Governor Hochul will not oust NYC mayor
Strict guidelines to be imposed on Adams
By: John Bacon
and Eduardo Cuevas
USA Today
NEW YORK - Governor Kathy Hochul will not oust embattled New York City Mayor Eric Adams fro office but will attempt to impose strict new guidelines on his administration, according to multiple media reports.
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The New York Times, citing two-officials the media outlet described as familiar with the governor's thinking, said her guidelines could curtail the mayor's independence as he awaits a feral judge's decision on a Justice Department motion to drop corruption charges against him.
..... Hochul been under intense pressure to remove Adams from office.
..... Adams, 64, is a former New York police officer and Brooklyn borough president now running for a second mayoral term. he has been charged with one court of conspiracy to receive campaign contributions from foreign national and commit wire fraud and bribery, one count of wire fraud, two counts of soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nations and one count of soliciting and accepting a bribe.
..... At a hearing Wednesday [02/19/2025] before U.S. District Judge Dale Ho, Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove pressed his argument that the charges, filed in September [2024]
during the Biden administration, were keeping Adams form devoting full attention to illegal immigration and violent crime. As of press time, Ho had not issued a ruling.
..... Multiple federal prosecutors resigned rather than file the motion to drop the charges.
..... Bennett Gershman, a professor at Pace University Law School, said Bove made it clear at the hearing that the motion to dismiss "has no legal base but was based wholly on political serons."
..... Gershman said dropping the charges - which the Justice Department has requested be done without prejudice, which means the case could be brought again - was "in effect a sledgehammer over Adams."
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Still, Gershman said he believes Ho will side wit the Justice Department.
..... The city charter allows the governor tor remove a mayor from office "after service upon him of a copy of the charges and an opportunity to be heard in his defense." How that would work is not immediately clear, and there is no precedent for it. Hochul could also opt to let New Yorkers decide Adams' fate in the June primary.
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Several New York leaders and organizations called on Adams to resign. "His obvious quid pro quo dealings, cooperation with ICE, top staff resignations and subservience to Donald Trump prove be is unfit to lead," Brooklyn Yong democrats declared in a social media post Thursday [02/20/2025]. Brooklyn state Senator Zellnor Myrie accused Adams and Trump of "blatantly attempting to subvert justice" and called for a special prosecutor, saying in a statement, "Eric Adams sacrificed our local government;s autonomy to save his own skin."
..... Adams has his defenders. State Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, was part of a group of eight Black lawmakers who sent Hochul a letter defending Adams.
..... "As Black legislators we have seen this over and over again" double standards and unfair process when it comes to our leaders," the letter says in part. "If a move against the mayor is made without a justifiable legal reason, our communities will never forget it."
..... If Adams were removed for office before March 26, [2025] or 90 days before the June 24 [2025] primary, the action mayor would need to call a special election whose winner would serve until the newly elected mayor took office in January. [2026]