New York City Mayor Eric Adams was hailed as a national model for Democrats when he ran and won in 2021 on a platform that married liberal politics with pragmatism and appealed to a diverse coalition.
Now, he is just trying to persevere.
His chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, quit abruptly over the weekend. Her resignation capped a dizzying series of days in which two fire chiefs were indicted on bribery charges and Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban resigned because of a corruption investigation that focuses on his twin brother and the nightlife industry.
Mr. Adams faces an investigation into campaign donations linked to Turkey. Also, federal agents seized phones from several people in the mayor’s inner circle, though authorities have not said what they are investigating.
Mr. Adams, known as the “Nightlife Mayor” because of his penchant for after-hours revelry, says he did nothing wrong and is focused on making New York a better place to live. For some city and state lawmakers, however, the whiff of scandal is becoming too odorous.
“Eric Adams leads with corruption and mismanagement,” Tiffany Caban, a City Council member from Queens, wrote Monday on X. “15+ of his associates are now under investigation. If his track record of cutting critical services and empowering NYPD abuse didn’t make it clear: Eric Adams is unfit to govern. NY deserves better. It’s time for him to resign.”
Mr. Adams has denied wrongdoing and hasn’t been charged with a crime. Still, the cascade of troubles is a blow to his 2025 reelection bid and a major distraction from his agenda, which includes dealing with a migrant surge, combating subway fare evasion and ridding the streets of rats.
Mr. Adams warned reporters before a press conference Tuesday that he wouldn’t answer the same questions repeatedly, an allusion to the swirl of investigations and staff upheaval.
“I’ve got a city to run,” Mr. Adams said. “We know what you know.”
Reporters tried, anyway, hoping to find out whether the mayor was the target of investigations or in a witness role.
“The investigation will take its course. It would be inappropriate for me to talk about an investigation. The U.S. attorney clearly indicated they didn’t want that to happen,” Mr. Adams said. “We’re not doing any leaks. I’m following the process.”
Mr. Adams tried to change the topic by gathering the press Monday to discuss the annual Mayor’s Management Report about city operations.
“We want to have folks pay attention to how successful this administration has been,” said Mr. Adams, adding that some of the issues predate him.
An indictment charges two New York City Fire Department chiefs of working with an outside company to speed up fire inspections in exchange for kickbacks starting in July 2021. Mr. Adams took office in January 2022.
Some investigations strike at the heart of Mr. Adams’ time as mayor.
Law enforcement seized the phones of the police commissioner, the chief of the public schools system, a deputy mayor and two top advisers to Mr. Adams on public safety issues, reports said. Police also have taken Mr. Adams’ phone and searched the homes of people in his orbit.
Ms. Zornberg, who worked at the U.S. attorney’s office and led some investigations into Mr. Adams’ administration, penned a three-sentence resignation letter to the mayor.
“It has been a great honor to serve the City. I am tendering my resignation, effective today, as I have concluded that I can no longer effectively serve in my position,” she wrote. “I wish you nothing but the best.”
Media reports suggest the chief counsel left after the mayor rejected her advice to fire certain personnel.
On Tuesday, Mr. Adams rejected the idea that some in his administration are insulated from scrutiny. Despite the unflattering headlines, he said the public isn’t worried about the investigations.
“You do have a job of reporting this,” Mr. Adams said. “I have one job: Take care of the people of this city.”
Fabien Levy, deputy mayor for communications, pointed to declining crime rates and job growth during the past 2½ years.
“The mayor’s main focus right now, as it is every day, is to continue to deliver for New Yorkers,” Mr. Levy told The Washington Times. “Every day, we are working to make this a safer, more affordable city, and New Yorkers are seeing the results day in and day out.”
Curtis Sliwa, the Republican mayoral nominee who lost to Mr. Adams in 2021, said people are fed up with the mayor, who promised to bring the swagger back to the Big Apple.
“If things were going well, nobody would care. Nobody would care about him being the nightlife mayor. But things are not going well,” said Mr. Sliwa, a radio host and founder of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit crime prevention organization. “He hung the migrant situation onto us. We’re paying for everything. They see the garbage, the crime, the empty buildings.”
He said the Supreme Court raised the bar for proving corruption allegations based on gifts and favors. The biggest threats to the mayor’s administration are allegations of campaign contributions from abroad.
“Foreign money changes that, we saw that with Bobby Menendez,” said Mr. Sliwa, referring to the U.S. senator from New Jersey who resigned after a conviction on bribery charges related to work for Egyptians. “Foreign money, that can take you down.”
In some ways, the timing couldn’t be worse for Mr. Adams, who faces reelection next year.
The 2025 campaign is ramping up. City Comptroller Brad Lander is running for mayor, and so is his predecessor as comptroller, Scott Stringer.
Jessica Ramos, a state senator from Queens, started her campaign Friday, and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn is expected to join the race.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who resigned from his Albany post amid sexual harassment allegations in 2021, is rumored to be considering a run.
On the Republican side, Mr. Sliwa plans to run again. He said the populace will be fed up with Democratic leadership.
“They brought us to the brink, now, of falling completely into the abyss,” he said. “This may well be the time people come to their senses and say, ‘What do we have to lose?’”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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