Sunday Edition: Stretching the mayor's mysterious absence into a second week
The mayor might have stomach ulcers. I know the feeling! #112
Last Tuesday was the first time Mayor Adams took “off topic” questions from the press since Jan. 21 – a lifetime in the news cycle – and we all had questions about what malady kept him out of the public eye the week before.
Instead of being upfront, the mayor added a whole other level of confusion to things, stretching this into a second week. This should be studied in colleges as what NOT to do.
Asked about his time away and his ailment, this was the mayor’s response. I’ve highlighted what will be relevant soon:
Given that he was asked about the prior week and responded about that week, you might presume he had anesthesia that week for, we found out later, was a colonoscopy. Well, to quote his spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus to me when we all, hours later, started to unravel the truth: “When did I say the colonoscopy was last week? He said he underwent anesthesia.” (?????????)
It turns out the mayor actually had the colonoscopy, and went under, but on January 3! His days away were when he required further tests once his colonoscopy results returned, like one for stomach ulcers. (If you’re a man and over 45, you should get a colonoscopy!
We were all struggling to get to the bottom of this, and the lack of notification prompted public advocate Jumaane Williams to complain that he wasn’t told. This then prompted the mayor’s press team to throw a fit about him linking to an outdated version of the charter and telling us reporters to “CALL STU LOESER AND HE’LL TALK ABOUT WHAT BLOOMBERG DID” while THEY DIDN’T KNOW EXACTLY WHEN THE MAYOR HAD HIS COLONOSCOPY!
When you can’t get basic information right, when the mayor is said to have “misspoken” when he in fact “lied,” how can the press and, more importantly, the voting public believe anything else you say? The changing story also makes us reporters look both dumb and untrustworthy when the story we are told keeps changing – but that’s something that the mayor and his team may see as benefit, since they try to undermine us all the time.
Then there was also the schools chancellor walking back her comments during testimony in Albany saying that fear of ICE after President Trump’s inauguration that is one of many factors driving attendance down in public schools.
Oh, and we can’t forget the new or changed guidance to city agencies about what to do if or when ICE arrives at city-owned buildings. THE CITY reported on one memo in January, and this week many other outlets reported on a different memo with different guidance.
Could anyone get a straight answer from the mayor’s press team? Absolutely not! They instead just harassed reporters to try to change stories without actually pointing out any factual inaccuracies.
Imagine you’re a city employee looking for guidance on what to do and this is what the mayor’s press secretary is sharing (the full thread is even more confusing)
The mayor’s team now says they may clarify the memo, but when and how?
Oh and meanwhile, a former Adams aide will plead guilty to federal charges. From the story:
”The feds alleged in that complaint that Bahi spoke with the mayor hours after the FBI showed up last June to question the straw donors. The complaint states that he told one of the donors that he had met with the mayor and that the mayor “believed” the donor would not cooperate with the FBI.”
Other interesting stories
The city continues to do a bad job of paying contracts on time [THE CITY]
His life was upended when the NYPD misidentified as a mass-shooting suspect [Associated Press]
He was given a New York City press pass [NY POST]
Zumm is closing its pork store, which is sad [QNS]
The woman appointed by the mayor to run a little-known sports agency backs Trump’s trans sports ban, defying city rules [GOTHAMIST]
100 immigrants arrested in NYC by ICE last week [THE CITY]
Our latest edition of RANKED CHOICES includes a fun anecdote about Lisa Zornberg, who appears to be thriving.
🎧LISTEN🎧
🗳️ We spoke to mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie on the pod this week. [FAQ NYC]
One of the most amazing resources we have is the Internet Archive, which is even more true as our president is deleting entire archives and webpages of crucial data and information. On a much lighter note, the archive also has hours and hours and hours of amazing bootleg concert recordings, hip-hop mixtapes, rare sound libraries, old timey radio shows, TV theme songs, a library of live Chicago shows from a prolific taper and so much more. Here are some favorites:
Sonic Youth, Bozeman, MT, Oct. 6, 1987
Hüsker Dü, Mandel Hall, UChicago, Oct. 9, 1987
Nirvana, Dreamerz, July 8, 1989
Orson Welles shows
WNYU radio archive
A vaporwave archive
And here is HousePlants live at The Beekeepers.
Thanks for reading!