Council Discussion Highlights Complexities of Rent Stabilization
The Rockville Mayor and Council meeting of July 8, 2024 caught my eye because it warned, “The following program contains explicit language. Viewer discretion is advised.” Of course, I had to watch. Near the end of the Community Forum, a speaker expressed his frustration with the City saying, “I hate all of you…and I hope you all get heat strokes” peppered with swearing. Mayor Ashton ably handled the uncomfortable situation by recognizing his anger, empathizing with his frustration, and then asking him to avoid swearing because the meeting should be appropriate for adults and children. The speaker apologized and the meeting moved on.
So what was causing this resident so much frustration? He was upset about the lack of air conditioning and the rent increase at BLVD 44, an apartment complex in Rockville Town Square. His concerns were part of nearly three hours of Community Forum, with dozens of speakers providing comments in anticipation of a presentation about rent stabilization listed later in the agenda. Because presentations do not allow public comments or questions, anyone with concerns had to express them via email in advance or by speaking during the Community Forum.
Many residents supported rent stabilization, highlighting its importance in preventing displacement and maintaining community stability, particularly for vulnerable populations like seniors and low-income families. Some speakers shared personal stories of financial struggles and the impact of rising rents on their lives.
Continue reading →Mayor and Council to Tackle Controversial Rockshire Development
At its Monday, December 18, 2023 meeting, the Rockville Mayor and Council will recognize Mark Pierzchala’s sixteen years of service on the Council and discuss a resolution addressing anti-Arabism, antisemitism, and Islamophobia in Rockville. On the Consent Calendar (items approved without discussion) are vehicle leasing contracts valued at $4.5 million (about 12% of the City’s vehicles are electrified) and approval of the minutes of October 23 and October 30. The Mayor and Council will also receive reports on the revised development plans for Rockshire Village.
EYA Development has requested a revision to the Project Plan for Rockshire Village Center to construct a total of 60 dwelling units, including 31 single unit detached dwellings and 29 townhouses (fifteen
percent of the units or nine townhouses, are proposed to be moderately priced); up to 5,200 square feet of commercial and office use (application initially proposed up to 5,500 square feet); and a neighborhood park at 2401 Wootton Parkway (a vacant 1970s shopping center at Wootton and Hurley, near Wootton High School in the Rockshire and Fallsmead neighborhoods). EYA is also seeking a parking waiver in case the commercial/office building is leased entirely for full-service restaurant use as well as a road code waiver for a private alley. The City has received 56 emails and multiple phone calls from the public requesting information, expressing opposition and support for the project. Full report starting on page 73 of the agenda packet.
The Mayor and Council are conducting hybrid meetings. If you wish to submit comments in writing for Community Forum or Public Hearings, please email the comments to MayorAndCouncil@RockvilleMD.gov by no later than 10:00 a.m. on the date of the meeting.
More details in the 271-page agenda packet are available at https://www.rockvillemd.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_12182023-7074.
The draft agenda for January 8, 2024 will discuss justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI); update the new Council on City branding; and begin a process for revising Neighborhood Conservation Districts.
Money Talks: Pierzchala, Jackson, Van Grack, and Fulton Lead in Rockville Election Funding
Who’s on top in the Rockville Mayor and Council race? If you based it on money, it would be Mark Pierzchala for Mayor and Barry Jackson, Adam Van Grack, and Kate Fulton for City Council (I suspect Izola Shaw is among them, however, she did not submit a financial report by the deadline). The status of the remaining candidates remain ambiguous, and even the initial insights from the financial reports for these four top-seated candidates warrant further examination.
Among the Council candidates, Barry Jackson, Adam Van Grack, and Kate Fulton have each raised more than $20,000 to date, allowing them to run a well-rounded effective campaign. In the 2019 campaign, successful candidates raised about $15,000. To take the lead among Fulton and Van Grack, Jackson loaned himself $20,000. The remaining candidates have raised less than $10,000 to date, putting them on roughly equal footing (again, Harold Hodges did not submit reports so we can assume he is not an active candidate). Among the latest campaign finance reports were several surprises:
- Richard Gottfried attracted only two donors, including Art Stigile, the treasurer of Mark Pierzchala’s campaign.
