The mayor ran the slimiest race anyone has ever seen. Those who would have invested 10 minutes studying the issues and the mayor's voting record could not have voted for her. Her campaign was absolutely devoid of content. Mr. Gajewski's defeat is a huge loss to the city. I also regret that Virginia Onley did not win.

I was very glad to see Tom Moore win and Mark Pierzschala be reelected. Let's hope they will be able to convince their fellow councilmembers to do right by the city. The idea of not funding needed city infrastructure repairs, not funding road work, not funding snow removal, not supporting projects like Choice Hotels, continuing a deplorable relationship with the county in which Rockville's current mayor sees fit to lecture and berate the county council...all these should frighten responsible voters of Rockville.

This city deserves the "Rockville Idol" government it elected, devoid of any ability to deal with or even understand the issues. The result of the popularity contest our grandchildren will be paying for long after we are gone!

Theresa is correct. If Rockville citizens studied the candidates and their records it would have been a different outcome.

I have met many good people during this campaign, both for and against my candidate, Piotr Gajewski. While I am sorry that Piotr didn't prevail, I am thankful for the experience.

Congratulations to Mayor Marcuccio.

The big winners last night were John Hall and Larry Giammo. They now control 3 votes on the M&C---Welcome to the past ---

This election makes me want to give up on the city all together. Now I completely understand why 82% of Rockville doesn't vote at all. It's just a popularity contest and those in the in-crowd have no interest in bringing the rest of us into the process. The committee I joined once was a joke: the councilmember who started it had an agenda and wasn't interested in anyone else's view, and certainly not in reaching out to citizens who aren't perennials at Citizen's Forum. The city has become a few people's vanity project, and we'll all suffer for it.

Congratulations to the winners, let's hope this group can work together. I was sorry to see that Virginia Onley did not make it, thought she would have been a good one.

anyone else relieved that Dion Trahan didn't make the council? what a nut job! Anyways, I'm happy Marcuccio won. If you're upset about that then you got issues to work out. If Gajewski had won, I would have been bummed out but not bitter or sore. You guys are just sore losers. Grow up or get out of Rockville cause we don't need wusses like you.

Doug,

Your criticism of Mr. Francis sounds just about the same as Coby's criticism of Mr. Trahan? One is OK and the other is not? I think the term "sore losers" is applicable. Let's use the sports analogy, after losing a hard fought game, do losing players and their fans voice their displeasure with the winner or do they congratulate the winner and move on? (at least we hope they do right?)
I think we are all taught to be good sports (at least try), if you don't at I was always told you would be called a "sore loser".

Peter,
Wow Peter, I'm kinda shocked! Perhaps we adults should strive to be more like our own Little League'ers. How about just being dignified in defeat? Is it just too much to ask for?

The premise is the same though.......winners and losers and that's what it is all about........is it not? Of course there is always that kid when after a ball game, when they all line up and shake hands, there is that one kid who will "spit" in his own hand and give the winner the infamous "wet handshake".

I still think the analogy doesn't work. After a baseball game, it's not appropriate to spit in your hand. Because, it's just a game.

However, elections have much higher stakes. It is not unreasonable for the losers to be less than sanguine about the future. An election is not just a game.

Doug,
Come on now Doug, you know were calling Mr. Francis a "nut job", but using a slicker approach. He may very well deserve it too, who knows? it was just not really any different that's all.
For the record, I was for Piotr also. I would have liked to see Onley make it, but she didn't. I disagree with the last sentence.

Adding to what Peter is saying, despite the old cliche "politics is a contact sport", the bottom line is that all in politics is not fair. Sports on the playing field are more likely to be fair.

The expressions of disappointment or upset on this thread seem to me to be from people who feel that what happened to Piotr was not fair. And I agree with them. He is a good man who's trying to serve the public interest in Rockville, contrary to the portrayals of him by Marcuccio's and her allies. IMO, he is NOT a developer pawn, nor has he engaged in anything unethical or illegal. He stated that if any contributions are being made to him by developers they will do so knowing that they are not getting anything in return. The problem with the allegations against him is that not only did the accuser NOT mention this, they accused him of the opposite. That's not fair.

