In tomorrow’s election, there is a hot race for the 34th Council District seat. You might have thought that Diana Reyna’s close victory in the Democratic primary would have ended it there. But Maritza Davila, Reyna’s primary opponent, is still on the Working Families Party ballot line, and Vito Lopez (Davila’s boss and the head of the Kings County Democratic Party) is pushing her candidacy very strongly.

All of that is (the convoluted) background to this piece in yesterday’s Times piece about a robocall that Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio, the head of the Brooklyn Diocese, made to all registered voters in the 34th. The call itself only mentions Lopez and his support for issues important to the Diocese (so presumably the calls don’t jeopardize the Catholic Church’s non-profit status in the eyes of the IRS), but its intent seems pretty clear.

The robocall (which was first reported by Aaron Short at CNG’s BoroPolitics) was also noticed by the Commonweal blog , who noted DiMarzio’s newfound “flexibility” when it comes to politicians who support abortion rights. All of which seems to have the Bishop’s spokesman working overtime.