A petition challenge for a Bushwick/East New York City Council race quietly played out in Brooklyn Supreme Court last week. — Photo by Aaron Short

While other highly competitive City Council campaigns in Bushwick/Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, and Park Slope have been getting the lion’s share of attention in the local media this summer, one Bushwick race has slipped by, mostly unnoticed, quietly playing out in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Incumbent Councilmember Erik Dilan (D-Bushwick) has been fighting off a spirited 37th District primary challenge from former Assemblyman Daryl Towns staffer and Cypress Hills resident, Darma Diaz.  Diaz has been in civil court for much of last week, awaiting her fate after the Dilan camp challenged her petition last month.

Each candidate for City Council must gather at least 900 valid signatures from registered voters in their district in order to become eligible for the ballot for September 15th Primary.  Candidates are often advised to collect upwards of three times that amount, and many campaigns turn in over 3000 signatures just to be safe.  To collect that many, it helps to have a staff, a lot of eager volunteers, and maybe the backing of political groups such as Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, Independent Neighborhood Democrats, New Kings Democrats, Working Families Party, off-the-clock volunteers from local nonprofits, and even the Kings County Democratic Party if you’re lucky.

Diaz had none of those.  She called Make the Road New York for help with her campaign efforts, but did not receive any response.  One Make the Road executive told me that they were not aware Diaz had reached out to them, and the organization is not actively supporting any candidate though they are hoping to hold several candidate forums later this month. 

The race hasn’t even been on the radar of a local reform club, New Kings Democrats, which endorsed Evan Thies in the 33rd District and was split between Incumbent Councilmember Diana Reyna (D-Bushwick) and Community Board 1 District Manager Gerry Esposito in the 34th District City Council race.  She had some support from Assemblymember Towns’ office — but even her former boss did not endorse her, preferring not to endorse a candidate over an incumbent elected official. Diaz was also not endorsed by the Working Families Party (a left-leaning third party that runs candidates on the general election ballot, though many of whom may also be endorsed by the Democratic Party), meaning that she won’t be able to run on their ticket this fall past the Democratic primary.

When Diaz turned in 2573 signatures to the Board of Elections and Dilan’s attorneys, who also represent the Kings County Democratic Party, contested her petition, claiming that she only had 216 valid signatures.  The Board of Elections looked at the petition, and raised the number of valid signatures to 666, over 200 short of her mark, and the matter went to court.

“We’re dealing with the devil,” said Diaz, in response to the number the BOE certified.

After a week of hearing testimony from witnesses on both sides, mostly from Bushwick residents who could attest whether people who signed the petitions were in fact residents of the 37th District, Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge David Schmidt ruled in Dilan’s favor, knocking Diaz off the ballot. 

Dilan, having cleared his main primary challenger, is no doubt relieved.  I tried reaching Councilmember Dilan’s attorney, Carl Landicino, but have been unable to get their response.  Councilmember Dilan took my call late last week but did not call back with comments.  His father, State Senator Martin Dilan, whom I saw in court last Tuesday, did not relay a response about the case, either.

As for Diaz, her plan will most likely be to regroup and run again in three years, when Dilan will be term-limited out of office, though she is investigating two ways of getting back on the ballot for this year’s primary.  She would not elaborate how.

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