NYC NOW - NYC Now Explains: Why Gov. Hochul Kept Mayor Adams In Power

Episode Date: March 29, 2025

Okay, so, Janae, I want to travel back in time. Oh, okay, let's do it. Take me, in fact, to the 90s. You know that's where I belong. You and me both, but I don't want to go that far back. I want to go back to February 10th of this year, actually. Okay. It's a Monday.

It's the dead of winter. Pretty ordinary day. But for Mayor Eric Adams, it's a huge day. Mayor Adams is telling his record after news at the Department of Justice, is telling federal prosecutors to drop the corrupt. charges against him. This is the day where the second in command at President Trump's Department of Justice, this guy, Emil Bovey, sends a letter to federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Oh, okay.

You mean that letter, the one that directs prosecutors to drop the corruption charges against a mayor. Yeah, that's the one. I mean, it's this stunning intervention in a high-profile legal case that was already dominating headlines to begin with. And then this letter comes and it lands like a bombshell. Yeah, how so? Well, I mean, several federal prosecutors resign for really key members of the Adams administration. They also resign. And almost immediately, there's one person in particular who comes under just intense pressure.

Who's that? Governor Kathy Hokel. So fast forward eight days, a group of protesters are gathered outside the governor's office on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. But they're there because of who else is showing up. I mean, there's this steady stream of political heavy hitters just coming and going. Some big names like the Reverend Al Sharpton. There's city council speaker Adrian Adams, Brad Lander, the city controller. He comes from a meeting.

Wow. I imagine they're all there looking for answers, right? Jene, it's more like the governor is looking for guidance from them. I mean, she has the power to. remove the mayor from office, but so far she's refused to do it, even as the mayor is accused of cutting this deal with President Trump to clear him of the charges. So it seems like Hockel is in a pretty tough spot politically and at a sensitive moment. Yeah, that's right. I mean, the governor is up for re-election next year. She can remove the mayor, but maybe she risks alienating some of his voters.

And if she doesn't, then she could face this backlash from a lot of the mayor. other voters who think the mayor is beholden to this Republican president, President Trump. So the stakes are really high and it is just a political minefield. From WMYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre. Welcome back to our weekly series looking into the turmoil that's overtaken the Adams administration. The mayor has found himself at the mercy of intersecting political powers, caught between his voter base, prosecutors, Governor Hockel, and of course, President Trump.

Last week, we examined the relationship between Adams and Trump. This week, we're turning our attention to Governor Kathy Hokel. Adams and Hockel are mostly aligned ideologically. Both are centrist Democrats, and both are eager to distance themselves from the past Mayor-Governor feud. So I am so excited to have a tremendous partner in Eric Adams as the mayor. of the greatest city on this planet. But that relationship has unraveled. Adams is now facing federal charges,

abandoned by much of his party, and increasingly aligned with Trump. And Hockel, a party loyalist, isn't defending him, but she's also not removing him. My job is to work with the mayor of New York. Full stop. So why is the only person

with the legal power to take Adams out of office not doing it? And what does it say about her leadership? and the Democratic Party in New York. WMYC's John Campbell covers Albany. I'm the mayor. John, let's go back to 2021. Kathy Hokel becomes governor in August,

and a few months later, Eric Adams wins his election. What's their relationship like at this point? It was pretty good, all things considered. I mean, the governor was actually right there on stage with the mayor at his victory party when he was elected. We will fight for you. Not fight each other anymore.

And that raised some eyebrows in political circles because governors and New York City mayors have been fighting for literally generations. I mean, just the way the governments are structured, Albany has this enormous sway over New York City. And that creates this huge tension. I mean, Jeney, Mayor Lindsay fought with Governor Rockefeller way back in the 60s. You've got Mayor Koch. He fought with Governor Mario Cuomo in the 80s. But really the most dramatic example is the last mayor and the last governor. I'm talking about.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo. The very same. Yes. I mean, they fought over everything from taxing millionaires to responding to COVID to closing the subways ahead of a snowstorm. I mean, things that have a serious impact on everyday New Yorker. And, Janae, it got so absurd at one point that they ended up in a fight over a deer that was on the loose in Harlem.

Oh, wow. I had forgotten about that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, de Blasio wanted to euthanize it. The deer cannot be left where they are, and it could not be left in the streets of Harlem. I'm sorry, that's just absolutely unacceptable and dangerous. They have to be removed. Cuomo wanted it relocated upstate.

