Some people just want to go on with their lives and it has nothing to do with sprawling corruption probes.
By Katie Honan
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- The Roosevelt Island Daily News
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Despite several members of his inner circle heading for the door, Mayor Eric Adams at his weekly Tuesday media briefing insisted it’s business as usual for his administration and the rapid-fire resignations have nothing to do with swirling federal investigations.
“People wanted to go on with their lives and, working in government — it’s hard. I think David [Banks] said it best — ‘I ran out of gas,’” Adams said. “Especially when you bring everything you got to the job.”
Just a few days after Banks announced that he would step down early from his position as schools chancellor, his wife, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright also resigned, the mayor announced Tuesday while naming Maria Torres-Springer as her replacement.
Adams’ press conference came hours after Manhattan federal prosecutors charged a recently-resigned mayoral community liaison, Mohamed Bahi, with witness tampering and destruction of evidence in connection with the federal case against the mayor.
The mayor repeatedly noted that there are hundreds of thousands of municipal employees, making the exodus from City Hall small in comparison. But in the past few days at least seven high-level staffers have left the administration:
Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, his brother David Banks, Wright, Bahi and community liaison Winnie Greco, and Bahi all resigned. Community liaison Rana Abbasova and Ahsan Chughtai, a senior mayoral adviser for South Asian and Muslim affairs, were both fired.
‘Follow the Law’
Torres-Springer — who was already a deputy mayor for housing, economic development and workforce — will continue to work on those initiatives while taking on the new role, the mayor’s office said.
“I come to this role as well carrying a deep and abiding love for this city, but I also come to the role carrying the stories and the dreams of more than 8 million New Yorkers who I have faithfully served across different capacities inside and outside of government,” she said Tuesday, while thanking the mayor and the former first deputy mayor.
It’s unclear what will happen with Wright’s or Philip Banks’ staff. The mayor said his chief of staff, Camille Joseph Varlack, and the new first deputy mayor will do an analysis to figure out the details.
Adams deflected most questions about Bahi’s arrest and charges, saying he was focused on running the city and that his lawyers would handle anything court related.
“I will never instruct anyone to do anything illegal or improper. The only instruction I give people all the time. Follow the law. Follow the law is my number one instruction that I give people,” Adams said.
Later, he declined to answer a question about why he has to frequently remind his staff to play by the rules.
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A Different Kind of Bet
For years, Roosevelt Island did not behave like a system constrained by limits. Internally, the budget was often treated less as a boundary and more as a reservoir to be used.
