Antecedent beats precedent
Indignity Vol. 5, No. 31
THE WORST THING WE READ™
It's Not Undemocratic for the Governor to Dump Eric Adams
THERE IS NO normal way for New York City to deal with Mayor Eric Adams. When a grand jury indicted the mayor in September on federal charges of bribe-taking, conspiracy, and fraud, it was the first time a sitting New York mayor had been indicted. This month, the only sitting New York mayor to have been indicted has also become the only sitting New York mayor to have the president of the United States order that their indictment be halted, in exchange for the mayor's bending city law and policy to support the president's own legally and constitutionally dubious goals, an arrangement so appalling that multiple federal prosecutors quit their jobs and denounced the deal rather than follow the orders to carry it out.
Even in the long history of the city's corrupt and dysfunctional politics, nothing resembling this has happened before. So what can be done about it? The New York Times Editorial Board described the situation as a "devil’s bargain" in which "the president and the Justice Department are sending a message that they intend to dispense with the impartiality, precedents, norms, and very laws on which the American justice system depends," and it demanded that Adams resign or "face an investigation and possible prosecution by state officials."
The Editorial Board wrote:
If he is loyal to the great city he was elected to lead, he will resign. Many leading New York political leaders have demanded that he do so. Some of them have also demanded that Gov. Kathy Hochul take immediate action to use her legal authority to fire him if he continues to refuse to do so.
So far, the board had accurately assessed the situation. The mayor has failed the city. He has placed himself—and by extension everyone in New York—at the mercy of a hostile presidential administration, for as long as he insists on holding on to his job. He shows no signs of being willing to let go.
But then it flinched away from the obvious next step:
