Metro

Lhota picks up major endorsements in quest for mayor

All four Republican members of the City Council are going to back Joe Lhota in the GOP primary for mayor, The Post has learned.

The unified endorsement is expected to be announced tomorrow at City Hall, boosting Lhota’s chances against his chief Republican rival, billionaire business executive John Catsimatides.

“Lhota is the only principled Republican in the race, the only one who isn’t a Republican out of convenience,” declared Councilman Erich Ulrich (R-Queens).

He charged that Republican county leaders who’ve lined up with Catsimatides “really sold out the Republican Party….This is not about going to the highest bidder. This is about the future of the city.”

Queens GOP chairman Phil Ragusa shot back that Catsimatides, who is a contributor to the local GOP, is as qualified as Mayor Bloomberg to run the city.

“He started with nothing and became a billionaire,” said Ragusa. “He’s got the same gravitas that Bloomberg has.”

Ragusa also got in a dig at Lhota’s tenure at the MTA, saying, “What’d he leave it with? — a big raise in the bridge tolls and fares.”

There are only 460,000 registered Republicans in the city and the backing of the Council members, who represent GOP strongholds in Staten Island and Queens, provides Lhota with what amounts to a Republican seal of approval.

“We’re all established vote getters in our respective districts,” said Councilman James Oddo (R-S.I.). “I think there’s a value in going to these Republican voters and saying, we’ve worked with Joe Lhota and we know he’d be the best candidate for mayor. He is by far the best candidate.”

Oddo said his endorsement is limited to the primary.

“I’m going to take this one step at a time,” he explained. “Maybe we’ll do this again (in the general election).”

Oddo is a close ally of Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a leading candidate for the Democratic mayoral nomination.

So he’ll have a tough choice if the two face off in the general election.

In other election news yesterday, publisher Tom Allon dropped out of the Republican race, leaving Doe Fund founder George McDonald as the third contender.

Bloomberg, meanwhile, disclosed that’s he’s got a successor in mind — he just won’t say who it is.

“I made up my mind a while ago,” he said. “I’ll still listen to everybody. I think there’s a real choice out there and the candidates are starting to say what they stand for, whether they’re in favor of improving our schools, whether they’re in favor of keeping you safe, whether they’re in favor of businesses from fleeing or not. It seems to me the choices are pretty obvious out there.”

Asked why he won;t name his choice, he said:

“I think the process should play out without me getting involved.”