The reports are full of drama, with tales of resignations, indictments and chatter about the next head to roll.
Or as New Yorkers say, it’s another day in the tenure of Mayor Adams.
Gothamites attuned to the messy history of local government realize we are living in a unique moment, the legendary crooks of Tammany Hall not withstanding.
Although a long line of Tammany bosses set the standard for carrying out graft on an industrial scale over decades, the federal charges against Adams and the ongoing probes into top players in his administration appear to be relatively modest by comparison.
Despite headline-grabbing words like wire fraud and bribery, neither quid nor quo is earth-shattering.
That Adams allegedly got airline upgrades and free or reduced rate hotel stays isn’t exactly the stuff of Public Enemy No. 1.
Still, the Adams gang is making a distinct contribution to city lore.
Because the scandals come at time when most New Yorkers believe the city is in decline and that the Democratic Party has exhausted itself and lacks credible successors, and because the Republican Party is on life support, there is no great public movement clamoring for the mayor to resign.
Remarkable reaction
Aside from a relative handful of Dems calling for his head, including some who want his job, the lack of anything close to a consensus is remarkable.
After all, Adams is the first mayor ever to be indicted in office and wasn’t especially popular before this.
He narrowly won the primary in 2021 on the strength of his anti-crime experience and platform and predictably coasted to victory in the general election.
Stay updated with the New York Post’s coverage of Mayor Eric Adams’ indictment
He’s made progress in the fight against crime, but has largely been an erratic manager.
His migrant policies served as invitations, and the city is worse off as a result.
He also surrounded himself with cronies, some of whom are now in the sights of prosecutors.
The multiple probes create the impression that the administration is a “criminal enterprise,” one plugged-in Dem told me.
Nonetheless, Adams is now benefiting because there isn’t an obvious upgrade waiting in the wings. Certainly there’s no groundswell for having Public Advocate Jumaane Williams step in as acting mayor if Adams were to depart mid-term, as the City Charter requires.
Williams is widely regarded as both hopelessly far left and a lightweight, a combination that would quickly drive the city into an even deeper ditch.
Thus, there’s little support for a bum’s rush of the incumbent.
It’s also a factor that most of the five counts against him are narrow enough that they aren’t likely to result in slam-dunk convictions by a New York jury.
Acquittal or a hung jury are obvious possibilities.
All of which gives Adams, the city’s second black mayor, an argument for staying on the job and even seeking a second term next year.
As he said Tuesday, “I am going to serve my term and run for the election.”
He added, “I think my attorneys are going to show both sides.”
Part of the legal effort involves trying to discredit key prosecution witness Rana Abbasova, an Adams staffer who coordinated illegal straw donations from foreigners and the improper travel upgrades, according to the indictment against him.
Scorched-earth plan
Soon after prosecutors complied with a requirement to turn over information about Abbasova that could help the mayor, his lawyer, Alex Spiro, crowed to NBC 4 New York that “these prosecutors, finally, after much delay and misdirection, have admitted they were hiding Brady material about the key witness in the case that proves Mayor Adams is innocent.”
Perhaps, but it would be very unusual for the feds to bring a case that could be destroyed so quickly.
It’s more likely that Spiro’s claim illustrates the defense’s scorched-earth plan to try to sow reasonable doubt in the public mind about his client’s guilt.
Adams also is playing his part in the aggressive defense.
While trying to show he’s working hard at his day job, he has been meeting and holding press conferences with the old-line black establishment, such as Hazel Dukes of the NAACP and Rev. Herbert Daughtry, a fiery Brooklyn pastor and civil rights leader.
Dukes is 92 and Daughtry is 93.
Not to be left out, Rev. Al Sharpton argued that Adams “should not be removed” just because he was indicted.
Sharpton cited the case of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, who resigned only after a federal jury convicted him of 16 counts, including bribery, acting as a foreign agent for Egypt and obstruction of justice.
For Adams to be pushed out of City Hall on the basis of an indictment would create a double standard, Sharpton claimed.
Adams’ determination to stay further complicates the role of Gov. Hochul.
She has the power to remove the mayor without a conviction, and seemed to be leaning in that direction after the indictment landed.
“While I review my options and obligations as the governor of New York, I expect the mayor to take the next few days to review the situation and find an appropriate path forward,” Hochul said then.
“We must give New Yorkers confidence that there is steady, responsible leadership at every level of government,” she added.
It wasn’t as simple as it initially seemed.
Adams wasn’t going to quit and Hochul might have sunk her own career by forcing him out.
Dems avoiding civil war
And it wouldn’t help Dems to get into a civil war on the eve of the November elections.
Recall that Hochul “paused” the city’s congestion-pricing scheme over the summer, at least in part because the tax could have upended Dem House candidates in the suburbs, where the tax was widely unpopular.
On Adams, she seems to have backed off until she sees which way the wind is blowing after the elections. Instead, she has settled for telling him to “clean house.”
Hence the near-daily departures, with most of those leaving caught up in at least one of the four federal probes.
The two top deputy mayors, Sheena Wright and Philip Banks III, have “resigned,” as did Schools Chancellor David Banks, Philip’s brother.
A third brother, Terence Banks, a retired MTA official, has also come under federal scrutiny.
Wright and all three brothers have been subjected to FBI searches of their homes, though none has been charged.
Ditto for former Police Commissioner Edward Caban, who left after being implicated in a probe of the NYPD’s enforcement of nightlife establishments.
Caban’s twin brother, Edward, is reportedly a focus over allegations he acted as a fixer between the department and bars and restaurants.
The oddity is that nearly all of those forced out have not been charged with crimes, while the mayor has.
It’s an unstable situation and my bet is that another shoe will drop — with Adams’ name on it.
The feds suggested they will bring additional charges against him. If they do and if they are serious, expect the dam of public opinion to break.
