Rather than remove Adams, Hochul proposes watching him very closely

At a press conference on Thursday, she said that she will not attempt to remove Mayor Eric Adams from office, at least for the time being. Instead, she’s pursuing a three-pronged approach meant to increase Albany’s oversight of New York City government that wouldn’t actually change all that much. State and city lawmakers are both underwhelmed – and pissed off.

“We are taking a number of steps that give us line of sight into budgetary matters, investigative matters and legal matters to ensure that there’s no area where any decisions can be compromised,” Hochul said, speaking at a press conference Thursday afternoon. “The mayor has to take the time to rebuild the trust with the people of this city … The state of New York is keeping an eye on the situation.”

As a sort of half-measure meant to inspire a degree of confidence in the city’s governance, Hochul wants to establish a new special inspector general at the state level who would exclusively watch over the actions of the mayor. The city Department of Investigation would report to this new official, and the mayor would not be able to replace the head of the city DOI without their sign off – an arrangement meant to prevent the mayor from killing an investigation that gets too close to City Hall. “This will protect the city's investigations from any interference, make sure that there's no lack of independence as they make their determinations,” Hochul said. 

The governor also wants to expand other city officials’ ability to sue the federal government independently of the corporation counsel, an appointee of the mayor. “The whole of city government should not be reliant on City Hall for legal cases where the people in the city may be under attack by the federal government,” Hochul said. And in the state comptroller’s office, Hochul is proposing additional funding for the division that oversees city finances. 

The proposals would be in place throughout 2025 – the remainder of Adams’ term – at which point they would be “subject to renewal.” NY1 was first to report that Hochul was considering introducing new legal limits on the mayor’s power.

Adams offered a measured response to the proposals, simultaneously attacking Hochul’s authority and expressing a willingness to work with her office. “I was elected by the people of New York City and its working-class communities to uphold their values – and that is what our administration has done,” the mayor said in a statement. “While there is no legal basis for limiting New Yorkers' power by limiting the authority of my office, I have told the governor, as we have done in the past, that I am willing to work with her to ensure faith in our government is strong. I look forward to continuing those conversations.”

A City Council spokesperson, meanwhile, didn’t offer much insight on where Speaker Adrienne Adams stands on the specifics of Hochul’s proposal, instead reiterating criticisms of the mayor. “Ensuring the stability of our city government is critical, as the loss of confidence in Mayor Adams by his own staff, colleagues in government, and New Yorkers has undermined his Administration's ability to effectively govern,” the spokesperson said. “As Speaker Adams said earlier this week, New Yorkers need a city leader who is totally committed to protecting and improving their lives and provides management that is trusted as uncompromised. Once we receive the details of Governor Hochul's proposals, we will review them.”

Hochul didn’t give a specific timeline for the legislation, but said she wants to act expeditiously. The first step is for the City Council to pass a “home rule message” allowing the state Legislature to pass the measures. Without the support of the mayor, the Council would need a two-thirds majority to pass it. It would then head to state lawmakers, who would need to pass the bills. A spokesperson for state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she would review the language once it becomes available. A spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie similarly said that he will review any proposal and discuss it with members.

None of the measures directly curb the mayor’s executive authority, but Hochul’s proposals represent an extraordinary infringement of city independence by state officials. “Let’s hope these measures don’t prove too tantalizing to the Legislature such that they’d renew them at the end of 2025, thereby effectively ending city government,” one Democratic consultant told City & State. Hochul sought to assuage concerns that the state would have permanent control over city affairs by including an expiration date, but she left the door open to renewing the measures. “Ask me at the end of December 2025,” Hochul said when asked whether she would seek to renew them.

Notably, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to enter the race for mayor and is already leading in polls. He would represent a major thorn in Hochul’s side should he win, but she said the prospect didn’t factor into her thought process at all. Still, she did not explicitly rule out renewing the oversight when asked about a potential Cuomo victory. “I will look at the facts at the end of the year and determine what's best for the city,” she said.

