I read the entire indictment issued by federal prosecutors
that outlines Mayor Adams’ attempt to play with the big guys. Since influence peddling
and favor-trading for campaign cash is how our system runs, it’s a bit much to
see Adams tackled for business as usual. Unfortunately for Adams, he didn’t learn
the basics on how it’s done.
Adams should have had better instruction from the real
experts in how to move in power circles and get everyone’s back mutually scratched
smoothly and silently. He didn’t get the right lawyers who know how to do deals
without leaving tracks.
Adams and his staff thought they were slick OGs who had
parleyed themselves into power and could sail into the big time. In fact, they’re
nouveau hustlers with sloppy methods.
A good chunk of the evidence federal prosecutors have lined
up against Adams is based on text messages. Text messages?? Seriously, did
these folks really not get the memo about how none of that is safe or private? They
even write things like, Let’s not text each other about this!
I sat on a jury last year in which a kid who conceivably
could have gotten away with a serious crime screwed himself by texting
incriminating statements. You get the exact same vibe from reading Adams’ staff
work.
And who’s bright idea was it to organize the cash slurry for
Adams’ campaigns through Turkiye? Anyone with a pulse knows that you rely on Israeli
cash nowadays, and nobody will dare bother you. Some powerful people had to be
very unhappy about city government being penetrated by a Muslim country.
Ukraine, okay, maybe some East Europeans, solid Anglo allies elsewhere, no
problem. But Istanbul? Not done!
It's almost sad to see how cheaply Adams was seduced by things
like a business class seat on Turkish Airlines and a few days in a luxury
hotel. No wonder we went along with Bloomberg for so long since he could buy
the same hotel out of his petty cash box.
New York City tries to lessen the influence of big money in
elections by matching small donations with public funds 8 to 1. That’s real
money, and Adams stole it, essentially, by lining up illegal major donations
and hiding them through straw donors, like a business guy’s driver who then gets
reimbursed by the boss. It’s a very old game, and everyone knows it goes on.
But that’s why you need experts in covering it up.
Intrepid muckrakers at The City dug up the details,
which started the investigative ball rolling. (Everyone should subscribe to
their daily bulletin and send them money.) While that took work, it wasn’t hard
to unravel the corrupt threads.
Adams might beat the bribery charge because the Supreme
Court helpfully limited those prosecutions to provable quid pro quos. But the
manipulation of campaign finance restrictions is clearly laid out; I can’t see
how he escapes those counts. His career is over, and the fantasies of moving on
to national office and even the White House (yes, there are delusional messages
in that vein) are consigned to dreamland.
That said, liberal New York shouldn’t wallow in
self-righteousness because we put Eric Adams in office, and we can’t pretend we
didn’t know what he was about. People succumbed to fear-mongering over crime in
the subways, and Adams, a former cop, promised to pour police officers onto the
platforms, which he did. We all know perfectly well what a policing response
means, and we got what the majority asked for—a baton-led response to social
ills. The tabloids and Murdoch’s empire were delighted and now keep up the
drumbeat of scare stories so that the only possible response to the current
failing policy is to double down on it.
Adams’s shamelessness was on display even before he took
office. He smiled glibly and was surrounded by dubious comrades with disturbing
records. His word salads could compete with Kamala’s indecipherable ramblings,
and his interest in keeping the rich and powerful happy was obvious from Day
One. But we demanded SAFETY above all else, and we got cops everywhere, which
isn’t that but reassures white people. The sad evidence that Adams was in it
for himself should have been a bright red warning light. But our overlords reminded
us to be scared, and we did what they suggested. Will we do better next time?