Updated: Sep. 26, 2024, 9:12 p.m. | Published: Sep. 26, 2024, 1:21 p.m.
By Paul Liotta | pliotta@siadvance.com
CITY HALL — City Councilman Joseph Borelli (R-South Shore) said he’d consider a mayoral run if Mayor Eric Adams leaves or is removed from office and a nonpartisan special election is called.
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams announced five charges against Adams in relation to his Turkish connections before and after he became mayor.
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Adams has made no indication that he plans to resign, but if he does or is removed from office, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would become mayor. He would have the responsibility of calling a date for a nonpartisan special election to fill the mayoral vacancy.
If that occurred, Borelli said he would likely throw his hat in the ring into the current group of announced 2025 mayoral candidates.
Borelli did not have much to say on Adams’ indictment, only calling it “unprecedented.” Adams is the only sitting New York City mayor to face criminal charges in the modern era.
While Gov. Kathy Hochul has the easiest path to remove the mayor, the City Charter also contains a mechanism by which a host of city officials, including the council speaker, public advocate, and comptroller, can form a commission to declare the mayor unable to fulfill his duties.
None of those three city officials, none of whom are close allies with the mayor, have offered any indication they plan to take that step. Hochul has likewise made no indication she intends to remove the mayor.
Ahead of Williams’ Thursday announcement, Hochul spokesman Avi Small said the governor was monitoring the situation.
Federal prosecutors alleged Thursday that starting in 2015 Adams took bribes from Turkish nationals in the form of lavish travel accommodations to nations including Turkey, Hungary, India and Ghana.
In exchange, Adams leaned on the FDNY starting in Sept. 2021, when it became clear he would become mayor, to permit a building to open that would not have been approved without the pressure. Williams said the approving FDNY officials made their decision with their jobs threatened.
“Some of the people at FDNY thought the building had so many issues and defects that the building was not safe to occupy,” Williams said. “Adams delivered and pressured the fire department to let the building open. The FDNY professionals were convinced that they would lose their job in they didn’t back down.”
The mayor has denied wrongdoing and said outside Gracie Mansion Thursday that he plans to continue on as mayor.
Adams has tried to paint the federal prosecution against him as retaliation for his standing up for New York City.
“This is not surprising to us at all. The actions that have unfolded over the last 10 months, the leaks, the commentary, the demonizing,” Adams said. “This did not a surprise us that we reached this day, and I asked New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense before making any judgments.”