The NY Post offers a few more tidbits today in
Not Just a Pretty Face:
The woman at the center of New Jersey Sen. Jon Corzine's latest political brouhaha is no shrinking violet — she's a well-educated, hard-driving, tough-talking rabble-rouser.
Tugboat Annie?
But one thing Carla Katz, boss of New Jersey's most powerful union, won't sound off on is the controversy surrounding the $470,000 loan-turned-gift she got from wannabe-governor Corzine, who's also her former boyfriend.
Ruh Oh!
"She shouldn't have to explain herself to anyone," said a worker at West Trenton-based Local 1034 of the Communications Workers of America, where, as president, Katz advocates for 16,000 members — including 9,000 who work in New Jersey government jobs.
"Believe me," said the staffer, "Carla Katz is not afraid to say what she thinks. It's her job to fight for people. But this is a private matter."
Being a "union staffer" means you're waiting for your turn at the gravy train of union management.
The tall, tanned brunette met the rumpled, bespectacled Corzine in 1999, when he was still married to his childhood sweetheart, Joanne, and Katz was married to Larry McKim, an artist and high-school teacher.
...
Her father had served for 10 years as mayor of Edgewater Park, N.J., and in 1982 Katz — armed with a bachelor's degree from Rutgers — launched her own political career, joining the CWA as an organizer.
By 1999, she was Local 1034's president.
Charming, I'm sure. I wonder what you major in at college to become a union
goon, er boss?
Katz divorced in 2001. Corzine divorced in 2003 — with his ex-wife claiming the campaign had a "noxious" effect on their marriage.
Corzine loaned Katz the $470,000 in 2002 so she could buy out her ex-husband's share of their 19th-century farmhouse on 10 sprawling acres in Hunterdon County.
She and her husband, the high school teacher, had a one million dollar country estate? Union bossing and high school teaching must pay well!
In December 2004 — months after he and Katz split up, and just before he announced his gubernatorial run — the senator, whose wealth is estimated between $85.8 million and $261.5 million, forgave the loan.
Katz — whose annual CWA salary is $99,950 — couldn't afford to repay him, said Corzine.
Though property records still show the farmhouse as her legal address, Katz now lives in Hoboken's Hudson Tea Building — the same swank, riverfront building as Corzine.
Woohoo!
Rents on the loft-style units run from about $2,500 to $4,950; amenities include a health club and floor-to-ceiling windows with sweeping Manhattan views.
So somewhere between 30 and 60% of ole Carla's gross salary goes for non-deductible rent payments. Quite a load, since she presumably is still paying off the mortgage on her half of the country estate. I wonder if she has another source of income besides the poor union workers. And John Corzine.
