Background
Leslie Knope has lived in Pawnee, Indiana, since her childhood. The community programs she enjoyed in her youth inspired her to pursue a life of public service and serve the city. She attended Pawnee North High School, where she served as Co-Vice President of the student body and participated in several student organizations, including Model United Nations, Debate Club, Mock Trial, Young Republicans, Young Democrats and Young Independents, which she founded. She graduated in the top five percent of her class at Pawnee North High School and went to college at Indiana University Bloomington. Leslie is a member of several action committees in her role at city hall, including the Equal Opportunity Committee, the Fun in the Sun Committee, the Clean Restroom Task Force, the Handicapped Restroom Task Force and the Task Force to Reduce the Number of Public Restrooms. Her goal is to become the first female President of the United States.
Leslie is the Deputy Parks Director of Pawnee's parks and recreation department, a mid-level bureaucrat position. She hopes to advance her career (possibly aiming to jump over the department's Director position and become a City Manager) and improve her town. Years ago, she had sex with city planner Mark Brendanawicz, and still harbors romantic feelings for him. However, the encounter had little sentimental meaning for Mark, who has long held a reputation as a womanizer. Knope proudly displays in her office images of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Madeline Albright, Condoleezza Rice, Janet Reno, and Nancy Pelosi. Leslie also has a love for sweets, especially whipped cream, as she usually adds excessively large amounts to coffee, waffles and other food.
Personality
Leslie Knope is extremely cheerful, ambitious, hard-working and optimistic. She is firmly committed to the belief that government should provide a service for its people, and regularly goes above and beyond for the benefits of Pawnee's residents - a belief that regularly clashes with her superior Ron Swanson, a staunch libertarian who feels all government should be privatized.Although somewhat naive at times, she is intelligent, well-read and good-intentioned, but not always successful in executing her goals. She repeatedly tries to put a positive spin on failure, even to the point that she will occasionally distort the truth in her own view. For example, she does not get discouraged by angry residents who complain or yell during her public forums, but instead prefers to think of them as "people caring loudly at me". Many of her co-workers do not share her enthusiasm, but Leslie seems to command their respect or at least obedience. Her ambition occasionally annoys her colleagues and leads to ribbing against her, especially from her subordinate Tom Haverford, though Leslie is now safe from the office scapegoat position thanks to the presence of all-around punching bag Jerry. Leslie views herself as a budding political star in the style of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Condoleezza Rice.
Storyline
Season one
Initially she is shown to carry romantic feelings for her co-worker Mark, likely stemming from a romantic liaison with him several years before. She is also desperate to impress her mother Marlene who is a well-known politician in the Pawnee government. At a public forum she meets Ann Perkins, who informs her about a gaping hole near her house that her boyfriend, Andy Dwyer fell into. Leslie takes on the project and quickly becomes friends with Ann. She is sometimes pushed around by her mom, a tough and tactless woman who has had a long and successful career in local government and who doesn't think much of her daughter's professional or personal choices.
Season two
Knope seems to move on from her romantic interest in Mark and begins dating police officer Dave Sanderson (Louis C.K.). She also begins taking charge and gains a lot of confidence. Also more of her relationships with her coworkers are shown. Towards the end of the season Dave, who was enlisted in the US Army Reserve, was called into active duty in San Diego, where he will be doing custodial work. Dave asked Leslie to move with him to San Diego, and although she was considering it, she ultimately declined because she loved her work and Pawnee too much to leave, and they parted ways amicably. She then dated an old lawyer friend of Ann's named Justin. Although Justin seemed to be a perfect guy and had many interesting stories, Leslie soon realized that stories were all Justin cared about. After he reunited Leslie's mother with an old flame despite Leslie's constant protests, she broke up with him, as Justin cared more about the reunion story that he could potentially tell than Leslie.
Season Three
In this season Leslie works on the Harvest Festival in hopes of bringing money to Pawnee. She and Ben are no longer at odds and develop a friendly working relationship. After hearing a flu-ridden Leslie give an amazing speech, Ben begins to develop a crush on Leslie and as the season progresses, they grow to genuinely enjoy each other's company. However, their budding relationship is threatened by Chris's interoffice dating rules, and they attempt to keep their romance under wraps, despite telling Ann, Ron, Leslie's mother, and a maintenance worker at the Lil' Sebastian memorial service. In the season finale, Leslie is approached by a group of people who look for talent in government with the potential for political careers. They tell Leslie that they believe she has the potential to become a member of city council, or even the mayor. They ask Leslie if there is any potential for scandal in her background to which Leslie replies (having decided to continue her secret romance with Ben while not at work) "Nope."
Development
The concept for Parks and Recreation did not start to form until series creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur learned Poehler would be available to play the lead character. Once that casting was determined, the general concept for both the series and the Leslie Knope character were established. After the first season, changes were made to Leslie's character to make her appear more intelligent. Schur said this was in response to critical feedback that Leslie came across as "ditzy" during the show's first run of episodes, which Schur said was never their intention. Schur said that the show considered a backstory element for Leslie where she had been elected mayor while a teenager; this story was later used for the Ben Wyatt character.
Amy Poehler said by the third season, after the parks department has been shut down for three months due to a budget crisis, Leslie has started to face reality more clearly and realize the department is a low priority.
Critical reception
Season one
Despite poor reviews of the show one fairly consistent source of praise went to Amy Poehler for her performance as Leslie Knope. Tom Shales of the Washington Post writes that "Poehler's show unfortunately isn't worthy of her". Daniel Carlson of the Hollywood Reporter also had praise for Poehler claiming that she "has the comic intelligence to carry a series like this one" and delivers a performance that is "awkward but not alienating" and "eager without being repelling". However, several commentators said the naive and well-meaning Leslie Knope character too closely resembled The Office protagonist Michael Scott, a well-intentioned but dimwitted protagonist manager of a paper company sales office.
Season two
James Poniewozik of Time magazine praised the development of the characters. He thought that the show has a "handle now" on the main character Leslie Knope, and does an "excellent job of finding things for its supporting characters". He also opined that the series is "living up to its potential now". Commentators said the supporting cast was now working with better material and that Amy Poehler's character had improved and become less over-the-top and more human than in the first season.
By season three, Paste magazine writer Garrett Martin called Leslie "one of the most relatable and admirable women on television".
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