HOCHUL MANAGES: As Mayor Eric Adams fights a five-count federal indictment for fraud and bribery, it’s up to Gov. Kathy Hochul to manage the delicate moment.
Hochul has publicly and privately telegraphed Adams asking him to sever ties with people in his administration who are under legal scrutiny.
This week Tim Pearson, a top Adams lieutenant, resigned. Schools Chancellor David Banks, whose phone was seized in an FBI raid in September, is leaving his job earlier than expected.
Adams told reporters this morning that Banks’ new departure date was, in part, to put incoming Chancellor Melissa Avilés-Ramos on solid footing. But he also acknowledged that those discussions came after speaking with other leaders.
“One of the things that my team stated and in my conversation with other leaders is that this is a time of true stability and having Melissa and David there at the same time did not bring the stability that we wanted,” he said.
Hochul has had a strong public relationship with Adams for the past three years. Both the governor and mayor have cultivated a perception that they work well together in stark contrast to the infamous feuds that engulfed their predecessors, such as Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio, George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani, and Mario Cuomo and Ed Koch.
But Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, has not been afraid to leverage his influence amid broader concerns about city governance.
Hochul told reporters Wednesday that he has been working with Adams to ensure key positions are filled by “responsible” people.
“We expect changes. “That’s not a secret,” he said. “And the changes are beginning.”
Hochul, the first Western New York native in a century to serve as governor, has become more immersed in New York’s political world since becoming a state official in 2015, according to those who know her.
“Right now it’s very concentrated across the state,” said Jack O’Donnell, a political consultant and lobbyist. “New York City was a big focus of their housing plan. “He has learned to navigate politics but also in city governance issues.”
Some good-government advocates wish she would go further.
“She’s not cleaning the house, she’s saying to sweep the driveway every once in a while,” said Reinvent Albany Executive Director John Kaehny. “This is not very aggressive.” — Nick Reisman
GIBBS ARRESTED: State Assemblyman Eddie Gibbs was arrested and taken into custody by the New York City Police Department on Thursday in his East Harlem district, according to witnesses, POLITICO reports.
Two people who spoke to sources within the NYPD said Gibbs’ brother was stopped for having an unregistered vehicle. The lawmaker was also in the car and got into a heated conversation with police, who arrested him and handed him a summons.
Nearly a dozen police cars responded to the incident on Lexington Avenue, just outside the James Weldon Johnson Community Center, said Frederick Thomas, a security guard for the New York City Housing Authority. Strategic Response Group police officers frisked Gibbs, handcuffed him and took him away from the scene.
Three other witnesses confirmed Gibbs’ arrest to POLITICO. Was first reported by the New York Post.
Calls to Gibbs’ phone and his office were not returned, and the NYPD press office said they did not have any information about the incident. Gibbs’ district office was closed Thursday. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gibbs is a close legislative ally of Mayor Adams, whose administration has been ensnared in criminal investigations. There was no indication that Gibbs’ arrest was related. — jeff coltin
DON’T LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT HIM: Outgoing Schools Chancellor Banks revealed Thursday that Mayor Adams forced his early resignation, exposing a rift between the longtime friends as federal investigations engulf the administration. POLITICO Pro Reports.
In her first public comments since the City Council announced Wednesday night that she will resign in mid-October, three months earlier than planned, Banks confirmed that she had no intention of resigning so soon.
With his months-long conflict with the mayor now on display, the chancellor issued a statement through the TASC Group, a public relations firm he hired, rather than through the Department of Education. In that statement, he said he will continue to lead for another two weeks.
“Last week I announced my planned retirement and was ready, willing and able to remain in my position until December 31 to carry out a responsible transition for our staff,” Banks said. “The mayor has decided to accelerate that schedule. “My focus will be on supporting the incoming chancellor as she takes on this new role and continues the great work we have started in the New York City Public Schools.”
Spokespeople for the DOE and City Hall did not respond to requests for comment on why Banks issued the statement through the company.
Asked if he is still Banks’ spokesman, DOE press secretary Nathaniel Styer said, “I am the press secretary for the New York City Public Schools.” — Medina Toure
ANOTHER SEARCHED INTERIOR CIRCULATOR: Jesse Hamilton, a longtime political ally of Mayor Adams who holds a senior position managing the city government’s real estate portfolio, had his phone confiscated by criminal investigators on Friday, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, POLITICO reports. .
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office took Hamilton’s phone at JFK Airport as he returned from a vacation in Japan along with Adams’ senior adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin, according to the two people who spoke to POLITICO under condition of anonymity.
Hamilton, a former state senator, is another addition to the growing list of high-ranking Adams appointees caught up in the criminal investigations swirling around City Hall.
The seizure was first reported by the Daily Newswhich noted that an employee of commercial real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield was also on the trip. That Cushman vice president, Diana Boutross, also appears to be in a relationship with Lewis-Martin, according to a POLITICO review. — Joe Anuta
IN OTHER NEWS
— LAWYER IN BLACK FACE: Rep. Mike Lawler wore blackface as part of a Halloween costume when he was a college student nearly two decades ago, according to photos. (New York Times)
— FIGHT FOR THE NY-17 BALLOT: Democratic allies of former Rep. Mondaire Jones filed suit in a last-minute attempt to remove a “sabotaging” Working Families Party candidate from the ballot. (New York Post)
— PRACTICE ‘RESPECTFUL’ SPEECH: As New York college campuses prepare for protests commemorating the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks on Israel, administrators are organizing events that model “open and respectful dialogue.” (Gothamist)
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