He did run an aggressive campaign and has a sometimes too brash style that in my opinion turned some people off to him--but that does not negate his message nor does it mean he wasn't right about a myriad of issues.

But that goes back to the contact sport part. Sports analogies work if all the play on the field was fair. When it wasn't fair, that's not being a sore loser. That's pointing out the record, and trying to rescue the good name of someone who's devoted so much to our city.

Doug,
I apologize, my mistake. Mr. Francis did or does have an "interesting" resume doesn't he?

The real question I want answered is, "Why do we have to go through this torture every 2 years?" It's absurd for the City to spend the money to host elections so often and frankly unimaginable that sitting officials have to go through this [circus] every 2 years to participate in public life. Of course if one is retired and has nothing else to do, the money and the job might seem attractive. Most candidates have full time jobs and lives and sacrifice tremendously just to serve in our government, only to have to mount and run a campaign every 2 years! Let it be changed to every 4 years - after the NEXT election! :)

Tom, this was on the ballot a few years ago, to change to four years, and it was defeated. I voted for it. And to those who are referencing me as a "sore loser?" I am no such thing. It is impossible for anyone to even say where the mayor stood on anything let alone that they agreed with her.

She never once touted her record and her supporters used every possible diversion to deflect from her actions. There wasn't a single thing she even claimed to have done for the city that was in fact truthful--like bringing the grocery store to Town Center. How quickly people forget.

It was slime from dawn to dusk in her campaign, from her nasty posts on Facebook, posing in front of Gajewski's headquarters, to how her people tried to strong-arm other candidates they thought were aligned with him. The falsehoods in emails sent to neighborhood list servs, the unsigned letters...it was despicable. You folks do not even know the half of it.

Doug:
Enough already. Just be quiet for a while. You "talk" too much without actually saying anything!

Red

So sad that less than 1 in 6 registered voters went to the polls. The Mayor deserved to be turned out for her campaign of negatives and Newton...Newton...what an anti-Rockville person. She's the worst councilmember since "Silent" Bob Dorsey.
If this election doesn;t say that our City elections should only be held in conjunction with Presidential elections...every four years, I don't know what else to say. Such a waste of resources to hold elections bi-annually.

Bridget and Phyllis...for the good of all citizens...including those idiots who did not vote, you should both resign immediately before you do more harm to our fair City.

Red

It is really disappointing that many people cannot accept that other people have a different view than theirs. You can learn a lot about peoples character in how they react when they do not get what they want.

I voted for Phyllis because I really believed that Pete would have dismantled or weakened our APFO, which is the only tool with teeth that keeps a lid on things. If nobody else has noticed, the "tough economic times" around here still results in new buildings going up, traffic snarls, and packed restaurants everywhere as evidence of our poverty. And while City government can't control what the county does, it can at least stop adding to the problem.
The campaign contribution data can be called a smear, a surprise, or irrelevant, but it's just data in black and white. A large contribution from someone with specific business before the council. Some places call that pay for play. I want to believe it was somehow legit and disconnected from any vote...but iit just creates an appearance problem, if nothing else. Why create that problem in the first place? Someone who doesn't think it would at least create an appearance problem would probably need to have their political judgment questioned at least a little.

Congratulations to our new Rockville City Council. I am pleased with the outcome of the election and believe this team will work well together. They certainly learned a lot from the citizens who were paying attention to all the issues and styles of campaigning. Some might have wanted a different result and some wanted more choices, but democracy worked no matter what faults there are. The comments made here on Patch congratulating the winners is appropriate.

I also thank Rockville Patch for giving us this venue to share our different opinion.

Congratulations to Mayor Phyllis Marcuccio, Council members John Hall, Bridget Newton, Mark Pierzchala and Tom Moore. I will follow this new team and am sure they will do their best to represent ALL Rockville.

I am proud of the Twinbrook voters for coming to the polls