New York City Mayor Eric Adams, (D), has been in the news for the past couple of weeks because of circumstances within his control. Specifically, the way he chose to interact with critics, including those from the left, who made the mistake of getting a little close to the target.
Adams was at a community meeting in Washington Heights last Wednesday when he was confronted with Jeanie Dubbnau, a longtime NYC resident, about the Rent Guidelines Board of the city recently approving rent hikes for the second consecutive time during Adams’ tenure. Adams, who is responsible for naming members to the board, indicated that he supported the decision.
Adams, who is white and 84 years old, pulled out the race card and called Dubnau a “plantation-owner” after she pointed at him from about 100 feet away. He demanded that Dubnau respect the office of the mayor.
Dubnau, her family, and herself are Holocaust survivors. She has been advocating for low-income housing for people of all backgrounds for more than 40 years. Adams refused to apologize when he was informed of this during an interview.
Adams is not immune to the attacks. The New York Times recently slammed him for a story about a fallen police officer he had told repeatedly. They found that the core of the story, that he carried a picture of the officer around in his wallet for more than 30 years, was untrue.
The photo of Officer Venable, which had been deteriorated over the years in the mayor’s wallet, was not the real thing. The photo was created by the employees of the mayor’s offices a few days after Mr. Adams said he had it in his wallet.
According to a source familiar with the request, employees were told to take a picture of Officer Venable. The employee was instructed to create a photo of Officer Venable. According to a person familiar with the request, the picture was taken from Google. It was then printed in black and white, and was made look as though the mayor carried it around for ages, even splashing coffee on it.
Two former City Hall staffers, who requested anonymity, claimed that they were notified of the photo manipulation last year, shortly after it was made.
Adams, when asked to elaborate on the story that he often shares with voters, told the Times the photo “was always in my wallet” until it became too heavy. His staff then had to use Google to locate another photo and make it look old. Right.
The Times interviewed Venable’s relatives and colleagues of Adams and Venable, and confirmed that their story was true. However, they noted that Adams had a Joe Biden like tendency to embellish stories or invent them out of thin air, which is problematic for someone who told New Yorkers to trust him to not only do the job but to also be honest when communicating with them.
As mayor, Adams often shares personal memories, which helps him to connect with his working-class constituency. His stories are hard to verify and he’s been caught at times stretching the truth. He claimed to be vegan, only to later admit to eating fish. He also said he had told a true story in his commencement speech of 2019 about intimidating a neighbour, even though he did not experience it.
Recent financial disclosure forms show that Mr. Adams still owns the apartment.
Eric Adams, the “Lying King”, has already been criticized on social media by New York Communities for Change, which tweeted out an altered Playbill of Eric Adams.
The Times report confirmed what I had already said: Adams won the New York City mayor’s election in 2021 in part because he portrayed himself as a sane and common-sense Democrat. But all he has done since then is prove that this is a pretty rare thing.
