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Obituaries Martin D. Ginsburg, 78, an expert on tax law at Georgetown, was the husband of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. B4


Miss your dose of local news last week? Get back on track with News Reload and check out Post Now, the breaking news blog, at postlocal.com.


THE REGION


A rivalry transported For soccer fans from England and Germany, their competition is as fierce here as in their home towns. But the game stirs memories of a disputed goal 44 years ago. B2


In search of culture — and cool


B DC MD VA S


JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON


Corporate hide-and-seek With so much information on the Web, who uses phone books anymore? Problem is, finding companies’ contact info on their Web sites can be a time-consuming ordeal. B3


Cuccinelli courting business leaders


HEALTH-CARE SUIT IS SHARED FIGHT


Virginia attorney general works to reshape image


by Rosalind S. Helderman


For close to an hour last week, Vir- ginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II stood before two dozen top business executives of the Fairfax County Cham- ber of Commerce and, without notes or prepared remarks, held forth on the le- gal minutiae of his court challenge to the federal health-care bill.


By the end, the Republican appeared


to have dispelled any notion from the group of power brokers, who last year endorsed his Democratic opponent, that he is the out-of-control ideologue his political foes have portrayed him as after a controversy-filled few months in office. “Very cerebral,” one executive termed the presentation. “He’s the right man for this time,” said another.


Cuccinelli has never aggressively


courted or been a favorite of the Vir- ginia business establishment, either in his eight years as a state senator from Fairfax or in his campaign for attorney general last year. He prided himself on running shoestring campaigns powered by the kind of conservative grass-roots activists who have become the back- bone of the “tea party” movement. But since becoming attorney general, Cuccinelli has been making an effort to reach out to business leaders, whose


cuccinelli continued on B3 PHOTOS BY MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST


Mariana Butler, left, and her daughter Karina Acevedo, 12, of Silver Spring irrigate crops at an exhibit at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival that simulates canoe travel in the small town of Xochimilco. Arthur Friedman, top, of Aspen Hill views an image through a stereoscope at the event, which is held on the Mall.


At Folklife Festival, food, history and dancers help distract visitors from the heat by Stephanie Lee


The sound was what drew Annie Desiyani — the steady rhythm of co- conut shells being rapped together. Onstage, teenagers dressed in loose green and pink garb were performing a traditional Cambodian dance. But to Desiyani’s ears, the syncopation echoed a routine she spent hours per- fecting as a girl in her native Bogor, Indonesia.


“I came here first because I heard the coconuts,” said Desiyani, 42, of Silver Spring, who smiled as she sat


alone and watched the dancers sway. “The choreography is similar — same coconuts, different costumes.” Such instances of cultural mixing inspire the annual Smithsonian Folk- life Festival, which celebrates the life- styles of diverse ethnic groups with displays on the Mall. This year’s events, which began Thursday and conclude July 5, focus on Mexican and Asian Pacific American commu- nities. The festival usually draws nearly 1million people each year, said Becky


Haberacker, a festival spokeswoman, but early attendance has suffered a bit because of the weather. The tem- perature hit 99 degrees Sunday, with a heat index of 103 degrees. “We’ve had some people have to go to first aid because it’s been in the upper 90s the whole time,” Haberacker said. Workers at concession stands could barely keep up with the de- mand for smoothies, juice and ice- cold water. Andy Thammasathiti, a volunteer, estimated that his booth was making $6,000 to $9,000 in a


 Going to the Mall today? Here’s the schedule. B4


day. Lerina Mason, 45, bought lemon- ade and blew gently on her 3-week- old granddaughter, Annika Smith, who lay asleep in a carriage. “She’s been getting the grandma air condi- tioning,” said Annika’s mother, Reyka Smith of Quantico. Some had a more pragmatic out- look on the sweltering afternoon. “It’s summer and it’s hot, but I’d


rather have the heat than the rain,” said Katja Riecken, 43, of New York. “Everyone knows it’s hot in Washing-


folklife continued on B4 by Kafia A. Hosh Under Hite, a smooth school year in Pr. George’s Hite wasn’t a typical hire for a district as


After a series of disruptions and ill feelings, system has a calm leader, officials say


by Michael Birnbaum


When John E. Deasy, the high-profile schools superintendent in Prince George’s County, resigned abruptly in September 2008, many thought it spelled yet another whiplash change in direction for the school system, which had gone through four leaders since 1999. Instead, the county chose continuity, hiring Deasy’s number two, William R. Hite Jr., for the top post. At the end of his first full year on the job, Hite has proved a steadying hand, calm where Deasy was fi- ery and conciliatory where Deasy took a hard line, elected county officials and edu- cators say. Hite has not had the money for ambi- tious new programs. But many observers say that they’ve been impressed with his ability to navigate the county’s treacherous political waters while focusing on its 127,000 public school students and that a year of relative tranquillity for a school sys-


MARK GAIL/THE WASHINGTON POST


Prince George’s County Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. congratulates a Northwestern High graduate. Hite says his goal is a 95 percent graduation rate.


tem that has seen so much tumult in re- cent years may be success in itself. “He came onboard at a time when things were under a real upheaval,” said


former school board member Judy Mick- ens-Murray. “He seemed to put his ego aside” in not radically revising his pred- ecessor’s initiatives, she said.


complex as Prince George’s, the second largest in Maryland. He had never been the chief of a school system before Deasy re- signed for a job with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation amid a darkening fiscal picture and questions about his doctorate. The school board conducted a national search but decided that an outsider would be another setback for a system that had undergone so many changes. Hite, who signed a contract to stay until 2013 with an annual base salary of $250,000, promised to remain as long as the board wanted him. At 49, Hite has taken a winding path to the top. The Richmond native played foot- ball at Virginia Tech — his Upper Marlboro office is crammed with sports memorabilia — and studied marketing and education. After graduation, he got a job in Richmond as a marketer for an airline. One of his high school coaches asked him if he’d be inter- ested in helping on the field. He got sucked in, coaching football and softball part time. “I was the mentor, coach and father fig- ure for many students,” he said. “I really enjoyed that.” The next year, he quit his marketing job and moved into education, becoming a


hite continued on B2


Growing up as the son of a developer, Aaron Georgelas lived and breathed real estate. He was only 5 when he followed his father to a county zoning meeting. On weekends, the two donned hard hats and checked on construction sites. Georgelas wasn’t sure what devel- opments or zoning rules were all about, but he knew his father was passionate about his work. “I always grew up believing that as a


developer you get to leave a mark,” Georgelas said. “You get to build things people are going” to use and enjoy. Georgelas, 34, will get his chance as managing partner of the Georgelas Group, the lead developer of the first transit-oriented neighborhood in Ty- sons Corner. The McLean-based company, which


his grandfather started in 1964, was an early office developer in Tysons and will be among the first companies helping to create an urban center that conforms to building rules approved Tuesday by the Fairfax County Board of Supervi- sors. The county handpicked a Georgelas


project to demonstrate its vision for ur- ban development. The 28-acre residen- tial, office and retail complex is being planned around the future Tysons West Metrorail station at Leesburg Pike and


georgelas continued on B4


Redefining Tysons as he makes his mark


Developer builds on family legacy


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