- Danniel Belay posted an extraordinary growth in contributions from $0 by October 3 to $5,850 by the end of the month, but only one $50 donation came from a Rockville resident. The rest came from outside of the city, state, or United States.
- Ricky Mui raised just over $2,000 but spent more than $2,500 for catering and Chinese lion dancers at a fundraiser, so he actually fell behind. There’s also an unusual comment that his campaign owes Brigitta Mullican, a Rockville resident, $1,286 for 1200 printed mailers.
The Mayoral race contains the biggest surprises as both candidates have raised more than $65,000, overshadowing the council candidates: $67,303 for Monique Ashton and an extraordinary $146,677 for Mark Pierzchala. To achieve those record-setting numbers required loaning themselves record-setting amounts in this month: $35,143 for Monique Ashton and $90,000 for Mark Pierzchala. Combined with their loans for the previous periods (both are incumbents carrying loans from the 2019 campaign), Ashton has debts of $51,678 and Pierzchala has a whopping debt of $126,500. Many residents assume that the Mayor and Council are volunteers, but they are considered “part time” positions and given an “annual stipend” of $37,560 for the Mayor and $30,483 for council members. If Pierzchala wins, it will take more than three years of his four-year term to pay back this loan. Is it worth it? Evidently, it is for him.
Compared to the 2019 campaign, the amounts raised for 2023 have reached new heights. Most of it is spent on printing and mailing campaign literatures to homes of Rockville residents, which seems to be the most effective way to connecting with voters. If the City changes from city-wide to campaign districts, it will make the cost to run for office much less expensive and open it up to more residents.
Rockville’s $307,093 Question: What Led to City Manager DiSpirito’s Resignation?
The cause of former City Manager Rob DiSpirito’s resignation in August remains a mystery except that we now know that it cost the City of Rockville $307,093.21, including $229,630.98 representing nine months’ salary and benefits and $77,462.23 for unused vacation time. It’s an extraordinary expense for the City of Rockville which so far remains unmentioned by the Mayor and Council and would be equal to:
- Ten years of the Senior Nutrition Program ($30,070 per year according to the upcoming agreement to be approved by Mayor and Council at Monday’s meeting).
- Salaries for three to four police officers ($70,036.00 – $105,429.00 annually according to the latest job posting).
- All computer and communication equipment expenses for the City ($259,880 in the FY 2024 budget)
- Janitorial services for all City facilities for a year (almost! annual expenses are $364,840 in the FY 2024 budget)
- Annual property tax for 175 houses (if $600,000 is the average cost of a house in Rockville and tax rate is $0.292 per $100 of assessed value on real property = $1,752.00 per house)
Why would someone who has gone through a Performance Improvement Program and then resign be entitled to a severance package? According to his 2016 contract, “the City shall have no obligation to pay the one-time lump sum cash payment and shall have the right to immediately terminated this Agreement without payment of any further compensation to the City Manager” if he commits “any act which involves moral turpitude.” Obviously, no moral turpitude occurred or he wouldn’t have received a severance payment.
So under what circumstances could the City Manager receive a severance package? His 2016 contract states that the “City may terminate the City Manager at any time for any reason including, but not limited to, a conflict in management style or philosophy” and if the “City Manager is still willing and able to perform the duties under this agreement, then, in that event, the City agrees to pay the City Manager a one-time lump sum cash payment equal to nine (9) months’ aggregate salary.” Hmm. So there’s a reason for his resignation, or should we say termination, but no one has provided an adequate explanation.
Rob DiSpirito has refused to explain why he resigned, but that’s because his 2023 Settlement Agreement requires that he “shall keep the terms of this settlement completely confidential, and that confidentiality is an essential element of the settlement itself” nor can he “directly or indirectly, engage in communication or conduct that disparages the City, its elected officials, officers, employees or agents or make any negative statements about the employment practices of the City.”
