Judge Dale Ho made the right call in permanently dropping corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams.
Hizzoner has plainly suffered a personal morale hit from this ordeal; he even announced that he’d stopped reading the newspapers to help him cope.
But now he can tend to city business and ramp up a full-throttle reelection campaign — with no cloud hanging over him.
About time.
The case plainly needed to be dropped: As the Justice Department noted, it smelled of “impropriety” by Biden prosecutors, who indicted Adams only after he criticized their administration’s immigration policies.
The case also “improperly interfered” with Adams’ reelection campaign and hamstrung him in doing his job.
But so did the Trump prosecutors’ plan to retain the right to refile charges later: Adams’ enemies have been relentless in charging that leaving things in limbo left the mayor obliged to jump anytime the prez said “frog.”
Plus, the change in the White House can’t actually remove that original political taint.
So Ho did right in heeding the recommendation of outside adviser Paul Clement and killing the case altogether.
All that said: If the case was meant as a political hit job, it worked.
It’s done major damage to Adams, slamming his reputation and encouraging ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to enter the race despite his past promises not to primary the mayor.
He has not only refrained from campaigning, he hasn’t seriously contested the Campaign Finance Board’s decision to withhold public matching funds from his campaign.
It didn’t help that Ho took his time: It’s been two months since prosecutors sought to drop the case, and a month since Clement advised killing it completely.
At this point, Adams’ best hope for re-election may be running as independent. Petitions to make the Democratic primary ballot are due Thursday, the day after Ho finally ruled; the mayor has little cash on hand for a bruising battle against Cuomo and the rest of the pack — and, as he’s said before, he didn’t leave his party, it left him.
Meanwhile, he must scramble to regain public trust just to do his job.
And some of his woes are of his own making; the NYPD saw multiple scandals on his watch, too many of them involving his chosen leadership team.
Yet Adams’ decision to put Jessica Tisch in charge of the force was a huge step toward righting the ship.
Tisch is already making impressive gains against crime: Murders in the first quarter of this year have plunged 35% vs. 2024. Shootings are down 23%.
Adams needs to keep it up:
- Hire proven pros, not underqualified friends, for key positions.
- Push back hard on progressives trying to protect violent illegal migrants.
- With the border closed and hotels emptying of migrants, focus on boosting businesses, restoring fiscal responsibility, improving schools, addressing the chaos on the streets.
If Adams hopes to serve the city well, let alone get re-elected, he needs to start showing the focused energy that won him the job in the first place.
Plus: You probably need to start reading the papers again, sir . . . at least the one that counts.
