Council members started their recess last Friday with that question hanging over their heads. Many members - most notably Jim Kenney - have bristled at the suggestion that Council members exert themselves only enough to reapply SPF30 on the beach.

We at PhillyClout don't want to jump to any such conclusions. So this week we kicked off a new summer feature. We're calling it CouncilWatch, or "How Your Council Members Spent Their Summer Recess."

Yesterday morning, we stopped into the City Hall offices of all 17 members to see who was in and to chat with them about their plans for the break.

And, just so we're clear, we fully understand that being at your desk is not the only proof of you working.

Only one council member was in when we stopped by, but many were there later in the day. We took phone calls and e-mails from all members who wanted to discuss their activities.

We'll be doing this once a week - on different days, at different times - to get a full perspective on who's in the building and what they're up to.

Heck, maybe we'll learn something new along the way.

So, how did things shake out yesterday? First off, we have to give our gold star for attendance to Councilwoman Joan Krajewski, the only person who was in her office the moment we stopped in. "I'm not one for vacations," Krajewski told us.

Several others were not in the office at that moment, but chatted with us on the phone or sent us e-mails. Those members were Kenney, Darrell Clarke, Brian O'Neill, Frank Rizzo, Bill Greenlee, Blondell Reynolds Brown, Jannie Blackwell, Frank DiCicco, Maria Quiñones-Sanchez, Donna Reed Miller and W. Wilson Goode Jr. All stressed that they are spending the break working on legislation and meeting with constituents.

"Work doesn't stop for us," Reynolds Brown said. "It's still five days a week. To say we're not working is an insult.

"During those summer months when we're not in the roller coaster, we're able to sit and think and meet with folks on issues that we care about."

DiCicco, who splits the week between the city and the Jersey Shore, called from his beach house in Ventnor.

"I'm going to rent a banner plane to go up and down the Jersey coast to let people know where their Council members are," joked DiCicco. "They will always know what beach I'm on."

Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. personally stopped into PhillyClout world headquarters to let us know that he's on the job. And O'Neill called from Lancaster, where he was attending a conference of the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities.

We didn't find Jack Kelly or Bill Green in their offices, and they didn't call us back.

Council President Anna Verna is mourning the death of her husband earlier this month. And Councilwoman Marion Tasco was also out due to a death in the family.

Hair today . . .

When Tom Knox was running for mayor in 2007, his hair was brown. As a 68-year-old candidate for governor, he's gray - but hasn't yet changed the image atop his Web site. A political calculation? Not according to his aides. "There are a lot of bad-hair options out there," says media adviser Ken Snyder. "A perm, a comb-over. . . . I think Tom's hair looks good. I'm 25 years younger, and I've got no hair."

Pike staffs up

Former Inquirer editorial-board member Doug Pike is staffing up for his Democratic bid for Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District - a seat held by Republican Jim Gerlach. Pike announced this week that political ad-masters the Campaign Group will do media for his campaign.

"Doug's a thoughtful guy and a hard worker whose views are in line with this area," said JJ Balaban, of the Campaign Group. "Whoever the Republicans nominate, they're at great risk in a district [President] Obama won with 58 percent of the vote."

Gerlach has hung onto the seat, which represents parts of Montgomery, Chester and Berks counties, for three terms despite challenges in 2004 and 2006. But Gerlach also is considering a run for governor, so he may get out of Pike's way altogether.

Quotable

"I think we're all too circumspect to tell a mistruth. The world of transparency has arrived in Harrisburg."

- Bill DeWeese, state House majority whip, when asked if it would be difficult to learn whether legislators were taking campaign contributions from the gambling industry.

Staff writer Bob Warner contributed to this report.

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