Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said the mayoral administration needs to restore trust amid the recent investigations of top aides to Mayor Eric Adams, saying that ”nothing is happening” right now in response.
“Doing nothing is the worst thing you could do. And as of right now, I don’t think there’s been the proper response to what is going on to help restore trust that people need in their city government,” he told NY1 political anchor Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” Wednesday.
FBI search warrants were served last week on four Adams deputies — First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright; her partner, Schools Chancellor David Banks; his brother and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks; and senior aide Tim Pearson.
“I think as a New Yorker and you’re looking at this, there’s no way you can’t have a lot of questions. And so you can’t say that all of this is going on and people have full confidence in how government is running,” Williams said.
Williams said there are a variety of options Adams can choose from to address the situation, including suspensions, resignations or leaves of absences while investigations take place. He said one of those options needs to be chosen.
“I think as time goes on, many of us will start speaking more forcefully about which one of those he should choose. But you got to choose one or more, and you got to choose it very quickly, and right now, nothing is happening,” he said.
On Tuesday, Adams' choice for the role of the city's top lawyer, Randy Mastro, withdrew his nomination. This decision came shortly after Mastro sat through tough questions from council members.
“This is what the body is there to do, to provide advice and consent on a very, very important role that is not just supposed to be the mayor’s attorney but is supposed to be the people’s attorney. And I think there were questions on whether that would happen appropriately,” Williams said.