Who

Katz is a Democratic City Council member who represents the Queens neighborhoods of Forest Hill, Rego Park, and Kew Gardens.

Backstory

It's probably safe to say that Katz had the most musical childhood of any policy wonk in Queens County history: Her father founded the Queens Symphony Orchestra, her mother founded the Queens Council of Arts, and she herself sang in her father's orchestra and various country music bands as a child. After law school at St. John's University, Katz took a job as an associate at the white-shoe firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, working in the mergers and acquisitions group headed up by Dennis Block. In 1994, she quit law to run—successfully—for State Assembly member Alan Hevesi's seat when he became city comptroller. After an unsuccessful campaign for the Congressional seat vacated by Charles Schumer in 1998—Anthony Weiner eked her out by a nose in the primary—she was elected to the City Council in 2001.

Of note

Katz heads up the Council's land use committee, which was responsible for approving rezoning measures that will ultimately give an extreme makeover to wide-ranging pockets of the city from Greater Jamaica to Williamsburg and Greenpoint. It was the Katz-led committee that also approved an Ikea in Red Hook, although it rejected a big-box BJ's in the Bronx, after which Wal-Mart dropped plans for a similar project in her Queens district. But while Katz remains the Council's queen of land use, she seems to hold a weaker political hand than she used to, given her unsuccessful run for city council speaker against Christine Quinn in 2006 and the implosion of her mentor Alan Hevesi's career. And yet the word on the street is that Katz will again seek higher office and enter the race for city comptroller in 2009. Her opponents in the crowded comptroller race include/are likely to include David Weprin, and David Yassky.

Keeping score

Katz made $112,500 from the city in 2007.

Personal

Katz is unmarried, but her love life has generated plenty of discussion in political circles. In 2006, Page Six reported that several politicos had seen Katz and the married Hevesi "making out" in public; Katz hotly denied the rumors. In 2008, she gave birth to baby boy whom she conceived via in-vitro fertilization. She lives in Queens, in the same home she grew up in.