The Mayor and Council is not required to keep this confidential, but unfortunately, they’ve insisted on secrecy. Indeed, obtaining copies of the City Manager’s 2016 Employment Agreement and 2023 Settlement Agreement required invoking the Maryland Public Information Act. What is the Mayor and Council hiding that’s worth $307,093? If there’s a “conflict in management style,” let’s discuss it and stop guessing. Mayor and Council, where are you leading the City? Right now you’re being sneaky and opaque—exactly the opposite of good governance. Mayoral candidates Ashton and Pierzchala, will you be able to bring better governance and transparency? What will you do better and differently than Mayor Newton? Or is just more of the same?
October 30, 2023: Response from Mark Pierzchala, Rockville City Councilmember and candidate for Rockville Mayor:
In your October 29 post about Mr. DiSpirito’s departure, I remind you that in May, it was I who wanted to end the drama at that time. The Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) was unwarranted for such a senior manager.
The date of the closed August 17 meeting, concerning Mr. DiSpirito’s status, was chosen because that was after the 3-month ending of the PIP. Note that the August 17 meeting was held during the Mayor and Council summer recess.
I was the one who took the August 17 closed-session minutes. These were typed up immediately after that meeting and sent confidentially to my colleagues before 8 pm on August 17. The length of time it took to officially approve them, over 2 months later, is not appropriate. Indeed, Mayor Newton pulled them off the October 9 consent agenda.
The August 17, 2023 closed-session minutes were approved at the October 23, 2023 meeting, as were the September 11 minutes. Since the August 17 minutes were from a closed session, they are to be included in the September 11 minutes when these are put on the City’s website (the September 11 meeting was the next public meeting of the Mayor and Council). In the August 17 minutes, you will see the motions and results that led to Mr. DiSpirito’s departure. These minutes should soon be posted.
There is no reason for Mayor and Council to hide actions and votes from a closed session. Some of the information presented therein should be kept confidential, but the resulting decisions should be made public in a timely manner. That is what I will achieve as Mayor.
Financial Reports Reveal Top Contenders in Rockville Mayor and Council Race
UPDATE: This post was corrected and expanded to reflect the following: revision of funds raised in the mayoral race, charts clarifying loans and mayoral vs council candidates, and a minor error in Danniel Belay’s financial report.
In the Rockville Mayor and Council race, the first round of financial reports, due on October 9, 2023, have begun to paint a picture of the candidates with the most substantial resources and support. As the race for the six council seats intensifies, the field appears to have narrowed from twelve to eight contenders: Kate Fulton, Barry Jackson, Ricky Mui, David Myles, Paul Scott, Izola Shaw, Marissa Valeri, and Adam Van Grack.
However, not all candidates are faring as well. Financial reports indicate that Danniel Belay, Anita Powell, and Richard Gottfried are trailing, each having raised less than $500, a sum considered insufficient to garner substantial voter support in Rockville. Harold Hodges, another candidate, appears to be even less active in the race, having not submitted a financial report.
The mayoral race in Rockville is shaping up to be a complex contest. Candidate Mark Pierzchala has raised an impressive $48,352, but with a self-loan of $33,160 this period, his effective fundraising total comes to $15,192 (ignoring funds and loans carried over from his 2019 campaign).
In contrast, Monique Ashton‘s fundraising efforts have yielded $19,836, a figure that not only falls short of her opponent’s total but also those of council candidates Kate Fulton, Barry Jackson, and Adam Van Grack. Ashton has loaned her campaign $8,224, leaving her with a net fundraising total of $11,612, (ignoring funds and loans carried over from her 2019 campaign). This places Ashton among the middle of all candidates in this election but an improvement compared to 2019, when she had raised nearly $8,000 by the end of September.
Contributors to campaigns offer revealing insights into financial influences and influencers, but it is different in smaller local races as in Rockville. Donor analysis typically shows many candidates receive support from family, such as Adam Van Grack. However, this election reveals an unusual trend: incumbents Monique Ashton, Mark Pierzchala, and David Myles have not garnered substantial support from local residents, which would be expected if they had significantly impacted residents’ lives. This raises questions about the perceived influence of the Mayor and Council. Are their actions going unnoticed, or are they not making a significant impact? Notably, current Mayor Bridget Newton and her husband are supporting Monique Ashton, Barry Jackson, and Paul Scott.
