Mayor Adams’ inauguration committee faces allegations that it accepted illegal contributions and violated other campaign finance rules before and after Adams took office last year, according to city records.
A notice made public this week states that the city’s Campaign Finance Board will hold a meeting Wednesday to review allegations that the Adams inauguration committee obtained “prohibited donations,” failed to “adequately scale back” its operations, and failed to respond to the board’s “requests for information and documentation.” .”
The notice does not elaborate further on the nature of the claims, and a board spokesman declined to comment Tuesday.
However, a Daily News review of campaign finance records indicates that the “prohibited donations” allegation may involve people who gave money to Adams’ committee despite doing business with city government.
Under local campaign finance laws, people bidding on city contracts or otherwise doing business with city government are prohibited from giving money to investiture committees of mayoral candidates. These people have to register in the city’s “Doing Business” database, the purpose of which is to avoid the pay-to-play policy.
The News was able to identify eight Adams donors who contributed tens of thousands of dollars to his inauguration committee despite being listed in the city’s “Doing Business” database. All donors were refunded, according to city campaign finance records. The records do not clarify when exactly Adams’s committee returned the donations to them.
Campaign Finance Board Rules provides that an inaugural committee could be “imposed a monetary penalty” if it fails to “immediately refund” a contribution from a “prohibited source” upon notice.
Evan Thies, a spokesman for Adams’ 2025 re-election campaign, declined to comment Tuesday on specific details about the allegations against the defunct mayor’s inaugural committee. But Thies said the committee’s lawyers will appear at Wednesday’s meeting and “address the allegations with evidence as part of the normal audit process.”
Adams’s committee was responsible for planning and organizing his dedication ceremony.
In the two months after Adams’ November 2021 election, the committee raised nearly $2 million for the inauguration event initially set for Jan. 1, 2022, records show.
Due to a spike in COVID-19 cases at the time, Adams’ inauguration was canceled and the committee reimbursed hundreds of donors for more than $800,000 in contributions that was not spent
Tens of thousands of the remaining dollars raised were used to fund payments to a network of political advisers who worked for the Adams committee.
