He says he was never a Trump supporter, but he's taking a page out of the president-elect's playbook.
A 31-year-old Republican city councilman contemplating a long-shot bid for the mayor's office in 2017 could become the star of a reality TV show tracking his private life, his public service work, and his nascent campaign.
The New York Times reports that Eric Ulrich, who represents areas of Southern Queens and says he backed Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the Republican primary, has secured permission from city’s Conflicts of Interest Board to participate in a TV project that could air as early as this spring.
The show is the brainchild of two freelance producers who pitched their idea to Left/Right, the New York production company affiliated with the TV adaptation of "This American Life" and VH1's "Mob Wives."
We're not surprised that Brad Trackman and Johnny Russo would choose to shadow a public figure with grand ambitions — especially after the country voted the star of "The Apprentice" into the White House — but why Ulrich, a low-profile Republican politician in a heavily Democratic city?
“His personal story is really a unique New York story," said Trackman, who seems enamored of the fact that the councilman's grandmother cleans his Ozone Park office almost every day.
Ulrich is obviously excited about the prospect of cameras trailing him there, at City Hall and in his condo in Lindenwood, Queens: “It’s not going to be a boring show,” he told the Times' J. David Goodman, who described Ulrich as "telegenic." "I think it’s going to be a very funny show.”
Ulrich's supporting cast may include: a man from Aldo’s Pizza in Ozone Park; a local priest; the politician's wife, Yadira Moran-Ulrich; and the couple's 4-year-old daughter, Lily.
"I’m just going to be myself,” said Ulrich. “If people don’t like it, they can go back to watching ‘Dancing With the Stars.’"