Hochul’s proposal comes only a few days after she met with city and state officials to discuss Adams’ political future after President Donald Trump’s Justice Department ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors to drop the mayor’s five-count indictment. While the judge in the case has yet to dismiss the mayor’s public corruption charges, a big part of the uproar has stemmed from the Justice Department seeking to dismiss the case “without prejudice,” which would allow charges to be brought back against the mayor in the future. Many Democratic leaders believe this gives Trump leverage over Adams, and four of Adams’ deputy mayors announced their resignations on Monday. Over the past week, a flurry of elected officials called on Adams to resign – with some even urging Hochul to use her powers under the city charter and state law to remove the mayor from office.

Reacting to Hochul’s proposal on Thursday, some of those officials maintained that the governor should take the more drastic step of removing Adams from office. “I think at this point she ought to remove him. She’s trying to avoid that step, but I don’t really think she can,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler, one of three members of Congress who have called for Adams to be removed if he doesn’t resign. Asked why voters shouldn’t be able to decide Adams’ fate in the election and whether removal would set a concerning precedent, Nadler said that the situation calls for it. “It’s a power that should be used very sparingly, because you’re upsetting an election. But in this case, the mayor has upset the election by putting himself in thrall to the president,” he said. “He’s not the mayor that the people voted for anymore.”

Others, like Assembly Member Micah Lasher, saw value in what the governor was trying to do. “I think she's trying to restore some semblance of stability and confidence in a very difficult situation, and recognizes that removing the mayor would be a truly extraordinary exercise of power,” Lasher told City & State. Before his election, he served as a top Hochul adviser on policy, and he now would be one of the legislators who would need to vote for her proposals. Lasher said it’s too early to say how his colleagues might vote, but he sounded like he would be on board. “I certainly think there is a logic to focusing on two areas where New Yorkers’ confidence has really been shattered: the integrity of the administration and the willingness of the administration to take on Donald Trump,” he said.

City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is running for mayor, said that while there are better ways for the mayor to be kept in check, he “fully intends” to use the new authorities proposed by the governor to pursue legal action against the federal government if Adams is unwilling to do so. “While the best solution to restore public trust would be for Mayor Adams to resign and to keep the four deputy mayors in place instead,” Lander said in a statement. “Hochul’s new guardrails are useful to keep New York City moving forward in these precarious times.”

Lander and Speaker Adams would both make up part of an “ inability committee” that could also remove Mayor Adams from office. The speaker has made it clear that she doesn’t believe the committee can act in this instance, since the mayor has is not physically unable to perform the duties of his job, while Lander has expressed a willingness to convene it should the mayor fail to provide a contingency plan for running the city. 

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who would also be part of the five-person inability committee, praised Hochul’s proposals to increase oversight of City Hall. “I strongly support her actions today to provide additional state oversight of this mayoral administration, which I believe represent critical steps toward rebuilding New Yorkers' shaken confidence in our government and placing our city on more solid footing," he said in a statement, emphasizing that they the new measures Hochul is proposing should only be temporary guardrails that go away “upon the resolution of this crisis.”

Even allies of the mayor have expressed muted support for what the governor has proposed. After initially characterizing the move as a “big overstep” and suggesting that racial politics played a role in Hochul’s decision, Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn walked back her comments. Bichotte Hermelyn, who leads the Brooklyn Democratic Party, said that she believes the federal government is attempting to overstep its boundaries in New York and the guardrails are meant to prevent that. “Understanding the basis of this, I agree with the Governor,” Bichotte Hermelyn wrote on X. “The timing of this action is unfortunate. Nonetheless, I stand by the Mayor and am confident in his ability to govern.” She previously joined with a handful of other Black lawmakers in writing a letter demanding Hochul not remove Adams.

While sanctions are a much lighter step than removing Adams, the action isn’t being especially well-received in City Hall. One City Hall insider suggested that legislative proposals to grant the state more authority over local governments wouldn’t make it through the state Legislature. “It would be a terrible precedent to set in this state,” they said. The source also called out Hochul’s passionate criticism of President Donald Trump’s attempt to revoke federal approvals of congestion pricing just a day earlier. “You cannot be offended when the federal government tries to interfere in local government, and then turn around and try to interfere in local government,” they said. 

A Democratic operative also commented on the apparent quick reversal of the good will that Hochul gained on Wednesday when she took a stance against the president. “Once again the governor found a creative way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,” they said.