The New York City government structure is no stranger to numerous forms of corruption. But this most recent administration under Mayor Eric Adams has seemingly been shrouded in secrecy, corruption, ineffective solutions, and a false attempt at transparency within the city government.
Eric Adams and his administration were elected into office in the 2021 elections and were sworn in on January 1, 2022. Since then, city leadership has been scrutinized – whether that be in terms of the mass corruption, or the fact that Mayor Adams (up until recently) lived in Fort Lee, New Jersey – not in Brooklyn as he claimed. However, he did own a property in Brooklyn which he used as his primary address to run for Mayor. Some people allege that this was all just a big misunderstanding; however, Adams has a record of owning both properties and a record of renting out apartment blocks at his Brooklyn address which he used to run for Mayor. But at the end of it all, Adams won the Democratic primary with 50.4% of the vote against his final challenger, Kathryn Garcia, in round 8 of the primary – as this was the first election cycle to use ranked-choice voting in New York City since it was implemented. He then went on to face his Republican challenger, Curtis Silwa, in the general election – winning with 66.99% of the vote against Silwa’s 27.76%. It was official – Eric Adams became the Mayor of New York City.
Once Adams took office, he quickly realized that simply being a former NYPD officer and a former Borough President was not going to make him a good Mayor. It was going to be a whole lot harder for the newly-elected Mayor Adams to make the city function following the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which decimated the city and caused several preexisting issues to worsen. He immediately began to leave a bad impression on New Yorkers, approving a new version of the infamous “stop and frisk” policy [which has been deemed unconstitutional], even utilizing it more than it was at its peak under Mayor Bloomberg. His direct opposition to any sort of police reform in a city that heavily supported it was also not doing him any favors, and paired with his past as an NYPD officer – it was seen by many as him giving back to his old employer, even if it was against the will of the people of New York.
Another one of the subjects which he is most criticized is his handling of the homelessness crisis in the city, as his plan was to allow mental hospitals [which were already overwhelmed] to admit homeless individuals and also approved for NYPD to raid encampments and force these unhoused citizens into mental hospitals. You may think this policy is only applicable to those who are a risk to themselves or others – but no; this policy is for every unhoused individual in the entire city, regardless of whether they pose any risk or not.
You might think that this is throughout his tenure as mayor up until now, but this is all from just the first year of his term. The less-than-humane handling of the homelessness crisis, paired with the constant deflection from these completely failed policies had led to a poor approval rating. With Spectrum NY1 News conducting a poll alongside Siena College, Adams’ approval was at just 29% by the end of his first year in office.
Not too long after the beginning of Adams’ term, local press outlets, including the Times and the Post, have labeled his plans as “ineffectual” – once again adding to the massive pile of criticism that Adams has faced since the beginning of his term. And the following year wouldn’t be much kinder to Adams.
In late February of 2023, while attending an annual interfaith breakfast, Mayor Adams said that he did not believe in the constitutionally protected separation of church and state, saying “Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state. The state is the body. Church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies.” He also went on to go against the Supreme Court’s 1962 decision in Engel v. Vitale, which deemed school prayer mandates in public schools unconstitutional, saying “When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools…”
These religiously motivated remarks were not received well, as New York City is home to numerous cultures and religions, and many who are Christian do not believe in such mandates either. Adams would attempt to save his declining reputation in the city by tackling one of the most important issues in the city – housing availability. In March 2023, he announced the conversion project of vacant office buildings to be renovated into apartment buildings. This sounded great at face value, but it came with major caveats. For starters, he was proposing dorm-style apartments and declared that apartments did not require windows. This resulted in major backlash, and it finally became evident that the Adams administration would continue to be one of chaos and poor leadership.
And the next issue he’d tackle would be one of the final nails in the coffin of the Adam’s administration’s integrity. Throughout 2023, they would spend $50,000 to relocate 114 migrant households to countries like China. It turned out that these migrants, who had come to New York from the US-Mexico border between 2021 and 2022 had been there to seek political asylum. He would then go on to verbally attack immigrants, blaming them for the current lack of housing availability in the city, which was not well-received by many. This would cause his rivalry with his own City Council to begin, as they would overturn Adam’s decision to veto increasing eligibility for housing vouchers under CityFHEPS – this was the Council’s first overturned decision since the Bloomberg administration. Adams would seek to challenge the overturning and would seek to challenge the right to shelter, which is protected in Callahan v. Carey.
Factoring in his lack of transparency, broken promises from the campaign trail, and questions over his eligibility to be their mayor, among so many other issues and controversies – it’s no surprise that this same administration is now in a major scandal once again.
Earlier this month, it was announced that there was a federal investigation into the New York City government and that it had reached the inner circle of Mayor Eric Adams. A day after this investigation was unveiled, the investigation began ramping up, with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation speaking to New York police officers who were next to the NYPD Headquarters; they also seized several more mobile phones. Two of Adams’ top aides had their houses raided by agents the day the investigation was unveiled, which made it clear that something shady was going on in City Hall.
Mayor Adams has already sworn to comply with federal authorities throughout this investigation, saying in an interview with CBS New York, “I say over and over again, as a former member of law enforcement, I’m very clear. We follow the rules. We make sure that we cooperate and turn over any information that is needed and it just really would be inappropriate to get in the way of the review while it’s taking place,” This statement suggests that the mayor has nothing to hide, yet several sources have confirmed that Mayor Adams is somehow involved in the topic of this investigation.
On the morning of September 24, the FBI confirmed that they were investigating Eric Adam’s 2021 mayoral campaign, and its alleged ties to at least six different countries – including Israel, China, Qatar, South Korea, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan. These six countries allegedly donated illegally to Adams’ mayoral campaign to ensure his victory in the election, in exchange for a person more favorable towards them in a major government position in the United States. Foreign agents, especially when operating illegally in our elections, are a direct threat to our right to democracy and our freedoms as a country, and the FBI doesn’t seem to be taking it too lightly – especially as this investigation grows and continues, with no sight of the FBI slowing down anytime soon.
On the 26th of September, an indictment was unsealed which accused Adams of abusing the campaign finance system in New York City. In the indictment, Adams is charged with two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national, one count of wire fraud, one count of bribery, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, solicit foreign contributions, and accept bribes. Adams appeared in court the following day and pleaded not guilty to all five counts brought against him.
We reached out to several contacts at City Hall, the Mayor’s office, and the Public Advocate’s office. They refused to comment.
