If Mayor Eric Adams resigns before his term ends, the city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, would become acting mayor and a special election would be scheduled.
If Mr. Adams insists on staying in office, as he has said he will, there appear to be two ways he could be removed against his will.
The first involves a complicated process outlined in the New York City Charter that gives Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat, the power to force him out.
The second is laid out in a provision of the charter that allows for “a committee on mayoral inability” to remove him. The five-member committee, the charter says, would be made up of the city’s corporation counsel and comptroller, the City Council speaker, a deputy mayor chosen by the mayor, and the borough president with the longest consecutive service.
Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School, said the latter provision had never been used, but that Mr. Adams was the first New York City mayor in modern history to be criminally indicted.
“We’re entering something that’s never been seen before,” Professor Briffault said. “It doesn’t mean the mayor stops being mayor. There may eventually be a trial, but we don’t know the outcome.”
Four of the committee’s five members would need to vote to remove Mr. Adams. One immediate challenge is that the corporation counsel position is vacant, with Muriel Goode-Trufant filling the role in an acting capacity. Mr. Adams’s choice for the job, Randy Mastro, withdrew from consideration when it became clear that the City Council would not approve his appointment.
Brad Lander, who, as comptroller, would serve on such a committee, is running against Mr. Adams in next year’s primary and has already called on him to step aside. It is not clear which deputy mayor would serve on the committee. The longest-serving borough president is Donovan Richards of Queens.
The uncertainty surrounding the process has not kept some council members from saying Mr. Adams’s forced removal should be considered.
Lincoln Restler, a council member from Brooklyn, said the indictment would inevitably distract Mr. Adams from his job as mayor. Mr. Restler said Ms. Hochul should consider removing Mr. Adams “if he fails to take the responsible course of action by resigning.”
“We should consider all options laid out in the City Charter,” Mr. Restler said, “including the governor’s’ power to remove a mayor facing charges and convening the committee on inability. I hope everyone with power to act will put the needs of New Yorkers first.”
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