They went back and forth in this just bizarre power struggle. There's no other way to put it. And then the deer ends up dying in a shelter and the cause of death was, yeah, you guessed it, stress. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, exactly. I mean, Janaya, it just shows how turfy this battle was, how bitter this relationship has had gotten over the years. It's really all about control. But Governor Hockel and Mayor Adams tried a different approach, right?

They did, actually. You're right. I mean, they tried to get along. The mayor leaned on the governor to get some of his priorities passed in Albany. I mean, they worked together to change the state's bail reform laws to make it easier to hold repeat offenders. They extended the mayor's control of the city school system. And even this year, the governor's supporting the mayor's plan to cut the city income tax for lower income New Yorkers. She's also giving them money for his plan to build more housing.

So, yeah, they did actually get some things accomplished. So from what you're telling me, it seems like the mayor got something out of the relationship. What did the governor get? Well, Jena, you've got to remember, Kathy Hockel was the lieutenant governor. That's not a particularly well-known position in New York. And she was elevated to the governor's office when Andrew Cuomo resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal. So really, at that point, she's not well-known outside of her hometown of Buffalo. So she herself had to run for election in 2022.

That was a year after Mayor Adams won and was still relatively popular, especially in black and brown neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. Those are areas that Hockel needed to win badly. And so the mayor endorses her and he speaks well of her anytime a reporter asks. And so the mayor needed something from the governor. The governor needed something from the mayor. it was mutually beneficial. Sort of like, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. That's exactly right.

Up next, how the historic federal indictment of Mayor Eric Adams put Governor Hockel in a political bind. That's after the break. So that was back in 2022. Let's fast forward to September 2024. That's when Adams gets indicted. And suddenly, there's pressure on Governor Hockel to decide. whether or not to remove him from office. John, I'm curious, what do you remember about that moment when those questions first started coming her way?

How did the governor respond? Well, that indictment really changed everything. I mean, the mayor is accused of accepting these lavish travel perks and campaign contributions from Turkish nationals who then leaned on them for governmental favors. And this is happening while the governor was trying to promote. her own policies and proposals. She's trying to get Democrats elected to Congress and suddenly she's facing all these questions from reporters who want to know whether she's going to stick by the mayor. So it becomes this major distraction for the governor. And it's all because state law and the city charter give the governor only the unilateral power to remove Mayor Adams from office in a situation

like this. So for Hockel, using this legal authority is kind of like a nuclear option, right? Like pushing the big red button. Yeah. And she faces all these questions about whether she's going to push that button if she's going to go that route. And she ultimately decides against it. I'm not at all inclined to undo the will of the people and overturned election. So this is not something that any governor has really tried to do in more than 90 years. I mean, that's when FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then the governor, removed a Manhattan sheriff who had ties to Tammany Hall. And then later that year, he started removal proceedings against Mayor Jimmy Walker, but the mayor resigned instead. Why is Governor Hockel's response here so notable?

And what does it tell us about her governing style? I think more than anything, it speaks to really how cautious the governor is. I mean, she is not a rock the boat governor. She's a steady the ship governor. I mean, just look back to earlier in 2024 when a lot of Democrats were calling on Joe Biden to step aside during his reelection bid. She never did. I mean, she stuck by President Biden, and it was almost to her detriment at times. She's very much a centrist.

She's very much a part of the Democratic establishment. And so, yeah, I mean, it would be out of character for her to go with that. nuclear option, as you put it, and remove a sitting mayor in the biggest city in the nation. I mean, that is a rock the boat and tip the boat over move. And that's just not her way. So is this just about Adams and Hockel or does this say something bigger about the state of the Democratic Party here in New York? You know, I think it's a little bit of both. On the one hand, it says a lot about the governor and the mayor and their calculates. that voters wanted to see them work together. But it also speaks to this divide between progressives and centrist in the Democratic Party.

There's a strong, loud contingent of progressives who wanted the governor to remove the mayor. But the leaders of the party are more centrist, more cautious. And that's what won the day at that point. Yeah, but then Adams' legal situation takes another turn, though, right? Right. The Justice Department orders the charges against the mayor to be dropped, saying in part that they need the mayor's cooperation in executing Trump's immigration policies. And Adams immediately faces these accusations that he struck some sort of deal with the president. And now he's beholden to him. And then, Jene, it's like deja vu all over again. I mean, all that pressure that Hockel was facing to remove the mayor, it bubbles up. up again. And this time it's even greater than before. A bunch of top Democrats start renewing their call for the mayor to resign or for Hockel to use her removal powers. And once again, the governor has to weigh all the governmental implications and the political implications, all of it.

