District 17 Senate Candidates Debate Wednesday

The campaign for state senate in District 17 is one of the most-watched races in this election cycle.

Senator Jennie Forehand is being challenged by former state delegate Cheryl Kagan for the democratic nomination. The primary is September 14. (The winner of that matchup will face Adol Theo Owen-Williams II, the republican challenger.)

We’re delighted to announce, as a member of the TBD.com community, that on tomorrow’s 10am edition of ”News Talk” hosted by Bruce Depuyt, Forehand and Kagan will square off for a televised debate.

You can watch the debate live at 10am, or taped at 4:00 pm, 6:00 pm, or 9:30 pm. Tune in on TBD.com, or on News Channel 8.

Montgomery County Council Candidates On the Issues at Casey Barn: Agriculture Reserve; Furloughs

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On Sunday, all at-large candidates for Montgomery County Council met at Casey Barn for a debate sponsored by the District 17 , 39, and Asbury Park Democratic Clubs. Rockville Central was there to capture their answers.

This is the last in a four-part series.

Should the Agricultural Reserve be protected from homebuilding? (Answered by Raj Narayanan, Duchy Trachtenberg, Jane de Winter, Nancy Floreen)

. . . . . . . . . .

Montgomery County Council Candidates On the Issues at Casey Barn: Water and Sewer; the ICC

Moderator Elliot Chabot

On Sunday, all at-large candidates for Montgomery County Council met at Casey Barn for a debate sponsored by the District 17 , 39, and Asbury Park Democratic Clubs. Rockville Central was there to capture their answers.

This is the third in a four-part series.

How can we elevate the priority of replacing defective water and sewer mains? (Answered by Nancy Floreen, Raj Narayanan, Duchy Trachtenberg, Jane de Winter,)

. . . . . . . . . .

Do you support the Intercounty Connector (ICC)? (Answered by Fred Evans, Hans Riemer, Marc Elrich, George Leventhal, Becky Wagner)

Montgomery County Council Candidates On the Issues at Casey Barn: Ambulance Fees, Libraries

On Sunday, all at-large candidates for Montgomery County Council met at Casey Barn for a debate sponsored by the District 17 , 39, and Asbury Park Democratic Clubs. Rockville Central was there to capture their answers. This is the second in a four-part series.

Do you support an ambulance fee? (Answered by Jane de Winter, Nancy Floreen, Raj Narayanan, Duchy Trachtenberg)

. . . . . . . . .

What should libraries be doing to serve people in need? (Answered by Becky Wagner, Fred Evans,Hans Riemer, Marc Elrich, George Leventhal)

Montgomery County Council Candidates On the Issues at Casey Barn: Park Police, Science City

On Sunday, all at-large candidates for Montgomery County Council met at Casey Barn for a debate sponsored by the District 17 , 39, and Asbury Park Democratic Clubs. Rockville Central was there to capture their answers. The format had the candidates split into two groups, just to keep things manageable.

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After the typical introductory remarks” segment, the moderator asked a series of eight questions. Each question was answered by all candidates in one panel — so each candidate answered four questions.

The first two questions were:

• Do you support merging the Park Police with the Police Department?
• Do you support the ‘Science City’ project?

Here are the answers to the first two questions:

Do you support merging the Park Police with the Police Department? (Answered by Duchy Trachtenberg, Jane de Winter, Nancy Floreen, Raj Narayanan)

. . . . .

Do you support the ‘Science City’ project? (Answered by George Leventhal, Becky Wagner, Fred Evans, Hans Riemer, Marc Elrich)

We will be posting video over the rest of the week, in three more installments. Stay tuned!

(Note that on the “Science City” answer, we had to cut video between Riemer’s and Elrich’s answers. Nothing of substance was removed; this was just because our finger slipped!)

Montgomery County Council Debate Sunday

There are two election campaigns this year that are contested and have a special bearing on Rockville, Our Fair City. They are both Democratic primaries and the election day is September 14.

One is the race between Sen. Jennie Forehand and former Del. Cheryl Kagan for the District 17 Senate seat.

Montgomery County seal

The other key race is for the four at-large seats on the Montgomery County Council. The four incumbents, Marc Elrich, Nancy Floreen, George Leventhal, and Duchy Trachtenberg are being challenged by Jane de Winter, Fred Evans, Raj Narayanan, Hans Riemer, and Becky Wagner.

