Praisner, Fennel are unofficial winners in Montgomery County

Winner Mark Fennel was smiling and energetic this morning as he hit the ground running by spending from 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. thanking voters for their vote at the Glenmont Metro station the morning after the election results were made public. Fennel, 42, has the energy of a man ten years younger. He is married to Estela, a bi-lingual Central American legal immigrant. They have a seven month old son, "not so silent Cal," who will keep Mark focused on the future of Montgomery county.

Unlike his May 13 opponent Fennel is not running as a lame duck to keep the seat warm. He intends to focus on District 4 issues. "There are four council members elected at-large to look at count wide issues," he said. He pointed to the moving out of the county of the Burtonsville Amish market as an example of what happens when the 4th District does not have someone minding the store. Don Praisner recently told JustUpThePike that he would just as soon be playing golf with his daughter in Hawaii as he would be serving on the county council.

Fennel set the issue-line for the campaign when he said that he was running for County Council and Property Tax Relief. He accused his opponent, 76 year old Don Praisner of "triple-witching" which is, "telling the MCEA you are going to fund their desires, then telling the voters disingenuously that you are a 'fiscal conservative.' then approving of the biggest property ax increase in 20 years."

Fennel works today, as he has for many years, for the national non-profit Citizens Against Government Waste. He is an expert in finding waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in government, a skill sorely lacking in Rockville.