NEW YORK CITY–Mayor Eric Adams has indicated he is unconcerned about the possibility of Gov. Kathy Hochul losing faith in him or installing “guardrails” on his administration.
Adams said that his relationship with Hochul was doing just fine after her comments on proposing legislation to put guardrails on his administration in place to “reestablish trust” with the public.
“We’ve had a great relationship. Every time I called on the governor, she was there,” Adams said during a press conference on Feb. 24, .
Speaking on the proposed guardrails, Adams said, “There’s no legal reason to do this because some of what she’s asking, it must pass a law. And if you have to pass the law, that means right now, it’s not legally in place.”
This came after many Democratic politicians raised concerns about their fellow Democrat after charges against him were dropped by the Department of Justice. They expressed concerns that Adams would be serving the interest of the Trump administration and not the people of NYC in his leadership decisions.
Adams has denied any quid pro quo deal, saying he’s “solely beholden to the 8.3 million New Yorkers that I represent and I will always put this city first.”
There is a vocal group of politicians and activists that want Adams to be deposed by the governor.
The DOJ ordered Adams’ bribery and other charges be dropped due to the charges impeding the mayor’s ability to proceed with his priorities for the city, which align with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement push. Adams has plead not guilty on all charges.
After four of Adams’ deputy mayors announced their resignation, the Democrats’ cries for the governor to remove Adams grew only louder.
“New York is facing a grave threat from Washington,“ Hochul said at a news conference. ”The Trump administration is already trying to use the legal jeopardy facing our mayor as leverage to squeeze and punish our city.”
Hochul announced on Feb. 20 that she would not be deposing the mayor. Her reasoning for the move was that it would be undemocratic for her to remove the mayor who was elected by the people of NYC, that the process would be a complicated process that had never been used against a sitting mayor of NYC, and that she is confident that her “system of checks” would provide the necessary oversight of city budgeting, investigatory, and legal powers.
Her plan would create a new deputy inspector general for NYC and give additional funding to the state comptroller to probe city finances. Hochul also expressed interest in making an explicit mechanism for the city’s comptroller, public advocate, and council speaker to launch lawsuits against the federal government.
The “checks,” if approved by state lawmakers, would end when Adams’ first term finishes in 2025, although they could be brought for a renewal.
