Last week, we expressed our disappointment over New York City Mayor Eric Adams inserting himself into the recent kerfuffle over an alleged assault on former mayor Rudy Giuliani in a Staten Island supermarket. Mayor Adams publicly called upon the Staten Island district attorney – and the NYC police commissioner, a mayoral appointee – to probe whether Mr. Giuliani filed a false police report, a violation of the criminal code. He would also speak privately with the Staten Island DA.
We could not understand why the mayor of New York City, with all that he has on his plate, would take an interest in this sort of thing. Since then, however, the mayor went even further down this road, expressing approval that the alleged attacker, who spent the night in jail, had the charges against him substantially reduced and was released pending further proceedings.“I was happy that the gentleman was released on his own [recognizance] from the court, and I just believe we should not have New Yorkers spend 24 hours in a jail for crimes they did not commit,” Adams had told reporters.
When asked by a reporter if he had encouraged the prosecutor not to prosecute the alleged attacker, Mayor Adams said that he would not disclose the contents of his conversations with the prosecutor.
We had rather thought that prosecutorial decision-making is the province of law enforcement officials, not members of the executive branch. Certainly the determination of guilt or innocence is not a matter of executive fiat.
We suggested that perhaps Mayor Adams is playing to New York’s woke crowd, which targets anything that reminds them of Donald Trump. Rudy Giuliani certainly fits that bill. But the mayor needs the support of all New Yorkers to do what he has promised. He needs to project the image of a straight shooter and someone dedicated to the rule of law. Squandering critical good will on some cancel culture antics and bending the rules is not the way to go.
