When news of the federal investigation into Mayor Adams hit, it was met by New Yorkers everywhere with shock and concern. But in communities of color like ours, that concern quickly turned to skepticism.
That is because as the facts came out, the accusations against our mayor seemed more like a campaign than a case. So far it has been waged through anonymous leaks to the press without context, and seemed designed to undermine the mayor. And that is because the bar to convict in the court of public opinion is much lower than it is in an actual court of law.
If you are skeptical that we are skeptical, that is understandable. Perhaps you do not come from where we are from. Where we are from, injustice is more common than justice.
There are a lot of questions still unanswered. And certainly the headlines are compelling. But our point is, as the mayor said: wait before you hate. If you believe in justice, then seek the truth. We send this message to all New Yorkers — but especially to political opponents of the mayor, many of whom claim to be crusaders for justice, but who have hypocritically condemned him before a single shred of legal evidence has been presented.
Still unsure? Let’s look at what we know so far.
Apparently there are two accusations — and we say “apparently” because neither the mayor nor anyone connected with him has even been formally accused of a crime, never mind indicted — that have been hurled at the mayor and his team, without a single on-the-record word from the federal government. The first is that the 2021 Adams campaign colluded with straw donors to arrange illegal foreign contributions from Turkey. No proof of this has been presented, but investigators seem to be looking at $14,000 in contributions made in May 2021 by members of a construction firm owned by Turkish-Americans.
But here is the missing context. $14,000 is a relatively small amount in an election in which about $18 million was spent in support of the mayor. What is the motive for the campaign to break the law for so little in return? And, again, no evidence has been presented that there is any connection between these contributors and the Turkish government, never mind the mayor.
The second accusation is that the mayor pushed the then-Fire Department commissioner via text when he was Brooklyn borough president to approve the opening of a new Turkish consulate building. But it has been reported that people who have seen the texts characterize the exchange as normal government work. It was also reported that then-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s City Hall and others were pushing for the consulate to open on time even before Adams reached out to the FDNY.
As elected officials like us can attest, we all forward issues from constituents and constituencies to government agencies on a daily basis. What the agencies do then is entirely their call. So this is the breaking news equivalent of the sun rising in the morning. Not only is it not a scandal, it’s routine. Not only is it not unethical, it’s our job.
So why is this happening to the mayor? We don’t know who is pushing this narrative or why. It is certainly possible that the investigators are just following leads because that’s what they do, and others are seeking to frame an investigation as an indictment.
But it is also worth reminding New Yorkers about a few things. Last year, former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin — another African-American leader — was charged with a bribery scheme by the same federal office investigating Adams. They accused him of exchanging government favors for campaign contributions. The news was so damaging to his career that he had to resign. But months later, the federal government dropped the corruption charges because the facts did not meet the headlines.
This mayor has also spent the last year fighting the federal government on our behalf, demanding it pay its fair share for the migrant crisis that it created. Now the federal government is apparently targeting him. Whether or not these things are related, we cannot fairly say. But people in our communities are talking, and their skepticism is turning to anger.
So of course we are concerned he is being treated unfairly. But perhaps the thing New Yorkers should be most worried about is that, if another case against a high-profile person of color ends without clear evidence of a serious crime, the damage done won’t just be to the mayor, but to our trust in justice itself.
Comrie is a state senator representing Queens and Diaz is a former Bronx borough president.
from New York Daily News https://ift.tt/tanQDZJ