Posts
Hochul Meets Key Leaders to Decide Whether to Fire Adams
After meeting with the governor, Al Sharpton indicated Hochul will not act until after Wednesday’s court hearing on the mayor’s corruption case.
This article originally apeared in The City.
NEW YORK - Gov. Kathy Hochul met with a parade of top New York City leaders on Tuesday as she pondered whether or not to remove embattled Mayor Eric Adams amid a growing chorus of calls for his resignation.
Hochul — who has the power to oust the mayor after serving him with charges and offering him a hearing in his defense — summoned key political figures including the Rev. Al Sharpton, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and city Comptroller Brad Lander for a series of one-on-one meetings at her Midtown Manhattan offices.
The mounting pressure on Adams comes after four of his top deputy mayors submitted their resignations Monday after being credited with keeping city government running as the mayor faced federal corruption charges.
That, in turn, came days after the Trump Justice department moved to drop the criminal case against the mayor, who then made the media rounds with Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan — who promised he’d be “up [Adams’] butt” if the mayor didn’t comply with the administration’s mass-deportation agenda.
Federal prosecutors were ordered to make the argument for why the corruption charges against Adams should be dropped before Federal Justice Dale Ho on Wednesday.
Sharpton, a key Adams ally, told reporters after his meeting that Hochul planned to wait until after Ho’s decision to decide how to handle the situation.
“The faith of the city people has been shaken and there needs to be a resolve,” Sharpton said to reporters after leaving his meeting with Hochul. “The governor said to me that she is going to see what the judge decides tomorrow and keep deliberating with other leaders.”
Per @rachelnoerd — Rev. Sharpton and @GovKathyHochul pic.twitter.com/zi2W9hmQ8T
— katiehonan.bsky.social (@katie_honan) February 18, 2025
Speaker Adams has called on the mayor to step down and is reportedly being recruited to run for mayor herself against Andrew Cuomo, who’s widely expected to enter the race if Mayor Adams exists City Hall.
She left Hochul’s Third Avenue building through a side door out of an adjacent Chase bank, attempting to dodge reporters gathered at the office’s main entrance. She said she had a “productive meeting,” declining to answer follow-up questions as she jumped into an SUV parked around the corner.
Tuesday’s meetings are the strongest indication yet that Hochul might move to exercise her power to oust Adams. The governor hinted at taking the drastic measure in a statement Monday night, just after news emerged that First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer and three others were submitting their resignations.
“In the 235 years of New York State history, these powers have never been utilized to remove a duly-elected mayor; overturning the will of the voters is a serious step that should not be taken lightly,” she wrote. “That said, the alleged conduct at City Hall that has been reported over the past two weeks is troubling and cannot be ignored.”
That was a different tone from the governor than the one she’d offered the previous week, when Hochul said that removing Adams, a political ally and fellow Democrat, did “not feel like something that’s very democratic” and she wasn’t inclined to “go there.”
There is no mechanism in New York City for voters to remove a mayor mid-term, and Adams this weekend emphatically repeated his intention to remain in office, repeatedly suggesting he was the victim of a broad conspiracy to remove the city’s second Black mayor.
If Hochul doesn’t act and Adams doesn’t resign, there is one other untested path that could lead to his removal: a group of city officials could convene an “inability committee.” Made up of the city comptroller, the City Council speaker, the longest-serving borough president, the corporation counsel and one deputy mayor, the panel was created in the late 1980s after Mayor Ed Koch had a stroke, ensuring a mechanism was in place if the city's chief executive was unable to serve.
If four of the five committee members agree, two-thirds of the Council would then have to vote to remove the mayor.
Lander, who is also a mayoral candidate, said he would be open to convening the committee but requested that Adams first deliver a plan to show how the city would remain stable and managed in the wake of the “unprecedented leadership vacuum in the weeks to come.”
“My preferred contingency plan would be the mayor resigns and the four deputy mayors stay,” Lander said. “If the mayor articulates a different contingency that demonstrates his ability to perform the duties of the office and meet New Yorkers' needs, then there wouldn't even be a meeting of the committee.”
Other members of the committee would include Speaker Adams and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who also met with Hochul on Tuesday.
“New Yorkers deserve that from a laser-focused government they can trust, and I encourage Mayor Adams to give deep, honest thought as to whether his administration is capable of delivering such a government,” Richards said in a statement after the meeting.
No mayor has ever been given the boot through either process, although Gov. and presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1931 started an investigation into nightlife-loving Mayor Jimmy Walker — who resigned while on a Europe-bound cruise ship with his mistress before he faced a formal removal and ahead of potential criminal charges.
Our nonprofit newsroom relies on donations from readers to sustain our local reporting and keep it free for all New Yorkers. Donate to THE CITY today.
Comments
Post a Comment