By Luca Simián, Class II
In late September 2024, New York City mayor Eric Adams was indicted on federal criminal charges, ranging from bribery to fraud. The charges centered on alleged gifts from the Turkish government of free or heavily discounted travel, and the Turkish government’s assistance in fraudulent claims of money through New York City’s public matching funds program, which allows donations from ordinary New Yorkers to mayoral campaigns to be matched by the city up to $2000 per individual donor. These gifts were allegedly in exchange for Adams’ use of his positions as Brooklyn Borough President and as Mayor to improperly advance the interests of the Turkish government. The alleged favors include putting pressure on the FDNY to approve a Turkish consulate building plagued with fire code defects, and appointing one of his Turkish associates to his mayoral transition committee.
Here’s why he should resign.
Firstly, the charges against him are both far-reaching and highly credible, and they don’t just target him. Many of his associates are also being federally investigated, and many have resigned, been fired, or even pleaded guilty and cooperated with officials. Federal officials have emails between city officials, messages between Adams’ staffers and Turkish officials, and even quotes from Adams himself that are incredibly damning, and clearly suggest he is entirely guilty of the charges leveled against him. One exchange laid out in the indictment includes a Turkish official letting an Adams staffer know that it was now “his turn” to help out the Turkish government in exchange for the favors he had received. When this message was relayed to Adams, he responded “I know.” The indictment also details how Adams threatened to fire the commissioner of the FDNY if he didn’t approve the Turkish consulate for occupancy. Additionally, the indictment explains that, in exchange for assistance with fraudulent donations to his campaign, Mayor Adams used his power to put pressure on the NYC Department of Buildings to do things like lift stop work orders. The evidence made public so far makes a compelling case that he has abused his power, circumvented regulation, and behaved in an entirely self-serving and corrupt manner.
Secondly, Mayor Adams’ behavior throughout the investigation casts him in an even more negative light, and further suggests he is not fit for office. An absurd story laid out in his indictment details the execution of a search warrant in which federal officials seized two phones he was carrying, but not his personal cell phone (the device he allegedly used to commit the crimes prosecutors accuse him of). When he handed his personal phone over the next day, he claimed that he had “increased the complexity of his password from four digits to six” to “preserve the content of his phone due to the investigation,” but that he “had forgotten the password he had just set, and thus was unable to provide the FBI with a password that would unlock the phone.” Additionally, his defense of himself against these charges has thus far consisted of a baseless conspiracy theory that the federal government is targeting him because he has been critical of the Biden administration’s immigration policy. These actions are incredibly immature and unprofessional, and further suggest that whether he is found guilty or not on his day in court, he is not fit to serve the people of New York.
Additionally, even giving our now-disgraced mayor the benefit of the doubt, and assuming his innocence, these charges are simply too far-reaching to allow him to simultaneously defend himself in court and serve as mayor. The charges are incredibly unlikely to be dismissed immediately by a judge given the substantial amount of evidence prosecutors already seem to have. Additionally, considering that the trial affects a large number of people in his inner circle and government, while spanning from his time as Brooklyn Borough President in 2014 to the present day, it becomes even less possible that he could do his job and fight the charges. Properly defending himself in court against such charges and properly serving as mayor are mutually exclusive.
But his failures as mayor don’t stop at the criminal. His treatment of homeless people, handling of city funding and budgeting, and negative impact on the city’s policing policy are also horrendous. In hiding homelessness away from the public eye with an incredible number of homelessness camp sweeps – which accomplish little in the way of positive progress in combating the issue – Mayor Adams blows taxpayer money on improving the public’s perception of his administration, while not taking any steps to actually better the city. Furthermore, his atrocious budget proposal (which he thankfully walked back in the spring) suggests a leader that does not value schools or libraries, but instead the police force’s (arguably unnecessary) spending increases, on things including robot dogs and Harley-Davidsons. But that's not all! In 2015, my elementary school’s green team was supposed to take a trip to the then-Brooklyn Borough President’s office to give a presentation on recycling. We were all very excited to meet the president of our borough, but upon arriving, we were informed that President Adams could not meet with us, as he had to meet with a foreign head of state in town for a visit.
The Mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
I argue that Mayor Adams is unfit for office and should resign immediately, taking into account the criminal charges leveled against him, his misconduct in office, and his ineptitude. He is simply not the right person to lead this city, and if he doesn’t step down voluntarily, New Yorkers must vote him out of office next year, and replace him with a more competent, honest, and well-intentioned candidate.
This is an opinion piece. Opinion pieces do not represent the views of anyone at The Brooklyn Latin School and are the sole expressed opinion of the writer.
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