Lasak began by asking if she had considered running for district attorney five years ago — before she was facing term limits.

Lasak posed a question he put to the Chronicle earlier this year about when a ranking NYPD chief or even the commissioner is in her office to brief her on a major case.

“You will have to make a decision,” Lasak said. “Not an assistant district attorney — you.” He added that in answering Malik’s question about criminal law experience, she had to go back to her law school days.

“You have no experience,” he said.

“If all you’re looking for is someone who’s only interested in racking up convictions and racking up prison sentences, I’m not your guy,” Katz said, leading into a discussion of her goals to reform the office and make it more active in preventing serious crime and cutting recidivism by working with the community, nonprofits and faith-based organizations, people she said she has been working with her entire public career.

“If you have to introduce yourself to those people on day one, it won’t work,” Katz said.

She also pointed out that while outgoing DA Richard Brown was a judge, he had never been a prosecutor until being appointed to the office 28 years ago.

Katz has promised to crack down on wage theft and workplace safety issues among her office’s investigative and prosecutorial priorities.

“How can you do that when you have accepted $250,000 in contributions from the real estate industry?” asked public defender Tiffany Cabán, who went next.

Katz said in her time on the City Council she served as chairwoman of the Land Use Committee, and is proud of the role she has played in the revitalization of Jamaica, all while having to deal at arms’ length when necessary with the industry over 25 years in public life.

Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows) also brought out the heavy artillery, pointing to Katz’s record of voting twice for the death penalty while serving in the state Assembly.