After the bombshell indictment of Eric Adams by a federal grand jury, New York City’s powerful business community is scrambling to figure out how to deal with the real possibility of a socialist taking over City Hall.
Business titans are said to be terrified at the prospect of Jumaane Williams, the left-wing, anti-cop Public Advocate running the city if Adams is either forced to resign or removed by Gov. Kathy Hochul amid the corruption scandal that has engulfed his mayoralty.
“This is scary stuff,” one top business leader told the Post.
As the prospect grows, The Post has learned that Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York, the city’s leading business advocacy group, has reached out to Williams to set up a meeting to discuss what he will face if he becomes mayor.
“The partnership wants to help out, that’s what it does,” said one person with knowledge of the matter.
The conversation will likely include “what’s at stake if he blows up the city government, all the projects that stand in the balance, roads, bridges, jobs and the police that demand a functioning city government, not some crazy alternative,” this person added,
Wylde declined to provide a comment. Williams didn’t reply to an email for comment.
Adams was elected in 2020 vowing to return order to a city that was ravaged by crime and businesses fleeing the Big Apple for lower tax states such as Florida.
He had strong support from the business community and people at the Partnership believe he mostly delivered on his promises for a pro business and public safety agenda despite the burgeoning corruption scandal.
The business community’s fear of Williams appears warranted given his record first at the City Council and later after he was elected Public Advocate in 2019.
Williams took to the streets in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter riots that consumed the city. He’s pushed for various anti-cop measures and is an avowed socialist who has been endorsed by a coterie of far left political parties including the Working Families Party and Democratic Socialists of America.
Just how long the business community will have to deal with Williams depends in large part on the vagaries of Democratic Party politics, whether more pols demand that Adams immediately resign, and when and whether Hochul decides to remove him as she is authorized to do under state law.
Stay updated with the New York Post’s coverage of Mayor Eric Adams’ indictment
Rumors are swirling that the batch of charges against Adams largely over accepting gifts from foreigners, campaign finance violations and giving favorable treatment to foreigner donors is just the beginning of his legal woes. Several top Democrats tell The Post they expect additional charges against Adams and or members of his administration in the coming days.
Adams, whose term ends next year, has vowed not to resign and fight the charges which he has called baseless. But Hochul may be forced to remove him sooner if the scandal continues to grow.
One favorite of the business community in City Hall is Andrew Cuomo, who has been courting top members of the New York business community for much of the past year as Adams’ legal woes mounted.
Cuomo has made it no secret he wants to return to government as mayor, a post his father, the late Gov. Mario Cuomo, sought but never won during his own long political career.
Andrew Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 amid a sexual harassment probe by his political opponent, New York Attorney General Letitia James. Despite a bombshell report with salacious allegations, Cuomo was never charged.
“Andrew has been meeting with all of us and he’s putting the band together, talking with people he will need to run the city if he’s elected,” said one top financier, who supported Adams but now says he’s all in on Cuomo.
The progressive state Democratic Party leadership, however, doesn’t share the same fondness for Cuomo as the business community, given his sharp-elbowed governing style and more moderate political views. Party insiders tell The Post.
If Adams is immediately removed, Williams will be mayor for at least 90 days, and then join an open-primary run-off against Cuomo and other challengers, meaning both Republicans and Independents can vote. Such a move would favor Cuomo.
That is why some Democratic Party insiders will pressure Hochul to hold off on removing Adams until at least next March when under law Cuomo will have to face off in a primary open only to Democrats that might put him at a disadvantage.
Under either scenario, however, the betting is that Adams will be gone before his term ends and Williams at some point will be mayor, which is why Wylde and the Partnership are looking to build bridges with him.
“The feeling is sooner or later we’re going to have to deal with this guy,” said one senior member of the group.
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