Gov. Kathy Hochul granted a stay of Mayor Eric Adams’ political execution Thursday — choosing instead to seek legal “guardrails” on his executive powers rather than exercise her City Charter authority to remove him from office.
Hochul announced her decision at a Feb. 20 press conference amid the ongoing fallout from President Trump’s Justice Department moving to drop the mayor’s corruption charges, which fueled speculation of a quid pro quo for Adams’ cooperation with Trump’s immigration crackdown — and revived calls for his ouster, either through resignation or removal from office.
The governor told reporters at her Midtown office that she decided against giving Adams the boot for the time being. She said she is not going down that road “at this time,” because she does not want to overrule the will of the voters, given the fast-approaching June 24 Democratic mayoral primary.
“I have determined that I will not commence removal proceedings at this time,” Hochul said. “My strong belief is that the will of the voters and the supremacy and sanctity of democratic elections preclude me from any other action. I cannot deny the people of this great city the power to make this decision for themselves.”
Throughout the news conference, Hochul expressed outrage at Trump’s administration, just a day after it moved to end the city’s congestion pricing program, for seemingly trying to impose its will on the solidly blue Empire State. She also pointed to a Friday interview in which Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, threatened that if Adams did not cooperate with the administration’s mass deportation push, he would be “up his butt.”
“New York is facing a grave threat from Washington,” Hochul said.”The Trump administration is already trying to use the legal jeopardy facing our mayor as leverage to squeeze and punish our city. The president is already trying to weaken our public transit system and undermine our state sovereignty. I call it the Trump revenge tour, and I have to stand in its way.”
Expanding state authority
Instead of removing Adams, Hochul said she will introduce three legislative proposals to place guardrails on the mayor’s executive authority, which the state legislature and City Council must approve. If implemented, the proposals would expire at the end of 2025 and would be subject to renewal.
The measures include giving city officials like the comptroller and City Council speaker “explicit authority” to file lawsuits without going through the city Law Department, expanding the state comptroller’s oversight of the city’s finances, and creating a special inspector general for New York City affairs.
Under the third proposal, the mayor would not be able to fire the city’s Department of Investigation commissioner without approval from the state Inspector General.
The governor said she also told Adams that he needs to appoint “strong managers” to replace the four deputy mayors who resigned from his administration earlier this week.
Adams, for his part, contended the governor has “no legal basis” to limit his authority.
“While there is no legal basis for limiting New Yorkers’ power by limiting the authority of my office, I have told the governor, as we have done in the past, that I am willing to work with her to ensure faith in our government is strong,” Adams said in a statement.
Hochul’s move comes in response to former acting US Attorney Danielle Sassoon alleging that Adams engaged in a quid pro quo with Trump’s DOJ to have his case scuttled in exchange for helping implement the president’s immigration agenda.
Earlier this week, Hochul held a series of meetings with other prominent New York Democrats to assess how she should deal with Adams as many fear that he is beholden to Trump, especially when it comes to immigration enforcement.
The fear stems largely from the potential dismissal of the Adams indictment “without prejudice,” meaning that the Justice Department could resurrect the case at any time — and some believe that could happen if Adams does not cooperate with Trump.
During his court appearance Wednesday, Mayor Adams denied under oath any quid pro quo with the DOJ, or that he was under any pressure to cooperate with the Trump administration on immigration. Yet the federal judge in the case, Dale Ho, said he needs time to deliberate on arguments made by the DOJ and Adams’ attorney, Alex Spiro, for dropping the case.
Reactions to Hochul’s proposals were mixed among the city’s elected officials.
City Comptroller Brad Lander applauded the move while making clear that his preferred option would be for Adams to resign and leave the four deputy mayors who are stepping down in place. In particular, he said the proposal giving his office the power to bring a lawsuit without going through the Law Department would be helpful in combating the Trump administration.
“While the best solution to restore public trust would be for Mayor Adams to resign and to keep the four deputy mayors in place instead, Governor Hochul’s new guardrails are useful to keep New York City moving forward in these precarious times,” he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the governor’s move was panned by the City Council’s Common Sense Caucus, made up of a bipartisan group of conservative lawmakers.
The group charged that Hochul proposed a “blatant political power grab as a solution to a crisis she herself has created.”
“We don’t need any more unnecessary bureaucracy in this city, and we certainly don’t need more litigation,” they added.
Updated on Feb. 20 at 6:23 p.m.
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