Once again, the 2023 campaign for Rockville’s Mayor and Council took another strange turn, this time from council candidate Richard Gottfried. Late last week, a letter arrived from him in our mailbox addressed to “Dear Twinbrook Voters,” urging residents to “vote strategically for your neighborhood candidates [Richard Gottfried and Marissa Valeri]” and that he is the “clear choice for Twinbrook.”

What he doesn’t tell us is that he sent a similar letter addressed to “Dear Republican Voter” which instead emphasized the ballot referenda questions on allowing non-citizens and 16-17 year old residents to vote. He states that he is a “conservative candidate who firmly believes that the answers to these two referenda questions should be NO” and that the “other candidates in this election are democrats with very progressive viewpoints.” He especially requests the votes of “republican voters that are registered, but may not take the time to vote in the City of Rockville’s non-partisan election.”

It’s fine that candidates tailor their messages for their audiences, even along party lines in a non-partisan election (although it is really stretching the bounds of traditional campaigning in Rockville). But if you care about a candidate’s values and how they will conduct themselves in office, these letters will be eye-openers. Democrats will be incensed that he’s campaigning in this manner. But Republicans will be as well, because in the 2019 election, Richard Gottfried was registered as a Democrat. I’m not sure if this makes him a DINO (Democrat in Name Only) or a RINO (Republican INcognitO).