Former Giuliani administration official and GOP Senate candidate Juan Reyes is out with a new, July 4-themed mailer taking aim at his primary opponent, Queens Councilman Eri Ulrich, knocking him as a tool of the establishment in Albany.

“If the Albany political bosses had their way, their hand-picked puppet would already be on his way to the Senate chamber to rubber stamp the backroom deals they cut months ago,” Reyes’ mailer, which is being sent out this week, says.

Ulrich does have the support of Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, but Reyes is backed by the local Queens GOP, which is under investigation by the FBI.

Update: A reader points us to a City and State blog post that calls into question The Post’s initial story that there’s anything to the FBI inquiry.

Despite the reported probe, Reyes doesn’t hide the fact he’s baked by the Queens Republicans.

“July 4th is a reminder that in our country, the people choose their own leaders,” Reyes said in a news release, “and on September 13th, Albany bosses are going to get a history and civics lesson from Republican voters in Queens.”

As an insurgent candidate, it’s a standard strategy to categorize your opponent as part of the ruling clique, while casting yourself as the underdog.

Still, it’s a strategy that Senate Republicans can easily push back on, noting that after the relatively smooth legislative session and the unusually high level of productivity in the last year and a half since reclaiming the majority from the Democrats, that being a part of the establishment elite isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Reyes, a former intern in Sen. Bob Dole’s office and a staffer on the Bush/Cheney campaign, was at one point considered to have the inside track for the Republican nomination in the special election to replace Anthony Weiner.

Support of the Republican and Conservative parties ultimately fell to Bob Turner, who defeated David Weprin in an upset.

Reyes Republican Intro Mailer-Email

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