New York governor won’t remove NYC Mayor

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday said she would not remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams from his post. Earlier this week, Hochul said she was looking into the possibility of removing Adams because four high-level members of his staff had resigned. On Thursday, Hochul said that even though she wasn’t removing Adams, she hoped to put measures in place for oversight, and “guardrails” so that the city’s leadership would act in constituents’ best interest.

What do those measures include? Hochul on Thursday listed the measures she hoped to enact—guardrails that would require approval from the state legislature.

• A new special inspector general for New York City would be given a position at the New York State Inspector General’s office. That new city inspector general would work closely with the New York City Department of Investigations.

• New York City would change its charter so that the Commissioner of Investigations, which heads that investigations department, could not be removed by the mayor without approval by the state’s inspector general.

• The Office of the State Comptroller for the City would be given additional funds to monitor New York City’s finances in all their complexity. The Office of the Deputy State Comptroller for City Oversight would also be expanded.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about Hochul considering whether to remove Adams.