Former Rockville councilman decries "awful" campaign tactics

Former Rockville City Councilman Jim Marrinan, who served on the Council from 1991-1999, condemned a last-minute attack mailing that contained false accusations against Mayor Bridget Donnell Newton during Community Forum at last night's Mayor and Council meeting. Saying it was the worst political behavior he had witnessed in 40 years in the City, Marrinan suggested the tactic backfired, as evidenced by Newton's overwhelming victory on Election Day.

Marrinan termed the mailer, sent out by the mayoral campaign of Sima Osdoby and emblazoned with logos of the Team Rockville slate, "awful."

Later at the meeting, the newly-sworn-in Mayor and Council held a public hearing to start the process of annexing the former CarMax property near the Shady Grove Metro station into the City. The site is at 15931 Frederick Road (MD 355).

Councilmember Mark Pierzchala questioned why the street between the CarMax site and the new Bainbridge Shady Grove apartments wasn't being included in the annexation. The street is currently owned by WMATA.

Planning commissioners had criticized the planned apartment building at the site for including no retail to activate the streetscape around it, or reduce driving by residents. They did ultimately recommend the proposed annexation plan.

Attorney Pat Harris, representing the developers 355 Partners, LLC and Frederick Road, LLC on the project at 15931 Frederick Road, said that the high ceilings and windows of the building's ground floor will allow future retail build-out if the retail market improves.

The Mayor and Council also discussed legislative priorities for the upcoming 2016 session of the Maryland General Assembly, such as school construction funding, and scheduling meetings on the topic of parking at Rockville Town Square. Parking problems have been blamed for recent business closures there.

Newton said she would like to include landowner Federal Realty in an upcoming worksession, and take action on the matter before the holiday shopping season gets fully underway. However, last night's scheduling discussion made it unclear that such timely action on the issue would be possible.

Photo courtesy City of Rockville

FORMER COUNCILMEMBER: ROCKVILLE VOTER PARTICIPATION ISN'T AS LOW AS YOU THINK

Less than 17% of Rockville voters bothered to vote in last November's city elections. That has been accepted as fact for the past two Rockville elections.

Not so fast, warned former Rockville councilman Jim Marrinan at Monday's Mayor and Council meeting.

"Flat out, the actual percentage of Rockville residents voting in the last election was higher than the reported" number, Marrinan said during the Community Forum portion of the meeting. The problem, Marrinan said, is that too many ineligible voters remain on the Rockville voting rolls. 

Marrinan gave a personal example - his own adult daughters are still on the eligible voter list in Rockville, despite not being residents. Brigitta Mullican, a former candidate for mayor and council, previously commented on Rockville Patch that she encountered a number of inaccuracies in the current voter rolls, while campaigning door to door in the city. 

The discrepancies may be making Rockville voters sound more like slouches than they actually are, when it comes to exercising their right to vote. Marrinan still believes the actual number could use a boost. He suggested adding early voting for city elections. Marrinan's proposal to lower the cost of such voting, would be to have it on the Saturday prior to election day, from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM.

In the meantime, Rockville, don't feel so bad about your voting record.  The "number of ineligible voters on our eligible voter list is quite high,” Marrinan said.

Responding to Marrinan's advice to clean up the voter list and add early voting, Mayor Bridget Newton said, "I actually agree with you on both points." Newton added that her non-resident son remains on the eligible voter list, as well.

FORMER ROCKVILLE COUNCILMAN SEEKS CHANGES TO CITY ELECTIONS

Jim Marrinan, a former Rockville city councilmember, expressed concerns about recent and future city elections at last night's Mayor and Council meeting. Speaking during Citizens Forum, Marrinan submitted a written outline of issues he believed the city's election board should review.

Marrinan said the under-17% turnout in the 2013 city elections was unacceptable. He suggested early voting be adopted. The election night delay in the counting of votes was also troubling, and should never happen again, he said.

He also criticized the involvement of partisan elected officials in this month's non-partisan city election. Marrinan did not name any specific individuals, but has been critical of partisan politics entering municipal elections in the past. When former councilmember Bob Dorsey challenged Montgomery County Councilmember Phil Andrews in a Democratic primary for the District 3 county council seat - while still holding a city council seat- Marrinan warned of fallout at the city level. A city official could become less effective, with constituents saying, "I didn't like what that councilman said when he ran in that partisan race," Marrinan argued at the time.

He also suggested that the use of Ritchie Park Elementary School as a polling place while school is in session is a danger to students there, presumably referring to cars coming and going during arrival and dismissal times.

Marrinan endorsed the Team Rockville slate in the 2013 city elections.