That’s an awful lot of candidates!

You’ll have a chance to meet all of them this Sunday, August 8 at a debate sponsored jointly by the District 17, District 39, and Asbury Democratic Clubs. The candidate forum will be held just up the road at Casey Barn in Gaithersburg:

Sunday, August 8, 3:30 p.m.
Casey Community Center (Casey Barn)
810 S. Frederick Avenue, Gaithersburg.

The event is free and open to the public.

O’Malley Endorses Jennie Forehand in District 17 Senate Race

As many Rockville Central readers know, the race for the Democratic nomination for District 17′s state senate seat is one of the more high-profile campaigns in the state. Former state delegate Cheryl Kagan is running against sitting senator Jennie Forehand.

Yesterday, the Forehand campaign got a high-profile endorsement from Governor Martin O’Malley. Here is the Forehand press release:

Governor Martin O’Malley Endorses Senator Jennie Forehand

Citing her support of the high tech and biotechnology industries and her common sense approach to addressing the State’s fiscal issues, Governor Martin O’Malley enthusiastically announced today his endorsement of Senator Jennie Forehand in the District 17 Senate race.

“Given the current economic downturn, Jennie understands that we must combine fiscal responsibility with common sense while making every effort to maintain our excellent education system,” said Governor O’Malley. “Her legislation to develop the high tech and biotech industries has brought high paying jobs to Maryland and ensured that they stay here”.

“The Governor and I both share the priority to cut costs,” said Senator Forehand. “We worked together to push through my bill streamlining the state’s traffic courts.” This new law will dramatically reduce overtime costs for local police departments and put more officers back on the street. For Montgomery County police alone, this change will save $1 million in overtime costs.”

Senator Forehand has served four terms in the State Senate representing Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Garrett Park. She has been endorsed by the Montgomery County Teachers’ Association (the Apple ballot), the Montgomery County National Organization for Women (NOW), the AFL-CIO, the Montgomery County Public Schools Retirees’ Association, and the Maryland Democratic Women’s PAC.

She was recently named Senate Chair of Maryland’s Task Force on Nanobiotechnology. Year in and year out, Senator Forehand has initiated and sponsored significant legislation which has heightened the efficiency of State and local government, as well as improved the live of maryland citizens. She was the leader in creating a “smoke-free” Maryland and repealing the tax on computer services.

“I am happy to have the backing of the O’Malley administration and for their support of my public safety initiatives increasing penalties for human trafficking and my bills to protect victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and identity theft,” state[d] Senator Forehand.

Mayor Elected To MML Board

>Ruth Hanessian has sent us some breaking news. At the Maryland Municipal League (MML) Annual Conference in Ocean City, Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio was elected as one of their ten board members, a very prestigious position.

Ruth added, “It reflects well on those of us in Rockville who elected her mayor.”

When pre-registration closed, 115 municipalities had registered. Almost 900 city, town, county and state officials, as well as corporate representatives, planned to attend. The Convention was held from June 27th to the 30th and included over 200 exhibit booths and a large display of public works vehicles. Governor Martin O’Malley spoke at the inaugural dinner for the new members on Tuesday. The workshop topics included special taxing districts, storm water management regulations, and improving economic health.

The Keynote speaker was Mark Levin who identified the benefits of pursuing an aggressive volunteer recruitment effort and what municipal officials can do to attract people as volunteers. He spoke about how to get the most from the volunteer community.

In Rockville, we are familiar with the MML because the organization sponsors the “If I Were Mayor, I Would” contest.

Congratulations to Mayor Marcuccio.

District 17 Candidate Forum Planned

Thanks to >Maryland Politics Watch for their recent roundup of upcoming candidate fora. Here is one that relates to the District 17 race for State Senate:

Thursday, July 29, 2010
8:30am - 10:00am

The Crowne Plaza Rockville
3 Research Court
Rockville, MD

The Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce is hosting a District 17 Candidate Forum. This race is critical for the business community in Montgomery County. This is a great opportunity for our members to talk with the candidates about their concerns and hear from you on the various issues impacting the business community in Gaithersburg, Germantown, the County, and the State.Free. All members and non-members are invited to attend.

