Well done Praisner! Navarro, stay in the game and try again. Did anyone even run against Fennel?

See the previous posting by a Fennel supporter.

"Does anyone even run against Fennel?" That is what Donny, tax increase champion, will be saying about Mark Fennel on May 13 when Mark is elected to the Council.

Good luck to whomever the victor is in May. No whining from me. However, can anyone name Fennel's GOP primary opponent though?

I seriously did not notice, but since he "planned a victory lap this morning at the Glenmont Metro station", I was curious.

Question answered. I check the results...the GOP race was to the wire...Fennel actually had three opponents and one was nipping his heels.

1,879 Repubs voted in the Primary.

7,434 Dems voted in the Primary.

Good luck to the finalists.

Unless there is some kind of cosmic shift, these primary results will reflect the general election results. Just look at the turnout numbers by party. History supports this 100% in Montgomery County.

You have to feel bad for all the Navarro staffers who have to go pick up those thousands of signs in short order now. No doubt she can't do it herself because she's in a closed door strategy meeting with Jerry Weast licking her wounds and wondering how she could have lost with all that money and the MCEA Rotten Apple endorsement behind her.

Fennel's main Republican opponent was John McKinnis, who is a decent and honest man and has a successful business and community record behind him. With about 5000 more yard signs for name recognition, McKinnis would have probably taken the Republican nomination, because he is not a one-issue candidate.

Don Praisner likes to say that when one says we need, "property tax relief," he is a one issue candidate.

No there are other issues:

l. We are in a recession.
2. We are getting $4 gas.
3. Our 401k's have tanked.
4. We just got a 20% increase in the state sales tax.
5. We just got a 20% increase in the car tax.
6. We just got a 18% increase in the corporate tax.
7. We just got state income tax increases of up to 52.63%.
8. We just got the biggest Metro fare increase in years.
9. We just got the biggest water will increase in 10 years.
10. We just got electricity rate increases of up to 75%.
11. The County Executive, $65,000 john Ike Leggett, who the real campaign manager of Don Praisner has just proposed the biggest property tax increase in 20 years.
12. The council has proposed 10% energy tax increases.

So you see, when one talks about property tax relief, you are really a dozen issue candidate. Or do you think it is best to forget when else has taken place?

Plus, Mark Fennel is not running as a lame duck to keep the seat warm. No, he is running for the next two years and the generation after that.

Don Praisner, 75, has already spent part of this campaign in the hospital. Why doesn't he take a nice long vacation? We need a full-time council member for eastern Montgomery County.

How soon the BS attacks begin.....

Mark Fennel-Ficker has only put forth one point in all of his campaigning - voting no on property tax increases, as if nothing else matters. I'm not making this up. It's all out there on record.

You list 12 issues that challenge us all:

The first 11 have absolutely nothing to do with the District 4 County Council seat. One Council member can't do a thing about them no matter who they are. Your first 11 points are irrelevant and do nothing to support your position.

#12 has nothing to do with any yet-to-be-elected council member, and not even every sitting member. So....also not relevant.

Don Praisner is on record as opposing expansion of the charter tax limit just like Fennel-Ficker is. He has stated this in public forums several times. To say otherwise would be misrepresentation ... lying.

He is running for this seat because he passionately wants to maintain the work that Marilyn has been consistently reelected to do since District 4 existed, which he has been fully aware of and involved with for over fifteen years. More voters in the Primary chose Don than any other candidate. Clearly, that's what the majority of District 4 votiers want more of.

Yes, Don went to the hospital for some tests, right alongside several hundred other people of all ages. Hospitals are where medical testing takes place. Happens every day. Then he left the hospital with a clean bill of health and went right back to work just like most everyone else without medical conditions did. People get sick, they get better, and they continue with their lives. Going to the doctor to take care of yourself is not a cause for concern. NOT going to the doctor is risky.

Resorting to picking on Don Praisner for being an older man is a lot like picking on Nancy Navarro for being an immigrant woman. It's irrelevant and a cheap shot, and it nullifies your credibility. Grow up and take the high road.....if you can.

Go for it, Praisner!

