A soon-to-be assemblymember is suing the city of Elizabeth and its longtime mayor, Chris Bollwage, alleging Bollwage stripped him of his high-level city job for reporting another public official’s illegal construction project.

Ed Rodriguez, who will be sworn into the Assembly this month after an extremely close victory against a Bollwage-backed candidate in the June Democratic primary, claims in the Dec. 31 complaint that during his 10-year tenure as the city’s director of planning and community development, his contract was routinely renewed without any complaints about his performance.

But late in 2024, according to the lawsuit, Rodriguez learned through a Construction Bureau employee that an unnamed “prominent public official” had done a major construction project on his home without submitting any architectural plans or permit applications.

Rodriguez says he reported the allegation directly to the mayor in early December 2024 because it “raised concerns regarding selective enforcement and municipal exposure.”

“Within days of this disclosure, Plaintiff was advised by the Mayor that his appointment would not be renewed beyond its December 31, 2024 expiration,” the complaint says.

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