"Cornered rats bite back"
what will happen next? #96
My Sunday started before the sun came up reading Sally Goldenberg’s tweet that Lisa Zornberg, the general counsel for the mayor, quit the night before. (I had a busy Saturday and went to bed early, never again!) Zornberg’s resignation letter was short, ending with – “I have concluded that I can no longer effectively serve in my position. I wish you nothing but the best.”
Why did one of the mayor’s top defenders – invoking her children when the mayor was sued for sexual assault, and John Adams when defending the mayor’s failed corporation counsel pick – turn against him?
Reporting shows she gave Hizzoner an ultimatum: fire the five staffers who had their phones seized by the feds, including deputy mayors Sheena Wright and Phil Banks, and advisor Tim Pearson, or I quit. We saw what happened next. Zornberg had her hands in a lot as the counsel, including contracts.
But Mayor Adams isn’t focused on all that, at least not publicly. On Monday, we had a historic press conference focused on the mayor’s management report, an annual look at how the city’s doing, by the numbers. I say “historic” because the release of this report is usually buried. I’ve waited around until late Friday just for it to drop, almost missing a friend’s birthday party, with a lot of refreshing.
The mayor wants to focus on all those numbers as part of his larger mission to New Yorkers, and most importantly, voters: We are delivering for you. Also, two fire chiefs were indicted for allegedly taking bribes to expedite inspections. And a high-ranking police official whose phones were seized retired.
Tuesday’s off-topic briefing started with the mayor laying out his ground rules:
Stuff comes up in the city and we're not going to be distracted. And one of the distractions is answering the same question over and over and over and over again. Like you're going to get a different answer. I'm just not going to do that. I got a city to run.
We have jobs to do, too, so we continued asking – why he’s keeping Tim Pearson employed despite four lawsuits and a federal raid, what happened on the subway platform in Brooklyn on Sunday where four people were shot by police officers, why he thought Lisa Zornberg left, why he wouldn’t take her opinion about personnel, and so on and so on. As of this post, we have not received sufficient answers.
Wednesday we reported on the mayor’s loyalty, noting Winnie Greco’s mysterious financial form that was later amended to add a trip paid for by the Met Council – but we don’t have many details about that because City Hall won’t answer our questions.
On Thursday news broke that former COVID czar Jay Varma enjoyed sex parties during the pandemic. He’s not an Adams official, but this is certainly worth mentioning. Consenting adults can do as they please, but even he noted the hypocrisy of telling people they shouldn’t gather while he was REALLY gathering. He seems to have fucked around and found out, spilling his guts to an undercover camera on multiple outings/dates.
Deputy Mayor Phil Banks also insulted my breath (which smelled great) instead of answering questions about the feds taking his phone. A few hours later, NBC 4 New York reported a subpoena was sent to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Williamsburg, where Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello is in charge, reportedly looking at any of his business dealings with Frank Carone. I wrote about a financial company the two were a part of in 2022, although who knows what the feds are looking at.
On Friday, news broke that Molly Schaffer, the head of asylum seeker services, received a subpoena from federal investigators relating to contracts for migrants. Sources told the Post it is connected to an investigation into Tim Pearson. She balked at the word search but the feds were there.
We wrote about what happens if Mayor Adams steps down. Who knows what will happen next?
Also this week: an excellent profile on the migrant women serving lunch to construction workers across New York City, there’s an election in a few weeks, the MTA unveiled its $68 billion capital budget, there’s still a City of Yes vote happening, and the Parks Department wants to take over its beach drone operations.
🎧LISTEN🎧
Errol Louis goes deep on “The Power Broker.” [YOU DECIDE]
FAQ’s take on all of the Adams administration probes [FAQ]
There were shows I would have loved to have seen but couldn’t this week, so here’s some music — Perfume Genius at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Squeeze at Central Park (this is the full show!), and Stars also in Williamsburg.
Thanks for reading, may you always have plenty of seltzer!