Wow! If I am to believe what is being written here, if we elect Mark Fennel to local office as a freshman district County Council member, he can fix the national recession, the global price of gas, my 401k, all those personal and corporate taxes, regional Metro fares, and my water and power bills! As a State Senator he could probably fix global warming!

During Winter Break, he would still have to go back to the North Pole for his annual sleigh trip though.

Are you guys really that dense? No one says Fennel is going to fix all of that. But that's one guy who would represent me who would actually vote against raising taxes. It seems like only Ervin is against raising taxes every time. Real estate tax? Up. Electricity and gas? Going higher. Can they stop spending on anything, ever? I'm pretty far from being a right-winger, but not all of us in that district is close to even wealthy, and it seems like all we're getting is more taxes. Hell, Ike Legget has a toilet that my salary the past two years combined couldn't pay for. And he's more interested in making sure my middle-class butt gets a higher tax burden in the state so the millionaires living among me don't have to pay too much. Hell, the MoCo Council is the only body that could get me to vote Republican. Great job, guys! When is enough going to be enough?

Oh, and just because I can keep ranting for a moment... this council is going to spend millions of dollars on a new concert hall for a conglomerate that needs no help at all in creating such a venue? At a time when there are countless venues for concerts already? What need does this money fix? Why is there a need for a new arena up-county like the council talked about today? When you've got Comcast Center, Verizon Center, Baltimore Arena, UMBC, Mt. St. Mary's, and Upper Marlboro all with arenas nearby should anything need scheduling. Yet, more money for an 6,500-8,000 seat venue for what? A dozen high school graduations every year? Come onnnnnnnnn.

Mark Fennel was the only candidate remaining for county council district 4 that bothered to show up at the Ashton Town Meeting tonight. And half of life is showing up.

Mark Fennel was the only candidate remaining for county council district 4 that bothered to show up at the candidate meeting held by the North Four Corner Citizens Association.

Mark Fennel is the only remaining candidate for county council who will still be eligible to serve on the county council on May 14, 2008.

Elena Fennel, Mark's wife and wait till you meet her, is the only person associated with any candidate remaining in the race for county council who makes Nancy Navarro seem like a cool breeze on a hot day.

Mark Fennel is the only candidate remaining for county council who has pledged not to vote to exceed the charter property tax limit.

Mark Fennel is the only candidate remaining for county council who has pledged to support our November ballot question which makes it more difficult to exceed the charter property tax limit.

Mark Fennel is the only candidate remaining for county council who is not running as a lame duck to keep the council seat warm.

Mark Fennel is the only candidate remaining for county council who has an interest in this council seat after this term.

Mark Fennel is the only candidate remaining for county council who has released to the press his written answers to the special interest MCEA union questionnaire questions 1 and 3 which asked the candidates if they would support the MCEA requested pay raises and whether they would support tax increases to pay for them.

Mark Fennel is the only candidate remaining for county council who has 5 to 10 times the physical energy of the other candidate.

Mark Fennel is the only remaining candidate for county council who has a mother living in Montgomery County who is younger than the other candidate.

Mark Fennel is the only remaining candidate for county council who didn't tell JustUpthePike that he would just as well be playing golf in Hawaii with his daughter as serving on the Montgomery County Council. Talk about fire in the belly!

Mark Fennel is the only remaining candidate for county council who didn't try to intimidate the editor of JustUpthePike by telling the editor he wouldn't do an interview with the editor unless the editor apologized for comments he had written earlier.

Mark Fennel is the only remaining candidate for county council who blogs on washingtonpost.com and d.c.examiner.com n his own name.

Mark Fennel is the only remaining candidate for county council who will not be a "YES" man for County Executive Ike Leggett.

Mark Fennel is the only remaining candidate for county council who has or would dare to point out waste, mismanagement or inefficiency regardless of party. He is a long-time employee of Citizens Against Government Waste--the nation's premiere citizens nonprofit fighting government waste.

Donny says, "go Praisner." Our friend Donny is on record of supporting every one of the recent state tax increases aren't you Donny?

Mark Fennel is the only remaining candidate for county council who isn't afraid to criticize County Executive Leggett for Leggett's stupid decision to pull welcome to the Pope messages from county buses. Fennel would not only introduce a resolution saying Welcome to the Pope, but would invite the Pope to Montgomery County.

