NYC NOW - October 12, 2023 : Evening Roundup

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

Federal prosecutors have filed new charges against New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez. Plus, WNYC’s David Furst and Elizabeth Kim talk about Mayor Eric Adams’ accessibility to reporters and the public.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Sean Carlson. New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is facing new allegations from federal prosecutors that he acted as an illegal agent for the Egyptian government. As WNYC's Charles Lane reports, this is on top of last month's bribery charges. The new indictment adds a fourth charge. Between 2019 and 2022, Menendez allegedly met with Egyptian government officials and acted as their agent. The Grand Jury indictment filed Thursday repeats many of the same allegations as last month's charges, namely that he accepted bribes in exchange for providing sensitive information to Egypt. Menendez's office did not immediately respond to inquiries. He pleaded not guilty to bribery charges and says the cash officials found in his home were from his personal savings.

Some of New Jersey's most powerful Democrats, including Governor Phil Murphy and fellow Senator Cory Booker, have asked Menendez to step down. So far, he has refused. Stay close. There's more after the break. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is doing something a little different these days. He's holding a weekly Q&A session with reporters instead of what past mayors have done, which is being available to answer questions on a range of topics following press conferences. No mayor in the history of this city has been more accessible, more approachable, more on the ground than I have.

The mayor and his administration insist he's more transparent than other mayors. But how true is that? My colleague David First talked with WMIC's Elizabeth Kim for more. Explain this plan. What exactly is the mayor doing here? Is the idea that this is going to be the only venue where he will take questions? No. The mayor has said that he will take what's known as on-topic questions when he's at other planned press events.

These are typically when the mayor addresses a. certain specific topic or makes a planned announcement. Now, as you said at the top, traditionally, mayors will take questions about the event at hand or the policy at hand, and then they'll move on to other questions or what's now known as, quote, off-topic questions. And that's an opportunity for reporters to fire away at anything they want to ask the mayor. Adams has said he will take questions on breaking news, but yes, this is a way he gets. to limit and control potentially challenging questions from the press. And yeah, this is different than the way it's worked with other mayors.

Can you explain how it's different? Sure. So when news of this first broke, there was a lively conversation on Twitter from a lot of veteran political reporters who've covered other New York City mayors. Now, Mayor de Blasio initially also sought to limit off-topic questions, but he did go on two weekly news programs with hosts that would throw him tough questions. That was Errol Lewis of New York One. And as many of our listeners may remember, WNYC's Brian Lair's Ask the Mayor segment.

Yeah, of course. And I should also note that during the pandemic, Mayor de Blasio totally switched things up. And he would do these virtual press briefings in which every reporter got two questions. And there was no kind of limits on what kind of questions they could be. Now, Mayor Ed Koch will probably be remembered as the most press-friendly mayor in the city's modern history, at least. I spoke to George Arts, that's his press secretary, who told me, as many other reporters have chronicled, that Koch took questions everywhere. He would host Q&A's in what's known as the Blue Room of City Hall. He'd visit Room 9 where that's the place where reporters work.

There's even a story about how he'd take questions in the men's bathroom. One reporter once said of him, quote, he was unavoidable for comment. He was unavoidable for comment. That's a nice twist on unavailable for comment. Is Mayor Adams making this change in response to criticism that he didn't do enough to warn New Yorkers about the potential for flooding and serious disruption during the storm? You know, he doesn't say that outright, but I would say yes. You know, at the press conference, the mayor credited his school's chancellor, David Banks, with coming up with this idea. Now, I should say that these weekly press conferences won't only be with the mayor.

They will be with his entire administration. At the first one on Tuesday, he sat at this very long table where he was flanked by all of his deputy mayors and senior advisors. Now, how is this in response to the criticism over the storm? Well, the idea is that the mayor wants to say, and he's tried to push this idea, you know, in recent months, that he's not the only one running the city, that it's actually, you know, a whole assembly of city officials that he's picked. And that has often been his tactic lately in responding to criticism when things aren't going well. You know, he'll say we instead of I. At the end of the day, I'm not sure if New Yorkers are going to buy it. You know, the mayor himself has said that there's only one mayor.

And ultimately, that's the person that gets the credit and blame for what happens in the city. So is this just a petty dispute between reporters and the mayor? Can you explain why this matters? You know, what does this limited availability mean, not just for journalists, but for residents? It boils down to accountability. It's about asking the mayor to answer questions on stories. that emerge about him or his administration. It's about cameras focused on the mayor when these questions are being put to him.

When the mayor doesn't have to stand or sit for tough questions, the public loses its opportunity to see him held accountable. Now, the new cycle in New York City moves very quickly and big stories are often quickly supplanted by other ones. By evading questions for several days, it could help the mayor survive bad news cycles because what happens when he does appear, the press and the public has already moved on to the next thing. Do you think this new plan might change if the mayor faces a primary challenge or perhaps a strong Republican challenger in 2025? You know, almost all the experts I've spoken to say that ultimately, this plan doesn't make sense.

for the mayor. You know, the bully pulpit is one of the most powerful tools a mayor has. And whether or not you agree with the mayor on his policies, Adams is a pretty charismatic figure. You know, he can bristle at tough questions, but he is willing to spar with reporters and he gets his point across. You know, most political observers don't really believe that this strategy will last. And if Adams gets a credible challenger, that's all the more reason he's. he'll need to be out in front of the cameras and press to push out his own campaign message. That's WNYC's Elizabeth Kim talking with my colleague David First. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNIC.

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