When a politician is openly corrupt, believe the worst

No one should be surprised the Adam's administration is crumbling

There’s blood in the water.

It began last November, when FBI agents searched the home of a top fundraiser for Mayor Eric Adams, as well as the home of an aid. This alone wasn’t a big deal. A government official being investigated isn’t terribly noteworthy. What is, however, is when the mayor of New York City abruptly abandons a trip to Washington, DC, just hours before he was supposed to meet with White House officials. This strong response from Mayor Adams raised eyebrows. Later that same week, it became clear that the Mayor was directly involved with the investigation when his personal iPad and cell phone were seized by federal investigators. Since then the searches have increased, with more and more aides and advisors to the mayor having to surrender phones and other personal items.

In the last month, things have accelerated. One by one, New York City officials are resigning. On September 12, New York Police Commissioner Eric Caban resigned. In a bigger shock, two days later, the City Hall chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, resigned, also without explanation. Then, on September 23, Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan announced his resignation. Finally, on September 24th, the New York City Schools Chancellor, David Banks, also quit. Along the way there have been several lower-level resignations as well, that may or may not be connected to the mayor’s office.

The question is now when, not if, Mayor Eric Adams will be charged with a federal crime. The mystery is how long it will take and what for. The nature of his possible corruption is still unknown, although a lot seems to revolve around him possibly acting as an undeclared foreign agent of Turkey.

I wrote the above paragraph on the morning of October 25th. That night, he was indicted on numerous federal charges that were revealed on October 26th. These include bribery, fraud, and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national. He is accused of accepting gifts from the government of Turkey, and in exchange helped speed along the approval of a new Turkish consulate being built in Manhattan.

Regardless, none of this should come as a surprise. Eric Adams is corrupt. Openly corrupt. The public found this out just days into his administration when the New York Post revealed that he had hired an interesting choice as deputy NYPD commissioner. This a plum assignment. As one of the most powerful positions in the world’s largest municipal police force, the deputy commissioner of the NYPD wields great influence. It also comes with a hefty paycheck: around $240,000, making it one of the highest-paying jobs in city government, especially for someone who isn’t even the head of an agency.

Two aspects of Mayor Adams's choice raised eyebrows. First, his choice for deputy NYPD commissioner did not have a resume that included managerial experience at large, urban police departments. Instead, the would-be future deputy commissioner had spent the last decade working as a parking administrator at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.  This is quite the step up. There are hundreds of qualified candidates for deputy NYPD commissioner. The former police commissioner in a smaller city like New Rochelle could do the job or someone who had been moving up the ranks of the NYPD. To pick someone who is responsible for parking at NYU would be strange, but the head of parking at a regional public university in the Mid-Atlantic rarely has such meteoric promotions.

Then, of course, there was that other detail of the hire. The new deputy commissioner’s name was Bernard Adams. And no, that’s not a coincidence. In one of his first acts as mayor, Eric Adams named his own brother to a job with a quarter of a million salary, prestige, and influence. Bernard Adams ultimately only spent a year in a lesser rule, but the message was clear: ethical guidelines were not something that would be taken seriously in the Adams administration.

When a public official is willing to commit brazen acts of corruption, even legal ones, believe they are doing worse behind the scenes. It reminds me of an interview with a chef I once read. He stressed that you should never, ever, eat at a restaurant with a dirty dining room or dirty bathrooms. Why? Because restaurant staff know with certainty that customers will see it. If a restaurant staff is willing to let areas that customers see go to pot, imagine what they are doing in their kitchen, where no diner will ever visit. It’s not going to be pretty. No restaurant manager neglects the bathrooms while meticulously following food safety law.

The same holds with politicians. A politician who has a clean outward image may be dirty. A perfect example is Rod Blagojevich, who ran for Illinois governor as a law-and-order, clean-as-a-whistle politician who would clean up politics. He then tried to sell Barack Obama’s vacated senate seat and spent years in federal prison. At the same time, politicians who talk the talk may also walk the walk. Some politicians, from Barack Obama to John McCain, rarely had to deal with personal scandal. A politician who flaunts ethics openly, however, will take corruption to the next level. Everyone knew Bob Menendez was corrupt for years. Lo and behold, he was caught with literal bars of gold stashed in his house. Eric Adams was the same - even before his mayoralty began, his fundraising tactics were skirting the rules.

We need to view people as they present themselves. A seemingly seem politician might have some skeletons in their closet. An openly corrupt one, however, will have an entire cemetery in their basement.