Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York plans to announce on Thursday that she will not exercise her authority to remove Mayor Eric Adams from office at this time, but will seek to impose strict new guardrails on his administration of New York City, according to two officials familiar with her thinking.
Ms. Hochul’s actions could curtail the mayor’s independence as he battles accusations that he entered a coercive arrangement with the Trump administration in exchange for his federal corruption charges being dropped. It could also further damage his re-election prospects this year, even as it makes it more likely that he will be allowed to serve the remainder of his term.
Ms. Hochul, a Democrat who has been a key ally to the mayor, plans to admonish Mr. Adams for his conduct on Thursday, the officials said. She will portray her proposals as necessary to reassure New Yorkers that he is being held accountable.
While Ms. Hochul is expected to say she is not prepared to overturn the will of voters, she will lay out a suite of new oversight measures designed to empower other state and city officials to keep careful watch over Mr. Adams’s team at City Hall.
The steps Ms. Hochul plans to propose include creating a new state deputy inspector general focused on New York City; establishing a fund for the city comptroller, public advocate and City Council speaker to use to hire outside counsel to sue the federal government if the mayor is unwilling to do so; and granting additional funds for the state’s comptroller to scrutinize city finances.
The governor also wants to bar the mayor from firing the head of the city’s Department of Investigation without the approval of the state inspector general.
The proposals, which had yet to be finalized ahead of an afternoon announcement, were described by the officials familiar with the governor’s thinking, who were not authorized to discuss them publicly.
A spokesman for Mr. Adams did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ms. Hochul has spent days deliberating how to approach Mr. Adams’s future. Growing numbers of fellow Democrats have called for his resignation or for her to use her constitutional authority to remove him from office.
No governor in New York’s 235-year history has removed a mayor elected by the voters, and people who have spoken with Ms. Hochul about the possibility said it was clear she had grave concerns about the precedent that could be set by doing so now. Mr. Adams has insisted he will not quit voluntarily.
Allies said the governor hoped her plan would help reassure New Yorkers that the city would continue to operate in their interest, not President Trump’s, until voters can select a new mayor during a regularly scheduled election later this year.
It remains to be seen whether her approach will placate those who fear Mr. Adams has been compromised into doing Mr. Trump’s bidding.
Many of Ms. Hochul’s proposals would require legislative approval from the City Council and the State Legislature, and they are likely to set off a fight with allies of Mr. Adams in Albany, or with lawmakers wary of letting the state take a greater role than it already has in the city’s affairs.
New York City and the state have been engaged a long-running power struggle, typified by regular disputes over the mayor’s ability to control the city’s school system. Within minutes of Ms. Hochul’s plans becoming public, Democratic state lawmakers began privately complaining that she was trying to make substantial changes to that balance of power without consulting them.
Questions around Mr. Adams’s independence have been growing for months as he sought to curry favor with Mr. Trump and maneuvered for a pardon from his charges. They came to a head last week, after the Justice Department announced it intended to dismiss the indictment to allow Mr. Adams greater ability to help implement Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda.
The mayor has insisted he was innocent of the charges brought against him last September, and swore under oath in court on Wednesday that he had not entered into any sort of agreement with the Justice Department to drop the case.
But the prosecutor who was overseeing the mayor’s case accused Mr. Adams of agreeing to a quid pro quo with Trump administration officials. The department had also left itself the ability to resurrect the charges, which many Democratic leaders in New York interpreted as a way to maintain leverage over Mr. Adams. A judge is still considering whether to approve the motion to dismiss the case.
Other leaders of the city have not waited to act. Four deputy mayors announced their resignations on Monday over Mr. Adams’s cooperation with Mr. Trump.
The city comptroller, Brad Lander, has threatened to convene a committee to remove Mr. Adams on the basis of his inability to govern unless the mayor quickly released a “detailed contingency plan” outlining how he planned to manage the city.
But Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker who would serve on the committee, said that she did not think it was an appropriate option and that such a committee was intended to address a mayor facing serious health concerns. On Monday, Ms. Adams, who is not related to the mayor, called on Mr. Adams to resign for the first time after the deputy mayors announced their departure.
Carl Heastie, the speaker of the State Assembly, said in an interview on CNN on Thursday that he had a “very heightened sense of concern” over the mayor’s leadership, but did not back his removal.
“Overturning the will of the voters is something that’s very serious, so I’m not there yet about him being removed or resigning,” he said.
But Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the State Senate majority leader, said the mayor’s troubles were a distraction from governing and it was “probably time that he move aside.”
Both Ms. Stewart-Cousins and Mr. Heastie, whose support will be critical for the governor’s proposals to move forward, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Adams insisted in two television interviews on Wednesday evening that he was innocent of the criminal charges and would not resign. He said on NY1 that he was disappointed by the resignations of the four deputy mayors, but he argued that the city would be fine and said his “bench is deep.”
“I love my team and what they represent, and to lose four at one time is heartbreaking,” he said.
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