By Rebecca C. Lewis\City & State
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed New York City reporters for the first time on Monday since New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted last week. She confirmed that she spoke to the mayor following the unsealing of the indictment, and she suggested that New Yorkers’ confidence in the mayor is “wavering.” But she provided little insight about what it would take for her to remove him from office.
Hochul made the comments about Adams during an unrelated press conference in Manhattan about plans to “keep New York running” in the wake of a potential strike at East Coast ports. She told reporters that she is “not going to stand here and give a timeline right now” on when or if she plans to remove Adams from office. She has authority under both state law and the New York City charter to remove a mayor from office, but doing so would be an extraordinary step. “We must convince New Yorkers, let them know that there is responsible leadership that knows how to govern, and I have to restore that,” Hochul said, adding that it would be “difficult.”
The governor did not explicitly rule out the prospect of invoking her authority to remove Adams, instead suggesting that she is allowing Adams time to prove himself in the wake of the indictment. “I’m giving the mayor an opportunity now to demonstrate to New Yorkers – and to me – that we are righting the ship, that we have the opportunity to instill the confidence that I think is wavering right now, and to power forward with an effective government,” Hochul said. Read more here.
