Flaherty Quiet in Defeat

Democratic County Executive Candidate Mark Patrick Flaherty went before his supporters last night without a trace of the sheepish grin he wore during many of the debates this spring. “Rich Fitzgerald ran his race and I ran my race and the voters made a choice and I accept that choice,” said Flaherty.

Flaherty lost to former County Council President Rich Fitzgerald 64,343 to 50,265. He says the rain suppressed voter turnout and Fitzgerald did a better job of getting his supporters to the poling places.

On stage, Flaherty was flanked by his wife and child on one side and his parents on the other. He kept his eyes on an empty lectern as he thanked his volunteers and spoke about the county’s future. “The major issues our county is facing are tremendous financial challenges and the result of this primary didn’t lesson that challenge at all and moving forward we are going to have to work on that all together,” said Flaherty.

Flaherty still has more than 6 months in the County Controller’s office. “We have a very important city/county consolidation to finish of our accounting ERP system that I have been working on for two years so we are going to certainly get that ready and try to finish that for the next controller that comes in,” said Flaherty.

In the short term, Flaherty says it is time to get back to his family. Pointing to his wife Anne and his daughter Deirdre, Flaherty said, “These two completely fulfill my life… Now they get me back.” To that, the small voice of a six-year-old rose up from below the microphone and replied, “Yay!”