the dough,’ ” Jan. 27) was perfection until I got to last paragraph. This voter in Maryland’s 1st District has never voted to send him back to Congress. Please don’t include me in his followers. I need an anesthesiologist to help me get through the pain of his being my representative.

Tracy Moore, Forest Hill

Baltimore deserves better from Maryland’s governor

I was tempted to write a letter like the one from Bruce A. Greer, “Don’t blame Biden for every hardship or stock market hiccup” (Jan. 28), in reaction to a previous letter by Tom Uzarowski, but I could not have come near the quality of Mr. Greer’s response. In my opinion, he eloquently hit the proverbial “nail on the head” in his call for us to pull together.

The recent editorial, “Baltimore: Not the center of the universe, but you can see it from here” (Jan. 27), lauding Johns Hopkins University’s major role in the James Webb Space Telescope project, also, in my opinion, was outstanding.

Kudos to both.

Baltimore is a principal, if not the principal, city of Maryland. Baltimore’s port makes it a principal international city. And institutions like Johns Hopkins University and businesses like Under Armour and others make it so in America.

Gov. Larry Hogan, Baltimore should be treated as a “jewel” of Maryland. During your nearly eight years in office, you have done little to shine that jewel. For that reason, despite your high approval ratings, you have been a failed governor in my opinion. You’ve worn the mantle of the state’s fiscal integrity you inherited from your predecessor well and to your political advantage.

Joseph Costa, Baltimore

Book banning and echoes of 1930s Germany

There was a short but disturbing article about a recent attempt by a Tennessee school district to ban a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the Holocaust (“Book ban efforts are nothing new in US schools, but experts call recent political tactics ‘startling,’ ” Jan. 31). This follows on a current active push by conservative school boards across the country to call for the banning of books dealing with sex, racism, violence and drugs, with some school board members even calling for books to be burned.

If one pays attention to history, these events recall the horrific scene on May 10, 1933 when thousands of books thought to be “un-German” were thrown into fires throughout universities in Nazi Germany.

Straight lines can be drawn from book burnings in Germany which led to the horrors of the Holocaust and the banning of books in this country leading to growing anti-semitism exemplified by the recent attack at the Texas synagogue.

Sadly, we are on a slippery slope as history does tend to repeat itself.

Beryl Rosenstein, Pikesville

Editor’s note: The Baltimore Sun is once again looking to recognize those who have done the most over their long careers to make Maryland a better place. Over the past six years, we have honored women and men who have made transformational change in the state, across diverse spheres, including business, government, education, science, health, civic life and the arts. Now we’re looking for our seventh group of extraordinary individuals to induct into The Baltimore Sun’s Business and Civic Hall of Fame — and we need your help. Nominations should be sent to talkback@baltimoresun.com and include “Hall of Fame” in the subject line, along with a brief description of your nominee’s accomplishments and background in the body of the email, and the reasons why you believe he or she merits consideration. The deadline for nominations has been extended to Feb. 20.