For your own analysis, here are the individuals who made contributions of $500 or more, all of whom are based in Rockville unless stated otherwise:
Ashton, Monique: Aaron Stallworth (DC, $500), Antonio Quirindongo (NY, $1,000), Joseph Song (CA, $500), Simon Francis (DC, $1,000), Bridget Newton ($750), Fred Newton ($750), Cyrus Allafi ($500)
Pierzchala, Mark: Norma Pierzchala ($1,000), Joel Martinez ($1,000), Paul O’Brien ($500), Janet Gallant ($1,000), Carl Pierzchala ($1,000), George and Barbara Felber ($500), Benjamin Ross (MD, $500), Ingrid Chua ($1,000), Eduardo Alueta ($1,000; returned)
Belay, Danniel: None over $500
Fulton, Kate: Joel Martinez ($1,000), Beverly McFarland (Delaware, $1,000), Bill Fulton (California, $500)
Gottfried, Richard: None over $500
Hodges, Harold: No report
Jackson, Barry: Elizabeth Bartz (Ohio, $500), James “Jack” Jackson (Washington, $1,000), Peter Fosselman ($750), John Killpack (California, $1,000), Bridget Newton ($750), Fred Newton ($750)
Mui, Ricky (DBA Communities Electing Ricky Mui & Supporters of Mui Ricky Fai): Jacob Miller (Washington, $500), Mark Pierzchala ($500), Michael O’Brien (Pennsylvania, $500)
Myles, David: Duncan Maru (NY, $1,000), Tommy Roberts (GA, $500)
Powell, Anita: None over $500
Scott, Paul: Christopher Cash ($1,000), Bridget Newton ($750), Fred Newton ($750)
Shaw, Izola: Steven Van Grack ($520.87), Michael Rubin (MD, $520.87), Kimberley Propeack (MD, $500), Quinton Zondervan (MA, $1,000)
Valeri, Marissa: None over $500
Van Grack, Adam: Steven Van Grack ($1,000), Brandon Van Grack ($1,000), Claire Bohenegel (DC, $1,000), Gail Van Grack-Aks ($1,000), Ryan Van Grack (MD, $1,000), Citizens for Brian Feldman (MD, $500), Terry Lierman (MD, $1,000).
The Board of Supervisors of Elections requires candidates to file their campaign financial statements on simple yet confusing forms (or are they simply confusing forms?) that always trip up candidates and require correction (to see how widespread this problem occurs, count the number of amended returns in 2019). For this round, there seem to be a couple errors that deserve closer scrutiny but do not seem to affect my overall conclusions:
- Rockville United lists an in-kind contribution of $200 to Paul Scott, which does not appear in Paul Scott’s report.
- Danniel Belay lists $100 as a balance forward, however, there is no previous campaign finance report. I suspect this was a self-contribution to open a bank account for the campaign and is recorded incorrectly.
- Anita Powell lists $283.95 in contributions as loans but they are actually campaign expenses.
Navigating Rockville’s Election: Tom Moore’s Endorsements for Mayor and Council
These endorsements for the current candidates for Mayor and Council are provided by Tom Moore, a whom I first met when we both ran for Council years ago. Even though we don’t always agree, he’s informed, thoughtful, and may help you with your ballot choices. He served two terms on the Rockville City Council from 2011 to 2015, then served as counsel and chief of staff to Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub of the Federal Election Commmission. In June, he joined the Center for American Progress as a senior fellow on its Democracy team. He has lived in Rockville since 1997.
No matter what happens this November, the City of Rockville will enter a new era of leadership. We’ll have our first new mayor since 2013. And we’ll have six councilmembers, up from four – and at least five of them will be newcomers.
Given the scarcity of information about the election, I wanted to share my thoughts about those who are running. With just two exceptions, I will be saying positive things about the people I’m supporting, and not much about those I am not supporting. I hope you find it helpful.
First up: I will be proudly voting for Mark Pierzchala for Mayor. I have a tremendous amount of respect for, loyalty to, and affection for Mark. He and I served together on the Council during my first term (2011-13). I learned a lot from him about the issues, but, more importantly, he modeled for me how to vote your conscience fearlessly. He took on tough issues when popular sentiment went the other way. He championed good development and housing policies when it would have been easier – sometimes, much easier – to vote the other way. He has a good heart, good common sense, and is admirably careful about the City’s budget. Mark has been a terrific councilmember who has served his City well, and he will be a terrific Mayor.