Mark Fennel is an idealist with a lot of energy and makes a living criticizing what others have done but successfully planning and executing corrections for none of it.

Mark Fennel is the only candidate who has never held a position in public service.

Mark Fennel is the only canidate who has absolutely no experience with the Board of Education, the Police department, the Department of Fire and Rescue Services, Public Works, Parks, WSSC, HHS, and has no relationships or name recognition with any of them.

Mark Fennel is the only candidate who has not put children through Montogmery County schools and cannot possibly relate to the needs of the parents of school-age children.

Mark Fennel is the only candidate who makes his living digging for dirt and pointing it out with wide eyes - LOOK WHAT I FOUND, GRANDPA ROBIN! Montgomery County is swimming in waste and it doesn't take a consultant to find it.

If elected, Mark Fennel will not be taken seriously by the sitting Council members who can get things done and will be rendered neutered quickly.

Mark Fennel offers NOTHING for me as an East County resident with:

- Three kids in the school system who go to classes in trailers
- A high school with infrastructure problems and a renovaton already delayed at least two years that is in need of a Council advocate to encumber the CIP funding (Marylyn Praisner knew ALL of the details on this, met with the parent community, and helped secure the commitment to get the project started)
- Sparse policing due to insufficient staffing levels county-wide
- Increasing gang activity that has been treated largely as "protected free speech"

Idealism and energy do not fix these problems. Experience and relationships do. The MoCo establishment will chew Mark Fennel up and spit him out within a week. I am choking on taxes already and neither candidate is asking me to pay more. Fennel can't help me with what I need as a County resident, and would set me back by several years.

"Mark Fennel is the only candidate remaining for county council who has 5 to 10 times the physical energy of the other candidate." - writes (presumably)Robin Ficker.

Did Mr. Fennel go to a HOSPITAL to have tests done to PROVE this??? If so, he must be wayyyyy too ill to serve the public (all assumptions being held equal)!

And, I still don't get what MRS. Fennel has to do with this campaign! Something about breaking wind or breezing by Mrs. Navarro? I didn't understand that comment at all!!!

No one is in favor of tax increases per se, however, most in MoCo (including myself) seem to be in favor balancing budgets and paying bills on time. Many who oppose all tax increases would actually like to pass our current bills on to future generations (ala G.W. Bush).

Its better to pay for quality of life now, than to create huge debt and pass it on to our kids and grandkids. To not pay taxes for the quality of life we all enjoy is quite selfish.

We'd all like to drink champagne and pay for beer, but America does not work that way.

Donny you haven't met a tax you didn't like. If by some stretch of the imagination you win on May 13, we shall be in 2+ years of rubberstamping of Leggett's tax increases, including this year's largest proposed property tax increase in 20 years.

I agree Play Nice. The two candidates should both release their medical records. We have never had a candidate in the history of Montgomery County who has been 75 and has spent much of the campaign in the hospital.

Don Praisner supports the budget of Ike Leggett which contains huge tax increases. Don Praisner has said repeatedly that he will vote to exceed the charter property tax limit. Don Praisner wants to join, when he has the energy to show up, a county council that is going to exceed the charter property tax limit this year and next year and the next year, unless Mark Fennel is elected.

If you understood public sector budgeting you would realize that the major expenditures in this FY's budget were planned between 5 and 7 years ago. That's when the commitments were made and the contracts for multi-year projects were signed. That's when this tax talk should have taken place. Where was Mark Fennel then? He was busy rooting out waste. Guess he missed all of this in MoCo!

However, with the real estate market so hot and recordation taxes producing such a bounty, Knapp, Leventhal, and many of the other Councilmembers under the Duncan administration simply committed to projects that could not be sustained without alternative funding if tax revenues fell. That was THEN and we are facing the resulting budget catastrophe NOW. Think of what could have been if there were no Strathmore Hall debacle for example.

