Lately, there have been a spate of articles about Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris. The Mayor recently said that Harris, who is apparently one of his best pals, would be in charge of the city when he leaves town. Which is like almost every weekend he can - if Gothamist had our own island in Bermuda, private jet, and $5 billion fortune, we'd probably go too - which means she's pretty damned powerful. (She replaces Marc Shaw, who apparently was surprised...we can't remember where we read it, but we'll continue to dig for that link.) The NY Times profiles Harris today and this is what we learned:

- She gets paid $1 a year
- Photography is her hobby
- She likes to scuba dive and fish
- Previously worked for Mayor Koch in 1978
- She's friends with Tim Russert, who "calls her Tanya, Patty Hearst's code name"
- She has "almost no relationship with the New York press corps

And here's her official City Hall bio.