Kay Katz

Kay Kellogg Katz (born September 24, 1938) is a Republican former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, having represented from 2000 to 2012 District 16 in Ouachita Parish in northeastern Louisiana.

Effective in 2012, the revised district encompasses fifteen precincts in Ouachita Parish and thirty precincts in neighboring Morehouse Parish. Katz was succeeded in the House by the Democrat Katrina Jackson, who received 51 percent of the vote over three opponents in the primary election held on October 22, 2011.^{[1] [1]}

Background

A resident of Monroe, Katz is a former member of the Monroe City Council, on which she served as council chair and as a member of the Street Improvement Committee.

Katz graduated from Neville High School in Monroe and procured a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Mississippi State University at Starkville, Mississippi. Katz is a former teacher.

Katz has served on the boards of both the Northeast Louisiana Arts Council and the Louisiana State Arts Council. In 2000, the Louisiana Museum Association selected her as "Legislator of the Year" in her first year in office.

Katz is a former Louisiana Republican national committeewoman, she was automatically a member of the 168-member Republican National Committee. Like the state Republican National Committeeman Ross Little, Jr., of Lafayette, Katz endorsed U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Katz was succeeded as national committeewoman by Ruth Ulrich, formerly the producer and announcer of the Moon Griffon radio talk show program based in Monroe.

In 2008, Katz was elected treasurer of the Louisiana Legislative Women's Caucus for a term which ended on June 30, 2009.^[2]

Legislative matters

On October 20, 2007, Katz defeated fellow Republican Ben Marshall, a former Ouachita Parish police juror [equivalent of county commissioner in most states), in her bid for a third term in House District 16 in the nonpartisan blanket primary. Katz received 8,617 votes (64 percent) to Marshall's 4,116 (31 percent); a No-Party candidate, Benjamin P. Arnold, received 749 votes (6 percent).

In her initial election to succeed Democrat Jimmy N. Dimos, who was elected to a judgeship, Katz led the October 1999 nonpartisan blanket primary with 6,039 votes (49 percent). Fellow Republican Tony Cain finished second with 3,010 votes (24 percent) and decided not to pursue a general election campaign against Katz. She was hence automatically elected based on her primary showing. A Democrat, Dan Street, finished third with 2,944 votes (also 24 percent), and a "No Party" candidate, Chuck James, polled 403 votes (3 percent). Katz was unopposed for her second term in the 2003 primary.

In the Louisiana House, she served on three committees: Health and Welfare, Transportation, Highways and Public Works, and Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs. In the legislature, Katz is considered one of the more consistent conservative members. After 2004, she was rated 100 percent by the Louisiana Family Forum. She was also highly ranked by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.

Personal life

Katz was married to Ben Sanders Katz, Jr. (March 3, 1938 – January 13, 2010), until his death at the age of seventy-one from complications of pneumonia. Ben Katz, a native of Starkville, Mississippi, was the son of Ben Katz, Sr., and the former Mildred Stanley. He graduated from Starkville High School and Mississippi State University. He was a senior vice president of Amax Coal Company and president of Deposit Trust Bank. Ben Katz served on the boards of the Council on Aging, the Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana, Monroe Rotary International, and the Council of Retired Executives.^[3]

By her late husband Kay Katz has three children, Dr. Robert Britton "Brit" Katz (born 1957), Kelley Katz Vance (born 1958), and Kris Katz Coons. The Katzes are Presbyterian. At the time of his death, Ben Katz was the only Republican member of the Monroe City Council. In his third term from Council District 2, he had succeeded his wife on the council after victory in a special election called in 2000 after Kay Katz entered the legislature.^[4]

In February 2012, Governor Bobby Jindal appointed Katz to a $56,000 position as a member of the Louisiana Tax Commission, which regulates ad valorem matters.^[5]

References

• http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Reps/members.asp?ID=16
• http://www.kaykatz.com/
• http://www.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcpr&rqsdta=10239937
• https://web.archive.org/web/20080919060943/http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms3&rqsdta=102007
• http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=MLA13593?q=print
• http://www.votetherecord.com/?p=172
• http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071215/NEWS01/712150316