Disgraced ex-city Department of Buildings commissioner Eric Ulrich has written a children’s book where dogs are judges and juries in the court system — as he faces a possible criminal indictment for corruption.
Dubbed “If Pets Could Vote …”, the self-published book is meant for kids between the ages of three to eight years old and also features a chameleon city council member in its cast of characters, according to Politico.
“It can wiggle its way out of anything and change colors to match their surroundings,” Ulrich, a former Queens councilman, wrote of the reptilian avatar.
“That was a dig for sure,” he told the outlet Friday. “That had less to do with the humane treatment of animals and more about my former colleagues.”
Ulrich is expected to be indicted any day, law enforcement sources told The Post, after a criminal probe that may include allegations of misconduct from before he was the buildings department head.
The indictment — should it come — may also be related to favors that date back to Ulrich’s time as a city councilman, sources have said.
The 38-year-old former career politician — who as of January had been selling insurance to make ends meet — stepped down from his lucrative city government position in November 2022 after investigators from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office seized his phone and interrogated him for hours about a criminal gambling investigation.
Ulrich also may have racked up big gambling debts in backroom Ozone Park card games frequented by mob associates, sources have said.
Ulrich was not charged with a crime, but he resigned two days after news of the probe broke.
Authorities have continued the investigation since.
Prosecutors are looking into whether he got a deal on a below-market-rate apartment and if he accepted a discounted couch from someone who had business with his department, the New York Times reported in July.
Ulrich told Politico that he was disappointed Bragg’s office has decided to play his case out in the press by leaking details to the Times.
“It’s extremely unprofessional for a prosecutor’s office to be run this way,” Ulrich said. “But notwithstanding that, I’m not going to allow any of this smear and innuendo to deter me from living out my life in a positive, healthy way. Which is why I decided to spend my summer writing this children’s book.”
His book — which came out last week — features a parakeet president that would “pardon all her feathered friends and set them free from their cages,” Politico wrote.
It also puts pups in the judge’s seat and the jury box.
“How cute would it be to see 12 little fluffy canines sitting in the court room? Surely, they would give shelter dogs a second chance,” Ulrich wrote
His primary mission is to encourage the human treatment of animals, he told Politico.
“Shelter dogs shouldn’t be put to sleep,” he said. “Birds don’t belong in cages. God gave them wings to fly.”
Ulrich, who has a 10-year-old daughter, represented Queens’ 32nd District from 2009 to 2021, when he term-limited out.
In January 2022, he joined Mayor Eric Adams’ administration as a senior advisor before taking over the DOB.
In that role, he made more than $243,000 a year.
According to a recent report, Ulrich allegedly informed investigators that Adams told him in May 2022 to “watch your back and watch your phones” — months before his cell was seized in the criminal gambling probe.
Adams denied the claim to reporters last Monday, saying it all sounded like a plot from “Goodfellas.”
