Although the signatures still need to be certified, Claire Whitaker and Don Hadley submitted their petitions for candidacy for Rockville City Council by the filing deadline last Friday, September 6. Let’s assume their petitions are certified, the ballot on November 5 would look like:
Mayor
- Bridget Newton
- Mark Pierzchala
Council
- Beryl L. Feinberg
- Don Hadley
- Tom Moore
- Virginia Onley
- Julie Palakovich Carr
- Claire Whitaker
That’s eight candidates, which is one or two persons fewer than previous years (there were 11 candidates on the ballot in 2011, although one withdrew before the election but his name remained). Given how late in the game the last two candidates entered the race, it does cause me to pause whether the City Council should be increased from 5 to 7 persons, a question that also comes on November’s ballot.
Residency of Rockville City Council candidates, 2013.
I’ll be exploring various aspects of the election in the next two months, but one that’s quite obvious is that four of the eight candidates are from the West End neighborhood, indeed two live so close to each other they could hit each other’s homes with a baseball. The map shows the location of each candidate’s homes (click the map to enlarge: mayoral candidates in blue, council candidates in red). It also means that four of the five seats on the City Council could be captured by the West End, which has been one of the most politically vocal and active neighborhoods in Rockville. But it’s also been one of the city’s most divided neighborhoods with strong feelings on both sides (perhaps you heard about the rancor at their last election), so it’s unclear how these West End candidates represent this neighborhood.
Max for Rockville 
No Rich Gottfried? Eileen
Richard Gottfried was seen collecting signatures for a petition to be a candidate, however, they were not submitted. The experience of a previous campaign helps candidates tremendously, and Gottfried received 2,827 votes in 2011, within 250 votes of Mark Pierzchala and Tom Moore (who were both elected) and Virginia Onley (who was not). Coupled with his community service and residence in Twinbrook (providing geographic diversity to Council), he would have been an appealing candidate. Running a campaign is very different from serving as an elected official, and both can be frustrating and humiliating at times. I’m not sure of Gottfried’s decision, but he lives just a couple doors down from me and if I run into him on the sidewalk, I’ll ask.
One candidate for Mayor, Bridget Newton, has supported the current Mayor. The other candidate for Mayor, Marc Pierzchala, has not been a supporter of the current Mayor. As you wrote, in an earlier edition of “Max for Rockville,” Team Rockville” is a slate consisting of Mark Pierzchala for Mayor and Tom Moore, Virginia Onley, Julie Palakovich Carr, and Beryl L. Feinberg for City Council. This Mayor and Council have been marked by some bitter disagreements. I am wondering if all of the “Team Rockville” slate does not win, how the Mayor and City Council disagreements will be, with a new Mayor and City Council.
Max, Your point abou the ballot initiative is right on. Unless there are political parties to bring candidates along on a slate, it will continue to be a mixed bag and questionable candidates. I wish we could get Mark and the Team to understand this stuff.
Jim
Sent from my iPad
No hyphen in J P C!
Oh, the names this year are going to be the death of me! Your name is the only one I consistently spell correctly. Apologies to everyone and please know that my misspellings are random and unintenshonal (except that last one!).