After New York City Mayor Eric Adams was charged with five counts of bribery, fraud, and solicitation of campaign contributions from foreign nationals, by federal prosecutors, Democratic establishment figures didn't make much of a public fuss.
After all, for many New York politicians accepting favors and gaming political donation rules is a way of life.
As for mayoral wannabes, they were hopeful Adams’s legal problems would force him to abandon his quest to seek a second term this year.
However, progressives were outraged and unforgiving after Adams had decided to play footsie with President Donald Trump and had agreed to work with his administration to round up illegal immigrants with criminal records.
Working with Trump is perceived as a greater crime than the old-fashioned offense of accepting graft.
Then, when the Trump justice department dropped the criminal charges against Adams, all hell broke loose. Angry Democrats pressured Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., to use her constitutional authority to remove Adams from office.
That demand placed Hochul in a political conundrum.
New York’s Constitution holds that there must be just cause to expel an elected official.
The decision would be easy if Adams had been convicted of a crime. But the thought of removing him from office because charges had been dropped is simply ludicrous.
Firing the mayor also posed a political problem for Gov. Hochul.
The acting mayor would be her number one enemy in the city: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. In 2022, Williams challenged Hochul in the Democratic gubernatorial primary running as a socialist.
He may challenge her again in 2026. The last thing Hochul needs is Williams having a high-profile mayoral platform to throw political bombs at her.
To resolve the issue, Hochul decided to split the baby. On the one hand, she declined to expel the mayor, but on the other hand she proposed temporary "guardrails" to restrict Adams’s executive authority.
The governor’s plan, which needs the approval of both the state legislature and the city council, would authorize a new inspector general to shadow the mayor.
The legislation would also permit the city council speaker, the city comptroller, and the public advocate to retain law firms to sue the Trump administration over immigration policies if the mayor declines to do so, or if he cooperates with the feds.
Reacting to the decision, New York Post editors sensibly wrote, "Governor Hochul displayed her trademark spinelessness. . . . She won’t boot Adams from office but instead will 'merely' move to put him on a short leash — and undermine him when necessary.
"Every New Yorker should oppose this idiocy."
Gov. Hochul has an extraordinary political tin ear. She wants to punish Adams, who supported her in her 2024 primary, while empowering a political foe, Jumaane Williams, and mayoral candidate, Comptroller Brad Lander.
You just can’t make this stuff up!
This political chaos has played into the hands of Andrew Cuomo.
Since he resigned the office of governor in 2021, Cuomo has been patiently executing a low-key plan to make a political comeback.
This approach worked for him before.
Back in 2002, Cuomo’s attempt to obtain the Democratic nomination for governor was a disaster. He angered establishment Democrats for opposing their preferred candidate, State Comptroller Carl McCall, an African American.
After withdrawing from the race, Cuomo’s political career was a shambles. But he refused to give up. Like the mythical Phoenix, Cuomo rose from the ashes.
For the next four years, he quietly and methodically traveled the state mending political fences. The result: in 2006 he was elected state attorney general and governor in 2010.
That strategy appears to be working again.
Cuomo has been speaking out, from time to time, on key issues offering common-sense proposals (i.e.: opposing congestion pricing and calling for changes in bail laws he once supported).
His efforts earned him the endorsement of his former opponent, Carl McCall, the left-wing Greenwich Village Reform Democratic Club, and the centrist Staten Island Democratic Party.
The Staten Island chairman, Laura LoBianco, when making the announcement, said "Cuomo is the only proven leader with the track record of results and resolve."
Also, a surprise endorsement came from Congressman Ritchie Torres of the Bronx.
Torres, who has been shedding many of his long-time leftist positions on crime and quality of life issues, said, "The two most important things we need are competence and courage. Andrew Cuomo has the confidence to govern the city.
"He has the courage to stand up to extremist politics — both from the far left and far right. We don’t need a Mr. Nice Guy. We need a Mr. Tough Guy."
A public opinion poll of Democrats released this week indicates that Cuomo holds a double edge lead over all the other contenders. He received 38% versus Mayor Adams’s 10%.
The radical left’s mission to destroy Mayor Adams for daring to speak to President Trump is working in Cuomo’s favor. It’s positioning him to pull off greatest political comeback in New York history.
George J. Marlin, a former executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the author of "The American Catholic Voter: Two Hundred Years of Political Impact," and "Christian Persecutions in the Middle East: A 21st Century Tragedy." Read George J. Marlin's Reports — More Here.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.