As to the Council: I will be voting for (in alphabetical order by last name): Kate Fulton, Barry Jackson, Anita Neal Powell, Izola Shaw, Marissa Valeri, and Adam Van Grack.
Kate Fulton impressed me when she and I sat down so she could pick my brain on how to run and serve. I was just about to talk about how the City budget was intimidating to me when I was first elected (but that the City’s budget staff were very kind and patient in explaining it) when Kate mentioned that she’s COO of the Federal Reserve. Yeah, she gets budgets. She’ll be a good councilmember.
Similarly, Barry Jackson and I sat down for a marathon coffee session months ago when he was first thinking about running. He’s a solid guy with great experience running the King Farm Citizens Assembly. He and I clicked on a lot of issues, and he immediately erased my concern that a candidate who runs KFCA would only represent King Farm if elected. He’ll be a good councilmember.
Anita Neal Powell has served the City for many years. She has been an effective and tireless advocate for Lincoln Park, and I’m delighted that she’s offering to serve on the City Council. On a City Council that will be made up of newcomers, Anita will bring a badly needed breadth and depth of experience. She’ll be a good councilmember.
I met Izola Shaw when we were both advocating for the city-citizen ballot initiative (which I’m going to be writing about separately!). She served the City well on the most recent Charter Review Commission. I like her, I like her values, and I think she’ll be a terrific voice on the Council.
I met Marissa Valeri when she was on the national staff of Common Cause and I was serving on the board of Common Cause Maryland. Marissa devoted years as a fierce advocate for the Twinbrook neighborhood as head of the Twinbrook Community Association. I think she’ll be the kind of councilmember I strived to be – energetic, attuned to her constituents’ needs, forever unsatisfied with the status quo, and eager to stick her neck out to do the right thing. She’ll be a good councilmember.
I had not met Adam Van Grack before this election season, but I’ve known his dad (Steve) and one of this brothers (Brandon) for many years. Adam sat down with me and we chewed over some of the stickiest issues facing the City – among them development, crime, and the fate of the King Farm farmstead and the former Redgate golf course. What impressed me most about Adam was not how much he agreed with me, but how much he disagreed with me – and how he did so. He was well-prepared to address the issues (important) and respectful in how he addressed our differences (less important, but shows he was raised well). But even when we came to opposite conclusions on different issues, the core values Adam used to analyze the issues were similar to mine, which is the most important. He’ll be a good councilmember.
Those are the six I’m voting for, and I recommend them to you.
As to the rest of the field: I haven’t met four of the candidates – Danniel Belay, Harold Hodges, Ricky Mui, and Paul Scott – and I can’t say much about their candidacies. I will note, however, that Mui supported Dan Cox for governor in 2022, which I think puts him well outside Rockville’s political mainstream.
I am actively deciding to vote against the two remaining candidates – Rich Gottfried and David Myles – and would like to provide some context for this. I know both of them, and I like both of them personally, but I do not believe the City would be well-served with either of them on the Council for the next four years.
Rich Gottfried has run for Council several times over the past few cycles, sometimes dropping an eye-popping amount of money into his campaign coffers, without success so far. He’s used that money to run very unpleasant campaigns, attacking the good will of those who confronted the City’s growth issues. Does he have a right to do that? Sure. But it doesn’t speak well of his grasp of the issues and doesn’t speak well of his ability to work on the Council.
Incumbent councilmember David Myles, who was elected in 2019 as a member of the Team Rockville organization I helped start in 2013, was involved in a domestic incident this summer in which the police were called and he was arrested. I am not judging David’s candidacy on the incident itself, because I just don’t know enough about it. It appears to be a sad and complicated situation.
But David’s response, in the form of a lengthy e-mail he sent to members of the community immediately after the incident, gave me great cause for concern. It was all over the map, kind of claiming victimhood in one section and kind of trying to be a public-service announcement in another, and weirdly dodgy throughout. The only thing I got out of it for sure was that David’s personal life needs to take priority over his public service.