We now find ourselves in a position where we have to pay for our excesses from back then because ongoing projects, the CIP, and O&M (that's Operations and Maintenance for rookies like Mr. Fennel) already exist and must be funded now. We can quit spending on discretionary items that have not been committed to, like our extravagant public assistance programs for illegal immigrants, heavily bloated non-essential staff and programs in MCPS, etc. etc., but the big items on the budget are stuck there and we have to fund them somehow. Thank Duncan, the BOE, and the last Council.

Now the rest of the reality lesson. If the County can't collect the funds to pay its obligations then it must borrow money to do that. If the County borrows money to cover its current fiscal obligations then it has to pay interest on the borrowed funds, which bloats future budgets. It's a catch-22, but the fact is we're in it. Governments borrow money by issuing municipal bonds. Do that too often or to finance an ongoing budget deficit and our County bond ratings will decrease. We will have to offer more interest to get people to buy them. More spiraling.

We as a County have to live within our means and quit spending so much public money now and in the future. What was already been committed to has to be paid for now and in the future. I HATE having my hard earned money confiscated by the government in the form of taxes. I would hate even more if my County defaulted on obligations or got into debt trouble because of more shortsighted fiscal thinking on the other extreme.

In response to "We have never had a candidate in the history of Montgomery County who has been 75 and has spent much of the campaign in the hospital."

1 - Two or three days in a hospital for testing means nothing re. medical fitness for the seat. "much of the campaign"? "hospital case"? Name calling like that shows you have nothing valid to say and must resort to name calling. I bet your epidermis is showing too.

2 - More voters in the Primary voted for Don Praisner than any other candidate running, AFTER the medical testing and clean bill of health. You are grasping at something that the voters are obviously not concerned about.

3 - Don't confuse seniority, expirience, and maturity with senility.

Well good luck MD GOP, if you are able to overcome a 5 to 1 Dem to Repub ratio, you will have overcome the math and the stink of the GOP at national and state levels. Don't know how long it will take for your party to shake off 8 years of Bush and Cheney.

Objectively, I think you are wasting your GOP campaign dollars in the short term...maybe in the next decade.

Regarding the age issue, if John McBush can run for prez at 72, why is everyone so concerned about a guy running for council at 75. Let's not be hypocrites.

Young or Old, just elect the person you think is the best person for the job.

If Praisner is so healthy, why wasn't he at the Ashton Town Meeting last night? I don't think Praisner is going to win by running against Bush. Citizens Against Government Waste and their employee Mark Fennel have been doing a number on the Bust Administration and its wasteful spending.

The 4th District doesn't need a half-time council member. Look what happened with the Amish Market. They need a double-time council-member---that is Mark Fennel. Mark is strong as an ox. Plus he had 1400+ on his college boards. You are going to love his wife. She gets back in town this weekend. If Praisner can make an issue of his wife, Fennel can too.

Quality of life? Lets see I have drug deals on my street, it's fairly routine to see numerous muggings and the like (within a two-mile radius of where I live) in the weekly police report put out on Wednesday, and hell there's already been one murder at the end of my street this year. All these taxes and that's quality of life? I'd probably feel better about my county government if I were a cross-dressing illegal immigrant. But I'm not. But the county government routinely puts the interests of the most affluent at the top of their priority list, and then treats the rest of the county as if everyone were wealthy. Too bad Fennel doesn't have a chance next month. That much is clear.

Good points Aspenhiller. BTW- When you suspect illegal activity of ANY KIND on your street, call the police. Do not hesitate. If you are mistaken, law enforcement will sort it out, if you are correct, let them do their job.

You can even request periodic police drive-throughs in your neighborhood.

Where was Praisner asks "why wasn't Praisner at the Ashton Town Meeting" if he is so healthy. Get a brain! Get a life! Maybe he was spending quality time with his family. Maybe he was enjoying his quality of life. Maybe he was feeding folks at a homeless shelter. Maybe he was chatting about U of MD Football with the Pope. Maybe he was watching American Idol! Who cares!

So, let me get this straight... Fennel was at the Ashton Town Meeting, his wife was out of town, so where was the baby that makes Fennel an "experienced moco parent"... with a nanny??? Was he/she a legal resident?

If you want to check everyone's medical records, let's check everyone's immigration status and taxes paid for hiring child care, too! I'd bet my property taxes that Don Praisner doesn't have issues with those categories!!!

