New York governor won’t remove NYC mayor, for now, but plans to increase oversight of City Hall

New York City Mayor Eric Adams attends an event at the NYPD's 40th precinct, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

NEW YORK (AP) — Gov. Kathy Hochul won’t immediately remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office, but will instead push for increased oversight of City Hall as he faces intense scrutiny over his bribery case and his relationship with the Trump administration.

Hochul announced Thursday that she has, for now, decided against using her authority to remove Adams over concerns that such a move could result in “disruption and chaos” and would ultimately be undemocratic.

“New York is facing a grave threat from Washington,” she said at a news conference in Manhattan. ”The Trump administration is already trying to use the legal jeopardy facing our mayor as leverage to squeeze and punish our city.”

The decision came after she solicited opinions this week from a roster of New York political figures over questions about whether Adams could independently govern following the Justice Department’s move to drop his federal corruption case so he could help with Republican President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.

Rather than remove Adams, Hochul said she plans to propose legislation that would require City Hall to operate within new guardrails meant to “reestablish trust.”

The proposals include establishing a new deputy inspector general focused on New York City; creating a mechanism for the city’s comptroller, public advocate and council speaker to launch lawsuits against the federal government; and providing more money for the state comptroller to increase oversight of the city.

The measures, if approved, would be “subject to renewal” in the future, Hochul said.

In a statement after the governor’s announcement, Adams said, “While there is no legal basis for limiting New Yorkers’ power by limiting the authority of my office, I have told the governor, as we have done in the past, that I am willing to work with her to ensure faith in our government is strong.”

Hochul — a centrist Democrat, as is Adams — has faced questions about the mayor’s future since his indictment in September on bribery and other charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

Hochul has been reluctant to oust him, arguing that doing so would be undemocratic and would thrust the city into a complex, court-like removal process that has never been used before against a sitting mayor of the country’s most populous city.

But after four of Adams’ top deputies quit on Monday, the governor said she had “serious questions about the long-term future of this mayoral administration.”

Asked Thursday if the mayor had done anything to restore her confidence, Hochul said she was confident that her “system of checks” would provide adequate oversight into the city’s budgetary, investigatory and legal matters. And she repeatedly left open the door to using her removal powers in the future.

The deputies resigned after an extraordinary series of developments in Adams’ federal criminal case.

First, Justice Department leaders ordered prosecutors to drop it, saying it was impeding the mayor’s ability to help with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement push.

Then, some prosecutors and supervisors resigned rather than follow what they saw as an improper order, and the acting top prosecutor in Manhattan said Adams’ lawyers had offered to exchange his cooperation on immigration for a dismissal of his case. The mayor and his lead lawyer said they did no such thing.

Then, after some Justice Department figures finally filed paperwork to get the case dismissed, a judge summoned Adams and everyone else involved to court Wednesday to discuss the matter. The judge hasn’t ruled yet on the government’s request to close out the case.

Adams has been set to go on trial in April on charges of taking illegal campaign contributions and getting breaks on travel in exchange for doing favors for the Turkish government.

New York mayors have both worked and tussled with state oversight, with the city having to submit its financial plans to a state-created board for review since a 1975 fiscal crisis.

But while the city has dealt with plenty of state input over the years, New York Law School professor Stephen Louis said it’s difficult to gauge the potential impact of Hochul’s proposals.

“It’s hard to say, ‘Oh, if any of these had been in place, then whatever problem is perceived wouldn’t be happening,’” said Louis, a former longtime New York City government attorney who now teaches about the legal relations between state and local governments.

“There are plenty of people who can examine what’s going on in the mayor’s office. There are people who can sue the federal government. So it’s not really clear how this solves anything,” he said.

Anthony Izaguirre, Jake Offenhartz And Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press