Candidates Share Their Vision for Rockville at October 5, 2023 Forum
Community Reach of Montgomery County, in partnership with Rainbow Place Shelter, hosted a Rockville Election 2023 Candidate Forum at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre on October 5, 2023. The Forum, which was a significant event in the lead-up to the November election, saw candidates take to the stage to present their qualifications, experiences, and key policy positions. It’s important to note that the candidates’ statements were not independently verified, or as Ronald Reagan loved to say, “trust but verify.”
Candidate forums are a valuable opportunity for voters to hear directly from the candidates on a range of important issues but if you didn’t attend or don’t have time to watch the 90-minute replay on YouTube, I’m offering ChatGPT-generated summaries (with some light editing) to the candidates’ responses to the major questions in the attached six-page handout (thanks TM!). This will enable you to swiftly share your preferred candidate’s stance on issues with friends and family, strategize on the optimal choices for Mayor and Council seats, or potentially identify which candidates may be unclear, evasive, or inconsistent in their responses.
If you’re a candidate, these summaries could serve as a tool for reviewing your positions and assessing how effectively you stand out from others. Do the summaries accurately capture your ideas? Did any crucial points get overlooked? How do your views align or differ from other candidates? Are your statements well-rounded, or do they lean towards being too abstract or too specific? Do any of your opponents exhibit a significant lack in knowledge or critical thinking?
A Week of Surprises on Rockville’s Campaign Trail
It’s been a very strange week on Rockville’s campaign trail, starting on Monday at the Mayor and Council meeting and ending with a conversation in the parking lot after the Candidate Forum on Thursday night.
The Mayor and Council meetings often start with a half hour of proclamations highlighting a particular person, anniversary, or community issue, each read out by a council member without any drama. The October 2, 2023 meeting followed this tradition with the 45th Anniversary Art in Public Places Program, Arts and Humanities Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and Walktober but things went strangely awry. In the agenda, David Myles was assigned to Domestic Violence Awareness Month, an ironic choice give his recent arrest for an assault on his wife. That must have caught someone else’s attention in City Hall because Myles was reassigned to Breast Cancer Awareness Month at the last minute. Council Member Myles, who participated in the meeting remotely, didn’t agree with the change and voiced his concerns during his presentation, and then proceeded to discuss domestic violence instead of reading the proclamation on breast cancer awareness. Mayor Newton attempted to interrupt him but they merely wound up talking over each other, making an uncomfortable mess, leaving it to the Mayor to read the proclamation on Breast Cancer Awareness Month. You can watch this unfold online at “Proclamation Declaring October 2023, at Breast Cancer Awareness Month (CM Myles).”
The Candidate Forum on Thursday, October 5 hosted by Community Reach of Montgomery County with Rainbow Place Shelter at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre demonstrated the extraordinary challenge that voters will have when faced with a dozen council candidates. Although we’re mid-season, most candidates haven’t managed to distinguish themselves and are relying far too much on platitudes and vague statements about leadership, neighborhoods, vacancies, residents, funding, taxes, transparency, experience, city services, safety, housing, green space, diversity, partnerships, and sustainability, so they all seem to offer the same ideas and solutions. Here are some potential distinctions among them, but can you identify who they are (and more importantly, does it matter?):
- “I’m the only candidate that lives in Town Center.”
- “I led the effort to tie funding for our needs-based organizations to the cost of inflation.”
- “There’s a need for more live music in Town Center and throughout the city of Rockville.”
- “While on the Charter Review Commission…[I] routinely brought up the issues of justice and equity.”
- “I am disappointed in the vacancies in Town Center.”
Confusing matters, many talked out of two sides of their mouth: “we’re doing well on diversity but need to do more” or “we are a safe community but must hire more police” or “we need more live music and parks but we have to reduce expenses.” Part of it is due to the pressure to avoid alienating potential voters, but it’s also due to the nature of Candidate Forums: demanding simple answers to complex questions. At the Forum, a couple candidates had 90 seconds to answer:
- What are the problems you currently see facing Town Center and how do you intend to address them?
