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Adams gives his brother a $210,000 job
Mayor Eric Adams, a retired cop, has hired his brother, also a retired cop, to be his head of security. Initially, the mayor appointed his brother as a deputy commissioner in the NYPD.
NEW YORK - Ethics questions are swirling around Mayor Eric Adams for hiring his brother, Bernard Adams, to oversee his personal security — a role that pays multiple six figures. The mayor has defended the move. He said his brother is the most qualified person for the job and that "protection is personal."
"I trust my brother. My brother understands me and if I had to put my life in someone’s hands, I want to put it in the hands of the person that I trust deeply," Adams told reporters at a news conference on Sunday.
"On its face, it seems to be illegal," said Columbia University Law Professor Richard Briffault, who is a former chair on the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board, which is the city agency that would need to approve the mayor's hiring of a family member.
"At the moment, it's in violation of the law," said Briffault, who served on the Conflicts of Interest Board from 2014 to 2020.
The New York Times reported that Bernard Adams started working Dec. 30 — two days before the mayor was sworn into office — and that the Adams administration did not contact the Conflicts of Interest Board to try and get approval until Jan. 7, when the New York Post reported the mayor's brother had been hired.
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The mayor's brother is a former NYPD sergeant who retired in 2006 after 20 years. Recently, Eric Adams defended his decision to hire his brother as a deputy commissioner with the NYPD with a salary of about $240,000. But after some pushback, Bernard Adams's job was downgraded to executive director of the mayor's security with a salary of about $210,000, the Times reported.
However, the mayor is up against the city's anti-nepotism law.
"The law is pretty straightforward," Briffault said. "You shouldn't use your position or office to procure a financial advantage for a sibling."
The Conflicts of Interest Board could end up granting the mayor a waiver.
"Typically in a case like this involving the appointment of an individual, there would have to be some argument about why his brother is uniquely qualified for the position," Briffault said.
Previous mayors have sought waivers to hire family members. Bill de Blasio got a waiver to hire his wife, Chirlane McCray, to chair the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City but McCray was not paid. And Mike Bloomberg appointed his sister, Marjorie Tiven, as commissioner for the United Nations, Consular Corps and Protocol. She did not receive a salary, either.
With The Associated Press.