Dilia Schack endorses Carroll for City Council

April 27, 2017 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Council candidate Kevin Peter Carroll says Dilia Schack will also serve as honorary co-chair of his campaign. Photo courtesy of Carroll

Kevin Peter Carroll has died at age 33. Eagle file photo

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Kevin Peter Carroll, whose campaign for Bay Ridge’s City Council seat has often been overshadowed by the high-profile candidacies of fellow Democrats Justin Brannan and Rev. Khader El-Yateem, has put himself back in the spotlight with the announcement of an endorsement from a key political operative.

At a fundraiser on April 26, Carroll announced that he had picked up the endorsement of Dilia Schack, the Democratic Party’s district leader in the 46th Assembly District (Coney Island-Dyker Heights-Bensonhurst).

“Dilia is also going to be co-chairing my campaign,” Carroll told the Brooklyn Eagle on Wednesday, a few hours before his fundraiser.

Schack, the widow of Hon. Arthur Schack, a New York State Supreme Court justice, is a highly respected Democratic leader whose political instincts and solid advice have helped numerous candidates win elective office over the years.

In her endorsement, Schack lauded Carroll’s record of community activism. “I would like to see someone who has lived in the community, worked for the community and understands the community in the City Council and Kevin meets all of those criteria,” she said. “He will be someone who, as a councilman, will bring a lot back to Southern Brooklyn because he has the energy, strength, and will to do what is right.”

Carroll is also a Democratic district leader. He is the party’s leader in the 64th Assembly District, a neighboring district to Schack’s. The district covers parts of Bay Ridge and Staten Island.

Schack’s endorsement is seen as a big boost to Carroll’s campaign.

Carroll, who works during the day as a scheduler for Councilmember Stephen Levin (D-North Brooklyn), is running for the seat in the 43rd Council District. The district covers Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights and includes sections of Bensonhurst and Bath Beach.

Councilmember Vincent Gentile, a Democrat, has represented the district since 2003, but is prohibited from running for re-election by New York City’s term-limits law.

Gentile recently announced that he is running for Brooklyn district attorney.

Carroll is one of four Democrats running in the race to succeed Gentile.

Brannan, Gentile’s chief of staff, and El-Yateem, pastor of the Salam Arabic Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, have thus far garnered the lion’s share of attention in the race due mainly to their media savvy and their fundraising prowess.

The fourth Democrat is Nancy Tong, an aide to Assemblymember Bill Colton (D-Gravesend-Bensonhurst).

The Republicans running for the council seat are Bob Capano, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Liam McCabe, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan; and John Quaglione, deputy chief of staff to state Sen. Marty Golden (R-C-Bay Ridge-Southwest Brooklyn).

The primaries are Sept. 12. The general election will take place on Nov. 7.