- Nonprofit organizations cover many services for city residents that Rockville helps to fund through grants. Is there too much funding going to nonprofits or not enough? Is the city funding the most important services? Does the city get the best bang for its buck through the nonprofits that provide those services or would you recommend increasing city staff to provide such services?
Complex, compound questions can be tricky for both seasoned politicians and newcomers. Experienced politicians will sidestep parts of the question, while new candidates may struggle to provide clear answers due to lack of knowledge or experience, resorting to vague statements to avoid embarrassment. Neither helps voters make informed decisions. For clearer answers, forums should pose simple, open-ended questions. Providing questions in advance could also lead to better responses. While spontaneous answers can reveal a candidate’s values and superficial knowledge (gotcha!), they don’t necessarily reflect their critical thinking on specific topics like Town Center, Red Gate Park, or the city budget.
But even if questions are provided in advance, some candidates will be unprepared. The October 5 Candidate Forum addressed the referenda questions on the November ballot, which have been discussed by Mayor and Council for the last year (see Board of Supervisors of Elections Recommends Lowering Voting Age to 16 and Mayor and Council to Choose Earmarks and Decide Upcoming Election Changes), so every candidate should be prepared with an answer. The issues of lowering the voting age to 16, permitting noncitizens to vote, setting term limits, and creating representative districts are quite familiar to Council Members David Myles and Monique Ashton, yet were strangely unwilling to state their conclusions. In his closing remarks, Myles stated that “voting is private matter” and provided an “outline of his philosophy” so that voters might guess at his answers (perhaps he prefers that the City Council vote in secret?). Mayoral candidate Monique Ashton held up an illegible handwritten sign that elicited groans from the audience, who eventually was asked to read it out: “I will listen, convene, and do what I think is best for Rockville.” It’s a non-answer that anyone running for office can spout, but certainly not appropriate for a current council member running for mayor. Voters “hire” the Mayor and Council to lead the city; we need to know what you think and where you’re taking us.
Finally, the strangest event of the week occurred after the October 5 Forum in the parking lot. I ran into a candidate for the Rockville council who pointed out an error in my post about their voting record. They told me they had voted in the 2019 election and thought I had used an incorrect 2019 voter list provided by the City of Rockville. They also mentioned that they had notified the City Clerk about this mistake. So, on October 6, I contacted the City Clerk’s office to request an updated voter list, as the one they gave me in September 2023 seemed to be incorrect. They responded quickly, but instead of giving me a corrected list, they directed me to the State of Maryland. This was very strange. The City Clerk’s Office didn’t show any concern about the potential error in the 2019 voter list—it could suggest there are errors in the voter list for the upcoming election. Hmm. There are several ways to get at this without the City’s cooperation. It’s slow and costly, but I’ll keep at it. Hopefully, I’ll have answers before the election.
Rockville’s Neighborhoods: A Key Factor in Local Elections?
If you want to run for a spot on the Mayor and Council, you need to be at least 18, registered to vote, and have lived in Rockville for at least a year before the election (for this race, that means living here since November 7, 2022). But when people vote, they often pick candidates who they feel are like them and will represent what they care about. So, where a candidate lives can be really important, especially if they live in a neighborhood that’s similar to the voter’s.
Looking at the map, you can see Rockville is split into three parts by major highways. To the west of I-270 is the “wealthy west,” where the average house costs more than $600,000. Adam Van Grack is the only candidate from this part of Rockville. To the east of #355 (Rockville Pike/Hungerford Drive/Frederick Road—actually, the dividing line is Metro) are the “middleburbs,” where houses typically cost between $300,000 and $600,000 and is home to Anita Neal Powell, Izola Shaw, Marissa Valeri, and Richard Gottfried.
Right in the center of the city is the “mixing bowl,” where house prices vary the most and has the greatest number of candidates: Paul Scott, Barry Jackson, Mark Pierzchala, Harold Hodges, Kate Fulton, Monique Ashton, Ricky Mui, Danniel Belay, and David Myles.
