Who

Yassky is a Democratic member of the City Council representing Brooklyn's gentrification belt—Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, and Greenpoint.

Backstory

The son of lawyers, Manhattan native Yassky passed through a battery of elite schools—Dalton, Princeton, Yale Law—and started his career as an aide to Charles Schumer when the Brooklyn politico was a member of the House of Representatives. Yassky stayed in Schumer's employ for six years, serving as chief counsel to the subcommittee on crime—which Schumer chaired—where he helped author legislation like the Brady Bill and the Violence Against Women Act. After putting in some time at a corporate law firm, he became a professor at Brooklyn Law School. In 2001, he launched a political career of his own and was elected to the City Council (even though he lacked the Democratic party's endorsement in the primary), handily winning reelection in 2005.

Yassky's next campaign didn't proceed as smoothly. In 2006, he staged a failed attempt to win an open congressional seat vacated by retiring Rep. Major Owens. Flush with money from developers and lawyers, he vied to represent a district that's nearly 60 percent black and has long been represented by black congressmen, and the campaign quickly turned nasty with Owens describing Yassky as a "colonizer." (Yassky didn't live in the district at the time.) He ended up losing to fellow Councilmember Yvette Clarke.

Of note

The boyish Yassky often comes across as the smart kid in the class, voicing surprisingly strong opinions about arcane portions of the real estate code and making complicated arguments about tax breaks. Some of his highlights as a City Council member include the introduction of the 2002 "Clean Air Cabs Act," which added electric/hybrid vehicles to the city's fleet of taxis, and fighting for larger tracts of affordable housing on the Williamsburg/Greenpoint waterfront. With term limits preventing him from running for City Council again in 2009, Yassky has made plans to move on. He's announced his intention to run for city comptroller in 2009; his opponents in the race include—or are likely to include— Melinda Katz, David Weprin, and James Brennan.

Keeping score

Yassky made $112,500 for his city council work in 2007.

Personal

Yassky is married to Diana Fortuna, the head of the Citizens Budget Commission. (It was Fortuna who introduced Michael Bloomberg to his current galpal, Diana Taylor.) The couple has two daughters, Susan and Margaret, and lives in Brooklyn Heights.

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