Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Four NYC Deputy Mayors Quit over Adams Scandal
New York City lost four deputy mayors yesterday, as they resigned following Mayor Eric Adams corrupt bargain with the Justice Department. In exchange for dropping corruption charges against him, the federal immigration round-ups in New York City will receive support from city officials, in violation of New York City and State law. No fewer than 7 Justice Department bigwigs resigned rather than file the papers dropping the charges. Now, the resignation epidemic has come home to the mayor. Today, the governor will meet with top politicos to discuss exercising her power to remove him from office. This meeting should have been held last week, and the decision to ax the mayor should have come over the week-end.
At the heart of the matter is an open-and-shut case of bribery. When the indictment came down last autumn, Politico.com reported, "Adams accepted free travel on Turkish Airlines and luxury hotel rooms worth more than $100,000, illegal contributions to his 2021 mayoral campaign and other perks from a number of people connected to the Turkish government. In exchange, prosecutors allege, Adams used his position as incoming mayor to influence the opening of the Turkish consulate in Manhattan."
Basically, the Turks wanted their consulate open and ready for business when a bigshot from Turkey came over. The inspections needed to get a certificate of occupation (required for new buildings in the city) were not done, but the Mayor got it open anyway. For the record, this put everyone entering that building at risk.
This journal has never supported Mr. Adams. His record as a bent cop was just clean enough to avoid derailing his pension and political ambitions, but there was dirt. He should not have been nominated or elected. He faces re-election this November, and the best thing for the city would be for him not to appear on the ballot.
The Mayor will not be going anywhere voluntarily, however. The charges in question are being withdrawn "without prejudice." This legal term means that the charges can be re-instated at any time until the statute of limitations runs out. That is five years, and coincidentally, would be the autumn of his last year in office if re-elected. The White House will be able to tell the Mayor what to do on pain of re-indictment.
Governor Kathy Hochul is convening a meeting of power brokers today in her Manhattan office to consider removing him. If she does so, he would be suspended from the job for 30 days while he presents his defense. After that, she can either restore him or make his removal permanent. She is not going to do this. She is a political hack and only has the job because Andrew Cuomo resigned over accusations of sexually inappropriate behavior. Indeed, he picked her because she was a non-entity who has not really grown into the job.
Instead, she will defer to the "Inability Committee" in the city charter. Time magazine explained,
consisting of the corporation counsel, the comptroller, the City Council speaker, a deputy mayor designated by the mayor, and the borough president who has served for the longest consecutive period of time – [the Committee] could convene to vote on whether the mayor is temporarily or permanently unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
If four of five members of the committee declare that the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, then a panel consisting of the 51-member City Council will have 21 days to vote on whether or not to remove the mayor, which requires a two-thirds majority. Until that vote, the mayor can remain in office if he declares within 48 hours of the five-member committee’s declaration of his inability that he believes he is able to carry out his duties.”
Ms. Hochul will encourage action from the committee because she does not want to be the first governor in state history to remove an elected mayor, no matter how crooked.
© Copyright 2025 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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