In past elections, the richest neighborhoods usually had the most people voting. If we think they’ll vote for people who are like them or share their interests, we will likely see Barry Jackson, Adam Van Grack, Kate Fulton, Ricky Mui, and David Myles take five seats on the next city council. If we continue this logic, there is one more seat available on council so it will be a tight race between Paul Scott, Anita Neal Powell, Izola Shaw, Marissa Valeri, and Richard Gottfried. The contest for Mayor between Mark Pierzchala and Monique Ashton, who both live in wealthy neighborhoods, will be more complicated. Voters will likely consider additional factors like experience, background, personality, and age.
As for age, once again this council election attracted candidates that span at least three generations. The Millennial generation (born 1981-1996) is solely represented by Danniel Belay; Gen Xers (1965-1980) by David Myles, Monique Ashton, Ricky Mui, Izola Shaw, Kate Fulton, Barry Jackson, Marissa Valeri, Adam Van Grack, and Harold Hodges; and Boomers (1946-1964) by Paul Scott, Richard Gottfried, Mark Pierzchala, and Anita Neal Powell. Most people who vote in Rockville are from Generation X. If they vote for people who are like them, we might see a lot of candidates like David Myles, Monique Ashton, Ricky Mui, Izola Shaw, Kate Fulton, Barry Jackson, Marissa Valeri, Adam Van Grack, and Harold Hodges on the city council. But the people who vote the most are Baby Boomers, so Paul Scott, Richard Gottfried, Mark Pierzchala, and Anita Neal Powell could also have a good shot at winning.
The Rockville United campaign committee, which includes Monique Ashton, Kate Fulton, Paul Scott, Izola Shaw, and Marissa Valeri, could really shake things up in the city council if voters decide they want a big change. However, it’s hard to find information about this team online, and usually, people prefer to pick their candidates one by one. But remember, teams like Rockville United can be a great way to make the most out of limited resources.
Eligibility vs Participation: Three Rockville Council Candidates Didn’t Vote in 2019
October 7, 2023: I’ve been informed by a candidate for council that their voting record reported in this post is inaccurate. This information is this post is based on data provided by Montgomery County and the City of Rockville, so I am in the process of requesting further information from them to determine the source of the errors. My apologies to candidates affected by this blog post but I encourage all voters to ask about a candidate’s voting record to ensure they actively participate in our civic life and to ask the City of Rockville about the process for ensuring the accuracy of the voter database. More details at A Week of Surprises on Rockville’s Campaign Trail.
To run for a seat on the Mayor and Council, candidates must be 18 years old, a registered voter, and have lived in Rockville for at least one year prior to the election (that’s Nov. 7, 2022 for the current race). While you might be a registered voter, that doesn’t mean you vote. Indeed, in a review of voter records from Montgomery County and the City of Rockville shows that three candidates for City Council did not vote in the most recent 2019 City Council election: Danniel Belay, Ricky Mui, and Adam Van Grack. Perhaps they moved into Rockville after 2019, were sick, or out of town (although vote-by-mail was available), but it did make me wonder about the voting record of the other candidates. If you want to lead our little part of democracy, how active have you been in our democratic process? If you’re trying to convince people to vote, how convinced are you about the importance of voting?
Going back to the 2010 elections (I don’t have records for 2020 and 2022), four candidates voted in every election: Mark Pierzchala, Richard Gottfried, Anita Powell, and Marissa Valeri. That’s a 100% voting record. Voting less than half the time (50%) are Daniel Belay, Kate Fulton, Ricky Mui, Paul Scott, and Adam Van Grack. That doesn’t mean they should be automatically dismissed, but they should provide an explanation to voters (why should I vote for you when you didn’t vote most of the time?). The remaining field has a mixed record, although their voting record improved over time.
To see their voting records of the candidates at a glance, see the chart below. Green means they voted, red they didn’t vote, and yellow or ? is unknown. The date they registered to vote is important for evaluating their records—how long has the candidate been part of the democratic process? For example, Anita Powell has the longest record for Rockville, being a registered voter since 1975. On the other hand, Danniel Belay didn’t register until 2014 (I suspect he was under 18 until then), so he didn’t vote until 2014. Again, I don’t have records for 2020 and 2022 (the Montgomery County Board of Elections sells the list at a cost of a couple of hundred dollars), but the patterns are pretty clear from the data I have available.
Max for Rockville 