Adam Pagnucco: 'Farewell to Maryland Politics Watch'

Readers of >Rockville Central know one of our favorite sources of local political information is Maryland Politics Watch. Founded in July 2006 by David Lublin, MPW rose to great prominence in the last two years due in no small part to Lublin’s co-conspirator Adam Pagnucco. Adam’s tireless reporting, research, and writing catapulted MPW to the status of “institution” while many other local blogs (and local newspapers) could only look on with admiration.

This morning, Adam (whom we count as a friend) has announced he will no longer be writing original material for MPW — he’s got a job, a family, and the blog, and something’s gotta give. Here’s how he puts it:

Every spare minute that I can find goes to my second endeavor, which is writing Maryland Politics Watch on an unpaid basis. I owe a great debt to everyone that has aided me in this, especially my precious spies. Even though I write the blog at night and on weekends and program the content for daily viewing, it requires almost as many hours as my job. If that were not the case, then the quality of the work here would not be high enough to create and sustain the audience that this blog has. . . . So long as I have both a very demanding job and a very demanding blog, I cannot be the husband and father that my family deserves. So I have to choose. And right now, I am choosing the job that puts food on my son’s table. That, of course, is not the blog. . . .

I can’t say whether I will ever write again about state and local politics or policy. If I do, it will have to be in a way that is compatible with the economic and personal well-being of my family. No matter how hard I have tried, I cannot make it work under the current circumstances. I may occasionally put up guest blogs, press releases, event announcements, endorsements, videos, photos, literature and the like.

(As a side note, I believe this is the first guest post Adam wrote for MPW, in October 2007.)

We hope that Adam will once in a while consider writing again. His insight into local politics is important.

Adam’s got an open invitation to send us contributor opinions here at Rockville Central! Do you hear that, Adam?

Maryland Politics Watch has been performing an important service for Rockville residents, especially, since Adam has been closely covering the District 17 state senate race between Sen. Jennie Forehand and former state Del. Cheryl Kagan. We will do what we can to help fill the gap.

For now, though, farewell to a friend — and best wishes.

Forehand, Kagan to Appear on Political Pulse

>According to our friends at the Gazette, the two candidates in the highest-profile election race in Rockville this year have agreed to a televised debate. Senator Jennie Forehand is being challenged by former state delegate Cheryl Kagan. The two have agreed to appear on Charles Duffy’s Montgomery County TV show, Political Pulse. The show airs Thursdays at 9:00 pm on channel 16.

No date has yet been announced for the debate, which is anticipated to be the only televised debate of this race. There will no doubt be myriad candidate forums and other events where the two will appear.

We’ll let you know when an air date is scheduled!

MPW On Fundraising In District 17

I just returned from leading a bipartisan candidate training seminar (>more info about it here) and I was repeatedly chiding the candidates demanding they quit talking about their district numbers as if people really know where they are — people by and large have no clue what “district” they live in.

And here I am headlining an article with “District 17!” Well, mea culpa — I mean “the state legislative district that includes Our Fair City, Rockville!”

Okay, that said, our good friends at Maryland Politics Watch have done a quick analysis on the fundraising by all of the District 17 incumbents and candidates so far. It’s a nice wrap-up and is well worth the read.

District 17 Primary Features Big Fundraising

As >Rockville Central readers know, Adam Pagnucco of Maryland Politics Watch, the most important political blog in Maryland, declared Rockville to be “ground zero” for state-level politics in the 2010 election cycle, as former delegate Cheryl Kagan announced a challenge to sitting state senator Jennie Forehand in District 17. Senator Forehand also has announced her intention to run for re-election. Later, Adam and his partner in crime Marc Korman have declared this race as therace to watch for 2010, in a comprehensive roundup of all the key primary races. “Expect this to be an expensive, noisy, and exciting race,” says Korman.

Speaking of “expensive,” the state elections commission has posted the most recent fundraising numbers for Kagan and Forehand. MPW has a comprehensive review here. Kagan outpaced Forehand in terms of money raised and has slightly more cash on hand. But, of more interest to me is the amount of money already at play in this race. The two candidates have a total cash on hand balance of $183,596.82.

That’s a lot of dough for a state level race in January!

I am not someone who thinks that money is evil and has no place in politics. On the contrary, I think fundraising results can be a good proxy for understanding where public sentiment is (not always, but sometimes), and certainly where the energy is. I see the money issue as a reflection that Adam and Marc are right: This is the race to watch.

