Amid another humiliating week of law-enforcement raids and high-level resignations, our mayor proclaimed that “we have turned the corner on this crisis.”
He was talking, misleadingly, about housing migrants but everything has a double meaning in Eric Adams’ New York.
The mayor, without much farther to fall, is hoping for at least a dead-cat bounce.
The ex-cop who’s failed to make the city feel safe again is facing five federal charges, with more potentially coming.
Adams is asking voters to reserve judgment but New Yorkers have heard lots about the corruption case against him, and an overwhelming majority say he’s a bad guy who’s been a bad mayor.
Simple math says that includes many people who voted for Adams not even three years ago.
Even if he hangs on to the end of his term, new leadership is coming by 2026.
There was an expectation among supporters and critics alike of “honest graft,” as a Tammany Hall chief famously called it, when Adams won in 2021
The hope was that Adams had seen enough of his peers — Clarence Norman, Shirley Huntley, John Sampson, Norman Seabrook — go to prison that he knew better than to stretch the limits and letters of the law now that he was playing on the big stage.
Instead, Adams promptly appointed an old friend — who’d retired from the NYPD after storing his shady pals’ bag of diamonds in his office safe at One Police Plaza — as the deputy mayor for public safety.
That was part of Adams’ split system, with some competent and decent public servants tasked with governing while his pals operating outside the formal chain of command created bottlenecks and feeding opportunities.
Hizzoner and his cronies weren’t content with nibbling crumbs and dipping their beaks. They tried to swallow too much and now they’re choking.
The mayor, aware the weathervane governor could fire him after the presidential election, is being forced by her to clean house in an administration where people have been grabbing everything that isn’t nailed down.
And some of what is nailed down, and some of the nails.
There’s a Soviet joke about a mine worker who walks out rolling a wheelbarrow filled with dirt. A guard stops him, sifts through and finds nothing.
This keeps happening, and finally the guard says, “I’m retiring and I need to know: What have you been stealing?”
“Wheelbarrows.”
City Hall’s wheelbarrow thieves are being ushered out now as Adams tries to save his own skin while ridiculously insisting his friends all just decided to explore other life opportunities after September’s FBI raids.
Maybe the silver lining will be a magic 15 months of dedicated public servants with clear lanes governing on behalf of New Yorkers, but that’s a lot to hope for.
Another Soviet joke was about a commissar touring a Lada factory, where the manager presents him with a car.
The commissar declines, saying “I am just a humble servant of the people.”
The manager, no fool, says “da — pay five rubles as a token of your esteem.”
“Thank you comrade,” replies the commissar, taking out a 20-ruble note, “I’ll take four.“
An Eric Adams’ New York joke, from his indictment, details his aide reaching out to his state patrons at Turkish Airlines for a first-class flight to Istanbul.
Airline Manager: It is very expensive because it is last minute. I am working on a discount… I am going to charge $50…
Adams Staffer: No, dear. $50? What? Quote a proper price.
Airline Manager: How much should I charge? 
Adams Staffer: His every step is being watched right now — $1,000 or so — Let it be somewhat real.
“Somewhat real” is good enough when you’re the Brooklyn borough president with a job title that impresses foreign officials and gives people reason to buy your favor and bet on your ambitions but not enough power to do much real harm.
President Adams even had an “American/Chinese Ambassador” he then brought to City Hall, but that’s another story and FBI investigation.
“Somewhat real” isn’t good enough when you’re the mayor of New York City and all eyes are on you.
If New Yorkers don’t want to be humiliated again, it’s past time to start putting the candidates running against Adams and those preparing to jump in if he exits mid-term through real job interviews.
Let’s not have another race where a frontrunning candidate named Andrew absorbs most of the attention, no one else is seriously vetted, and New Yorkers just sort of hope for the best.
Siegel ([email protected]) is an editor at The City, a host of the FAQ NYC podcast and a columnist for the Daily News.
