Tip O’Neill famously said “all politics is local.” His quip could have no greater relevance than to the present situation in New York City, where Mayor Eric Adams is under federal indictment.
The rubber meets the road in city government. You don’t call President Biden for a new traffic light at the corner or a fire permit to open a new building. Most people deal with middle-management city officials.
In New York, free-spending people go right to the top. They are the big donors, the real estate interests, those seeking a city contract — and, in this case, the Turkish government.
Living in New York, I always knew Adams had a reputation for corruption. It wasn’t one particular act that he had done in his former office as Brooklyn borough president or as mayor, but there was a feeling that he was in it for the money.
Adams loved to live high on the hog, particularly at the expense of others. He routinely dined with friends at the Midtown restaurant owned by Johnny and Robert Petrosyants — unsavory twin brothers who pleaded guilty in 2014 to felony charges related to a money-laundering scheme. The brothers had a long record of unpaid tax bills and lawsuits.
Adams would order his favorite dish, the $55 branzino, as he dined with pols and businessmen. He never got a check. It was all on the house.
Over the last eight years, the Petrosyants brothers have been accused in lawsuits of diverting funds intended for one project to another and of breaking........