Amid the sensational indictments Thursday of Eric Adams on five counts of bribery, fraud, and soliciting foreign campaign donations, the embattled New York City mayor defiantly insisted he would remain in office.
Adams has also underscored his promise to seek reelection next year.
There is no law in New York barring a mayor or any other official from remaining in office while indicted. Even a conviction on any of the five federal charges could not force Adams to vacate City Hall (although it is taken for granted his fellow Democrats would call on him to leave if convicted).
But there is another factor in the Adams ordeal that is just now being discussed: that his fellow Democrat, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, could remove Adams as mayor with the stroke of a pen.
"The mayor may be removed from office by the governor," states Section 9 of the New York City Charter, "upon charges and after service upon him of a copy of the charges and an opportunity to be heard in his defense. Pending the preparation and disposition of charges, the governor may suspend the mayor for a period not exceeding thirty days."
The removal section has never been used. In 1932, as associates of New York Mayor James J. Walker began to be indicted following a major corruption investigation, Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt seriously considered removing fellow Democrat Walker. But Roosevelt was also seeking their party's nomination and privately worried the powerful Tammany Hall Democrat machine, of which Walker was a key cog, would not support him.
Once his nomination was secured, Roosevelt told associates he was going to remove Walker. But the mayor saved him the trouble, resigned from office Sept. 1, 1932, and took an extended trip to Europe with girlfriend Betty Compton until he was certain that possible prosecution was out of the question.
The only other occasion when Section 9 was executed was in fiction. Laurence Barrett's critically acclaimed 1965 novel "The Mayor of New York" ends with Democratic Mayor Norman Mandel, despite being renominated, poised to be removed from office by Gov. Bradley Thruston, a Republican with White House aspirations.
"Gov. Hochul would be insane to oust a fellow Democrat, who is presumed innocent until proven guilty," author Barrett told Newsmax. "Obviously, there's no legal requirement that she do so. Nor is there a moral imperative. Just look at all the Republican officeholders and Republican partisans, who are vigorously backing a convicted felon for president of the U.S."
Should Hochul remove Adams from office, Public Advocate Jumanne Williams, the second highest citywide official, would become acting mayor until a special election could be held.
A self-described "democratic socialist," Williams was the 2022 primary opponent to Hochul and lost in a landslide.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.