Inauguration of Our New Mayor and Council

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Yesterday the 62nd Mayor and Council were inaugurated in a packed F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre during a ceremony hosted by Eileen McGuckian, author and founder of Peerless Rockville, who sprinkled historical facts throughout her remarks. She wondered what the men who incorporated Rockville were thinking in 1860. What could they do separate from Montgomery County? But they had begun to identify as a village and embarked on the journey to establish our City.

Photo by Brigitta Mullican

As in most of our public ceremonies, musical entertainment enlivened the event. The Richard Montgomery High School Madrigals stole the show – with meaning. Director Ronald Frezzo explained their first piece was about Queen Elizabeth and “how together with the people, the rulers create a better society for us all.” Their singing of the National Anthem combined with the formality of the City Police Color Guard created a respectful introduction.

Photo by Brigitta Mullican

After Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio was sworn in, her first act was to swear in the councilmembers. After they all took the oath, she needed to have them all come back up and sign the Oath of Office. She called John Britton up and he noticed, “This is Bridget’s.” After being given another, he joked “They all say Bridget. What’s going on here?”

This, of course, set off a string of jokes about the situation.

Piotr Gajewski pretended to overly scrutinize his Oath and remarked “Name, check, date of birth, okay” then signed.

Bridget Newton signed.

Then Mayor Marcuccio said “Now I can’t possibly confuse this last one” as she called Mark Pierzchala and he responded, “Now we know why John is a lawyer.”

All the quips received laughter and I personally thought it was good to see the councilmembers interact in good spirits.

Photo by Brigitta Mullican

In her formal remarks Mayor Marcuccio said she would be putting forth a number of proposals for a citizen-driven future and she hoped they would be supported.

During her speech she outlined three groups to be formed and she invited anyone who was interested in serving to let her know.

The first is a Task Force on Finance and Budget which would spend time thoroughly reviewing the City’s finances and complete a report by the end of March 2010.

Another proposal was an Ad Hoc Committee on Communications to review how the City disseminates news by staff, Channel 11, the web, and newsletter. With all these avenues she noted that less than 17% of the voters cast a ballot, which she thought could not be explained by apathy alone.

She would like to hold council meetings beyond the official chambers in such places as Thomas Farm and Twinbrook to engage people and find out what’s on their mind.

Perhaps the biggest announcement was for a Charter Review Committee to consider the size and terms of the council. She said the council needs to expand to meet demands and the City Manager form of government needs to be clarified.

During the forums, the candidates were asked if changes to the council were merited in light of our increased population. Various opinions on expansion have been proposed. Rockville voters have repeatedly rejected longer terms.

The new Mayor saluted former Mayor Susan Hoffmann for all her contributions to the City. She emphasized that her green initiatives were forward thinking and added she was committed to follow-up on her efforts.

Eileen McGuckian commented that Mayor Marcuccio’s speech was a nice way of “looking to the past and looking to the future.”

For the final performance of American the Beautiful by the Madrigals, Maestro Piotr Gajewski, was welcomed as guest conductor. His son, a former member, joined the Madrigals to sing too. Of course the entire audience sung the first and last verses ending on a musical note together.

The first Mayor and Council meeting for this newly-inaugurated body is tonight at 7 PM in City Hall.

Inauguration Of New Mayor And Council: Nov. 22, 2009 at 1:00 pm

>This from the City of Rockville:

The inauguration for the newly elected Mayor and Council is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre, 603 Edmonston Drive.

Eileen McGuckian, Rockville historian, will be the master of ceremonies. The event will include the formal induction of the mayor and council, the presentation of colors by the Rockville City Police Department and a performance by the Richard Montgomery High School Madrigals.

Brenda Millette, Chief Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, will administer the formal oath of office. She will swear in Mayor-elect Phyllis Marcuccio for her first term as mayor. Marcuccio served two terms as a council member before the election on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

The mayor will then administer the oath of office to the four council members: John Britton and Piotr Gajewski, who were both elected to their second terms; and Bridget Newton and Mark Pierzchala, who were both elected to their first terms.

Rockville Channel 11 will broadcast live the inauguration ceremony, air it throughout the end of November and December, and will make it available On Demand on the City’s Web site, www.rockvillemd.gov.

The inauguration is free and open to the public. A reception will follow. No tickets are necessary.

Once again, Rockville Central congratulates the winning candidates and thanks all the candidates for their service.