And that takes us back to that chilly February day on 3rd Avenue, where the governor had those meetings with top Democrats to try to figure out what she's going to do. Yeah, that's right. And it wasn't just in-person meetings either. I mean, the governor had a virtual call with Hakeem Jeffries, the House Minority Leader. But, you know, we weren't allowed in any of these meetings. They were private. But then a couple days later, we started getting wind that the governor had made her decision. And we made a few calls. And yeah, it was true. We reported she decided against removing the mayor again? We don't have a king today

because it conflicts with the very genius of a democracy where the voices and the votes of the people, not a king, not a queen, and not a governor should prevail. Voters determine who they want or who they do not want to represent them in elective office. So instead of taking the mayor out of office, The governor proposed guardrails on the Adams administration.

And I'm saying that with air quotes because that's the actual word that they use, guardrails. Tell us about those. Yeah. I mean, this is kind of how the governor tried to thread the needle, so to speak. I mean, she said she couldn't in good conscience remove the mayor just a few months before primary voters head to the polls. I mean, remember, the mayor's up for reelection this year. But to kind of satisfy those who still had concerns about the mayor, including her own concerns, I mean, she proposes a bunch of guardrail measures, basically giving the state and other city officials more oversight over the mayor. One of the big things she wanted to do is create a new state inspector general that would have the power to basically green light investigations into the mayor.

She also wanted to make it easier for other city officials like the controller or the city council speaker. She wanted to make it easier for them to sue the Trump administration if the mayor declined to do so. But the governor would need the state legislature and the city council to approve those, right? How did that go over with lawmakers? Not so well at all. Like we talked about before, Albany already has a ton of sway over New York City's government. And then there was a lot of concern from city lawmakers that, you know, maybe it's a bad move to give Albany even more sway over New York City. So even some of Adams' opponents raise concerns.

I mean, people like Scott Stringer, the former city controller who's running against the mayor. And so the guardrails are stuck. There's not really much sign of them moving forward at all. Okay. So Hokel's efforts to do some damage control here is sputtering. Is there a risk that in trying to protect the Democratic Party, Hogle's actually damaging her own political future? Yeah, of course.

Yeah, there's definitely a risk. I mean, she's up for reelection herself next year. And her poll numbers aren't good. I mean, there was a recent Sienna College poll that put her favorability rating at 40%. Any major decision can have an outsized impact on her electoral chances. And that's really amplified in New York City where she needs to perform really well to ward off a Republican challenger or even a Democratic challenger. I mean, the sharks are circling in the water. So both Adams and Hockel are hoping for a second full term.

Many would argue that Adams is politically vulnerable right now, which may leave an opening for someone to jump in and replace him. We've named a bunch of people in that pool, by the way, Brad Lander, Scott Stringer, Adrian. Adams. But one of the bigger names is former governor Andrew Cuomo, the very person who used to fight with the prior mayor. I think it's so funny how that works out. Yeah, Jadae, you can't make this stuff up. I mean, this is right in the middle of just a brutal stretch for the governor. She's facing all this pressure to remove Merro Adams. Trump tries to stop congestion pricing. A strike throws the state prison system into chaos, and then Andrew Cuomo jumps into the mayor's race. I just listen to how she reacted when she was asked about it on CNN.

Let me ask you very quickly, and I'm sure you want to, you're excited to weigh in on the mayor's race here in New York City. Erica, someone you considered using your power to push out of office, Andrew Cuomo, someone you replaced could come down to them. What do you think? You have to say, only in New York. Only in New York to we get this kind of situation. So would a mayor, Cuomo, be a little petty towards Governor Hokel? look, we have no idea, but it's a legitimate question. And at the end of the day, if the governor and the mayor are not on the same page,

there are real consequences. And everyday New Yorkers would be the ones to suffer for it. That's WMYC's Albany reporter John Campbell. Got to shout out the folks who helped with this episode. Sean Boutage, Stephen Brown, Amber Bruce, Stephanie Clary, Audrey Cooper, Maya Hibbitt, Owen Kaplan, Leora Noam Kravitz, Jared Marcel, Wayne Schoemeister, and Jimmy Vilkind. I'm Jenei Pierre, and this is NYC Now. Coming up next week, we head to Southeast Queens, the heart of Adams' voter base,

to see how supporters view the mayor, the chaotic political moment, and the upcoming election. It's wrong. It's just wrong. I mean, I wouldn't, I'm against you. I'm not going to vote for you again. That's not going to happen. Did you vote for him the first time? Yes, I did. I did. But as to what has transpired, I can't.

I can't. I can't back that.