Ignoring Ethics Concerns, Adams Selects Ex-Police Official as Deputy Mayor
Source: NYT
In the last few weeks, as Mayor Eric Adams unveiled top members of his new administration in one splashy news conference after another, one expected move had not come: the naming of a controversial former top police chief as the deputy mayor for public safety.
On Friday morning, the former chief, Philip Banks III, announced his own appointment as deputy mayor in an opinion piece in The Daily News.
Mr. Bankss appointment had been delayed amid concerns about whether his 2014 resignation from the New York Police Department while the subject of a federal corruption investigation would hamper his credibility and ability to perform the job. Mr. Banks was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a wide-ranging corruption investigation that resulted in several convictions.
When he left the force, Mr. Banks had been chief of department, the highest-ranking uniformed position, and was about to become first deputy to William J. Bratton, then the incoming police commissioner.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/nyregion/eric-adams-philip-banks-deputy-mayor.html
His announcement:
The law is in my blood. My brothers and I grew up with it, watching my father leave the house every day from our home in Cambria Heights, off to protect the people of the city. His name was Philip too. And I, like many other people, followed in my fathers footsteps.
Now, nearly 40 years after I left home, and after nearly 30 years as a member of the NYPD, I still want to serve. But as I take on a new role as deputy mayor for public safety, I owe it to New Yorkers, and to our new Mayor Eric Adams, to answer some questions that have been raised about me.
Based on the release of court records, there has been much speculation about my relationship with two men, Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, who were later convicted as part of a corruption investigation. I was never charged with any crime as part of that investigation, which is why I never felt it necessary to address the reports.
The central theme of the reports about my involvement in the corruption scheme was that I was party to it; that I traded favors as a senior NYPD official for some form of compensation. That is 100% false. In fact, neither defendant even claimed this. I never did anything in my official capacity for Rechnitz or Reichberg.
https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-philip-banks-eric-adams-nypd-20220107-is4fxfskuzcr7pdt4cq5ytphvu-story.html
ZonkerHarris
(24,229 posts)CurtEastPoint
(18,649 posts)NCjack
(10,279 posts)Escurumbele
(3,395 posts)dem4decades
(11,296 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,300 posts)GB_RN
(2,356 posts)Do you mind extrapolating a bit?
For those not familiar, and I know a lot of people are confused by Ranked Choice Voting, RCV lets you vote your conscience and still vote strategically. IOW, you dont waste your vote on a protest.
If Florida had ranked choice in 2000, the Green Party people could have put Al Gore as their 2nd choice. In this scenario, when Nader failed to clear the bar, all ballots for Nader that had Gore marked as 2nd choice would have automatically counted for Gore (as there were more than sufficient Nader votes), and hed have won without needing a recount. No shenanigans could have pulled it out for Bush.
Mr.Bill
(24,300 posts)I don't even know all the candidates in the NY election. I just know that when they did it in Oakland, California some years ago, they wound up with a mayor that went to bed on election night thinking she had no chance of winning and woke up finding out she did. She wasn't a very good mayor and only went one term.
GB_RN
(2,356 posts)Through Electoral-Vote.com, as they covered it. Adams had a huge lead in all the opinion polls leading up to the election, and indeed, stomped the sacrificial Republican, Curtis Sliwa, 66.5% - 28.8%. Adams won out in a crowded Democratic primary earlier in the year, campaigning on law and order, IIRC.
Whether or not he's going to be a good mayor, well, that remains to be seen. 🤷♂️
Escurumbele
(3,395 posts)Javaman
(62,530 posts)Harker
(14,022 posts)Ford_Prefect
(7,901 posts)Pas-de-Calais
(9,904 posts)Run up to the vote?
Not that I care
rpannier
(24,329 posts)Elect a retired cop, you get the police mentality
Lars39
(26,109 posts)This ought to be interesting.
AZLD4Candidate
(5,698 posts)This is a bad statement to make.
My attitude toward this cop turned mayor has completely soured and it isn't even February yet.
disndat
(1,887 posts)And Adams has already failed the smell test.