BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI AND ROBERT POZARYCKI
You can call him a Bo-liever.
Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich, who represents Ozone Park and Howard Beach, took to the steps of City Hall on Monday to announce his support for independent mayoral candidate Richard “Bo” Dietl,
Dietl is a fellow Queens native and a former NYPD detective who founded Beau Dietl & Associates, a NYC-based investigative and security firm. He’s a frequent guest on television and radio political talk shows, made a cameo in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film “Goodfellas” and was once a pitchman for Arby’s.
Dietl officially announced his intent to run in March. A lifelong Republican, he originally tried to re-register as a Democrat to run against de Blasio in the primary, but couldn’t over what he said was a paperwork error. He is instead running as an independent.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Dietl said he voted for Republican Donald Trump (also a Queens native) in last year’s presidential election. Dietl, who said he’s known Trump for 35 years, stated that he voted for him “because he gets things done.”
Trump wasn’t Ulrich’s choice last year; he had supported Ohio Governor John Kasich during the Republican nomination race. Ulrich had wanted Trump’s name removed from a Jamaica Hospital pavilion last year after then-candidate Trump claimed Arizona Senator John McCain wasn’t a war hero because he was captured during the Vietnam War.
The day after Trump was elected president, however, Ulrich took to Twitter to condemn impromptu protests in Manhattan against the president-elect, saying, “Trump won. Get over it!”
Ulrich himself considered challenging de Blasio last year, but announced in March that he would instead seek re-election to the City Council.
Only a handful of candidates are in the race for the Republican Party’s mayoral nomination, including real estate mogul Paul Massey and former New York Jet-turned-pastor Michel Faulkner. De Blasio is considered the overwhelming favorite to win the Democratic Party’s nomination; he’s facing challenges from Queens state Senator Tony Avella, former City Councilman Sal Albanese and several lesser-known candidates.
The primaries are scheduled for Sept. 12; the general election is Nov. 7.