See how rediculous your arguement looks now??? The whole age debate strikes at age discrimination! Discrimination, Mr. Fennel, is illegal. Or is it Mr. Ficker? Or Fennel? Or Ficker? (Has anyone seen them both in the same location lately??? Maybe they're really the same person!)

So let me get this straight. Mark Fennel pulled a lame 15% of the vote in the last council election. There are probably more Fennel yard signs out now than he got total votes. He didn't even beat his republican primary opponent by more than about 100 votes. Not looking a whole lot like a reagan landslide developing. Still, people write here that somehow the leading candidate is being lazy by not attending every forum or event that mark fennel chooses? Who does he think he is? Elvis? The Pope? Reagan? Hannah Montana?

Don Praisner is already gearing up to resume the work that his wife won reelection for by an 85% margin in 2006. He is already making phone calls, working his action plan, and preparing to hit the ground running for the district that he already knows intimately. He already knows what the local issues are because he has been there all along. He knows the people too. No need to annoy metro commuters or leave his family behind to put a face to the name.

The voters rejected fennel by an 85% margin in 2006 and history will repeat itself in 2008.

Fennel got 75% of the vote in 2006. Don Praisner's 85% is not true. And property taxes are the big issue . When was the last time you spent three days in the hospital for tests? Fennel is the onhy candidate in this race who has a mother who is younger than the other candidate. His wife is a vibrant beauty.
The son was with her. If Don's wife is his running mate, then Mark's is too.

Nobody would be voting for this guy if he name was Don Brown. Nobody would take him remotely seriously. Do you buy a coat just because of the label?

So when you can't win a point on logic, you start making up implausible fiction?

"Fennel got 75% of the vote in 2006. Don Praisner's 85% is not true."

Uhh...Fennel may have gotten 75% of the vote at his kid's daycare center mock election, but he barely squeaked just 15% of the real District 4 vote. It doesn't take a Vassar-educated government waste snooper to tell you that if he had 75% of the 2006 vote he would be in office now. And.....

......Don Praisner did not run in '06. Marilyn Praisner won in '06 (yet again) with an 85% landslide. This is all public record.

Sooo.....try putting the caps back on your whiteboard markers and ventilating the room.

You people need to get off this age and hospital foolishness and talk about things that matter and solutions to issues.

You people make me embarrassed to be a Republican here in Montgomery County. Republicans are not about name calling or age stereotypes. We are about individual responsibility, achievement, smaller government, and lower taxes. You people are spewing childish age slurs about a candidate who just won a primary for public office. No wonder people think Republicans are such a joke here.

I got the Fennel phone call before the primary. I vote. I really want my taxes reduced. I do NOT want this group of childish people who are making fools of themselves shilling for Mark Fennel anywhere near the Council or associated with me as a Republican or District 4 resident. You will send District 4 to the bottom of every list.

You are embarrassing District 4 and everybody in it. Cut the crap.

Where was Praisner asks "why wasn't Praisner at the Ashton Town Meeting"

Well, Mr. Fennel and Mr. Ficker, I saw Mr. Praisner on Wednesday night at the APCO National Conference accepting a lovely award on his wife's behalf, honoring all of her work. He appeared fit as a fiddle, and quite proud to be there.

As other posts have said, check your facts before you blog. Your repeated insinuations are insulting to county residents and voters. Shame on you.

The defeat of that empty-suit Nancy Navarro will give other elected and community leaders in the area sufficient time to prepare for the District 4 race in 2010. My hope is that we have a good pool of candidates so we can retire Navarro and send a clear message that we don't tolerate unresponsive and rude (never ever returning phone calls) elected officials in District 4. Instead of working hard to represent her constituents and following up on their concerns, Navarro has gotten by thus far by using her ethnicity as a crutch. Navarro had a responsibility to work hard on the Board of Education, especially given the affirmative action steps that were taken to get her there. She squandered her time and paid the price at the polls earlier this week. There is a reason why she did not get the vote of school leaders in her very own district.

How did Navarro lose the White Oak middle school precinct by such a wide margin? Wasn't she the PTA leader at White Oak before she got on the Board of Education?