Council President Pulls Back the Curtain

There's a new way to keep tabs on and keep in touch with the County Council. President Michael Knapp (D-Upcounty) this week unveiled his blog, "Starting With the Socks," that promises to provide readers insight into current issues and a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a council member.

The intriguing title was inspired by legendary basketball coach John Wooden, who led a team from the University of California at Los Angeles to a record 10 NCAA championships.

"He understood what it took to take all the parts and build a winning team," Knapp said in announcing the blog. "The way he did it in basketball applies to being successful in just about any field -- including government."

Knapp's online musings are an attempt to reach out to residents, who in a recent survey gave the government low marks for communicating with the public.

Wooden's quote that inspired Knapp comes from the coach's book, "Wooden on Leadership": "Success begins from the ground up. It never bothered me to be chided over my commitment to doing the little things right. Make sure that you and your team put their 'socks' on in the correct manner."

In his first blog entry, Knapp explains that the council's winter recess -- from Dec. 14 through Tuesday -- is not just a vacation. He reports that some council members, all Democrats, were volunteering for Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire: Duchy Trachtenberg (At Large) and Nancy Floreen (At Large) for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) in Iowa and Roger Berliner (Potomac-Bethesda) for Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in New Hampshire. Three council members -- Knapp, Marilyn Praisner (Eastern County) and George L. Leventhal (At Large) -- attended the Maryland Association of Counties meeting on the Eastern Shore to talk about upcoming issues in the General Assembly session.

Find Knapp's blog at http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov and click on "County Council."

No. 1 Number-Cruncher

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) has tapped Christopher Cihlar, a policy analyst with government and private-sector experience, to lead his data-driven CountyStat program, set to begin this month.

Cihlar, 33, was most recently a specialist with DeticaDFI of Arlington, a private firm where he managed projects, including program evaluation and risk management, for the Department of Homeland Security. According to his r¿sum¿, Cihlar has a "strong background in quantitative and qualitative research and analytical methods." He was an evaluation specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and before that analyzed trends in volunteering for the Washington-based Points of Light Foundation.

The CountyStat program will track information about problems and the measures taken to address them.

"CountyStat will be a tool to increase performance and hold those responsible accountable for results -- in real time," Leggett said in his recent State of the County address.

Cihlar, who will be paid $110,000, has a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University and a doctorate in policy analysis and management from Cornell University. He lives in Rockville and is the author of "The Grilled Cheese Madonna and 99 Other of the Weirdest, Wackiest, Most Famous eBay Auctions Ever."