Too Fun to Check: Adams Replacement Took Cash From Same Donor in Indictment

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Perhaps Big Apple denizens need to prepare a Plan C. 

Last week, the Department of Justice indicted New York City mayor Eric Adams on several counts of corruption, alleging that Adams took straw-donor money that originated overseas for favors in his administration. Adams insists that he will not resign his office and that he will instead keep working while he refutes the charges. Governor Kathy Hochul and the city council have options to remove Adams unwillingly, although they are messy and fraught with political peril. 

If Adams leaves office or gets ejected from it, the mayoral mantle will pass temporarily to NYC ‘public advocate’ Jumaane Williams. However, it turns out that Williams also got big political donations from one of the principals in the DoJ indictment of Adams, as the Wall Street Journal reported this morning:

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the elected official who would replace Mayor Eric Adams if he resigns, accepted political contributions from a businessman who is accused of orchestrating illegal donations to Adams. 

Earlier this year, Williams’s re-election campaign received a total of $5,000 in donations from Brooklyn construction contractor Tolib Mansurov and two of his company’s employees, city campaign finance records show. …

A spokesman for Williams said the public advocate met Mansurov as part of his engagement with the Uzbek community. 

“We were unaware of his donations to the mayor and have no specific reason to believe the contribution to the public advocate was improper, but the campaign will closely review the donation to ensure both ethical and legal compliance,” the spokesman said.

To be clear, merely taking the money does not represent a crime by Willams, nor is that why Adams got indicted. Straw-donor operations are crimes committed by the donors and the people behind the money, not crimes by candidates, unless a quid pro quo can get established. (And the McDonnell decision by the Supreme Court requires it to be very explicit.) The DoJ connected the straw-donor cash and a bunch of other favors to official acts by Adams and his administration, at least to the satisfaction of a federal grand jury.

Can they do that with Williams? That remains to be seen, but it’s worth noting that Mansurov hasn’t been indicted in this case, at least not yet. That would tend to indicate that Mansurov has become a cooperating witness in their prosecution. Does Mansurov have any other deals to discuss other than with Adams? The WSJ notes that Williams appears to be the only other NYC official to whom Mansurov donated. 

Coincidence? Maybe. But consider another story from ABC News this morning about the case:

It is “possible” New York City Mayor Eric Adams could face additional charges and additional defendants are “likely” to be added, prosecutors said during a court hearing Wednesday, a week after a sprawling, five-count indictment against the embattled politician was unsealed.

“We’re moving quickly,” the prosecutor, Hagan Scotten, said. “We think that is quite likely.”

“Additional defendants” probably refers to others in Adams’ administration. Legal analysts noted with some puzzlement how the DoJ put together an indictment alleging significant quid pro quo arrangements while only targeting one person for prosecution. The assumption was that either everyone else had cut a deal or that the DoJ had more shoes ready to drop. Today’s ABC report makes it sound like the latter, and given Mansurov’s connections and donor habits, it’s not out of the question that Williams might be one of those shoes. 

This also sounds ominous:

The investigation into Adams began in the summer of 2021, “before the defendant had even become mayor,” Scotten said, revealing a timeframe not previously known.

Williams has been around for quite a while, at least as a member of the city council. He first won election to that office in 2010 and then became Publoc Advocate in 2019. He also was Cynthia Nixon’s ally and quasi-running mate in her 2018 primary challenge of Andrew Cuomo; Williams ran for lieutenant governor against Kathy Hochul. He’s a mover and shaker in city politics and in the state Democrat Party. 

However, it’s unclear what advantage anyone would gain by bribing a Public Advocate. Its main function is to act as a kind of ombudsman for NYC residents and businesses, but it doesn’t appear that the office can do much more than, well, advocate on their behalf. Even if Williams is corrupt — and that’s far from established or even officially alleged at the moment — it’s tough to see how anyone could prove it through the kind of explicit quid pro quo actions needed for federal prosecution. Mayors and their underlings have real executive authority and can take explicit actions.

Still, Mansurov took an interest in Wlliams for some reason, and it doesn’t look like Manurov was intrigued by Williams’ professed anti-corruption agenda. Keep an eye on the shoes that will drop, and in the meantime, maybe New Yorkers should familiarize themselves with the next rungs in the line of succession to Adams … and with the politicians standing on them, too.