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By GHK Lall- This is unbelievable was the first reaction. New York City Mayor Eric Adams rocked by a 57-page indictment issued by a federal grand jury for corruption and bribery, among other charges. This man’s moves up the ladder in the NYPD to Brooklyn Borough President to Mayor of New York City were followed with pride. His success was my success; a man of color following in the footsteps of former Mayor David Dinkins himself from the colored section of town in a largely colored City . A number of his key people fell by the wayside recently, and now he is under the hammer.
This is a bad day for many people, including New York City’s huge West Indian contingent. Like everyone else, Mayor Adams is innocent until the last word is said and all that went before is held against him. Though it must be said that some of those charges give every appearance of subtle overreach. They can be interpreted as his people intervening to influence matters so that things get moving, done. Other charges look stiffer, harder to combat. It is going to be a humdinger of a court fight, a long and sensational one.
As I reel from what feels like a personal blow, the thinking is how some of those who rise to the top must go the extra mile to be extra careful. Meaning, squeaky clean in all their dealings, with nothing left to chance. There always must be the awareness that some of their own people, not people of character, labor behind the scenes to pull them down. As much as there is appreciation for Mayor Adams, something must be said straight up and straightaway. There was some difficulty with more than a few of his surrounding cast, those who were closest to him. Some of them didn’t sit right; in fact, he didn’t register well for selecting them and then sticking with them.
As an aside, it is one of the difficulties endured with a handful of leading political figures in Guyana. There are too many questionable, borderline or over the line characters around the ranking politicians. Having such people at the elbow and in the bosom is not advantageous, since the pols themselves are not of the cleanest ethical disposition.
Of course, this must be said right away: none of that is an indictable offense by any measure. But people like us always must remember that Big Brother is watching and scrutinizing sharply, enemies are lurking, and that no effort must be spared to do things by the book. Frankly, I do not think that some of the mayor’s men were people that I would feel comfortable having around me. They had too much baggage, they added more while working for him, which weighed down the number one man. There are the kind of folks who would cut a corner to get ahead.
Indeed, it is that old story: the failures of the company kept could bring down the presidency; in this instance, the mayor of New York City is under the microscope, and there are some suspicious particles floating about. Matters have progressed (or degraded) from the mayor being called upon too often and spending too much time parrying the wolves away to the mayor himself now having the book thrown at him. The New York media has been on his back, with one bruising disclosure following on the heels of the other.
It is not easy to watch the slow deterioration of a place that served as home away from home for most of the over three decades spent in the United States. It is just as difficult to watch things come to this for a man who it was thought had something different about him. His slow ascension was followed closely, applauded. Now this newest development. He could still emerge from this blistering storm untouched. But some taint will linger; there is that odor even from now.
Often, the question was pondered about whether powerful forces were out to get Eric Adams. Even before the federal development, the sense was of the net closing in, and that his standing looked increasingly shaky. Still, the thought never crossed that Eric Adams the former police officer, Eric Adams the mayor, or Eric Adams the man could ever be involved in the kind of business that made him resemble so many of Guyana’s leading political lights. That he would not shootdown what has the merest whiff of later trouble.
To be sure, as matters stand today, everything is under that qualifier that goes by the name of alleged. It is scant comfort. Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it is a hell of a job to return to its resting place. What’s next for Mayor Adams will unfold as what is sure to be a frenzied spectacle grows from strength to strength and all in the media capital of the world. The last thought is where does dragging, ragged New York City go from here.
