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New York Politics

NYC Mayor Adams tones down bail reform rhetoric in apparent

pre-election boon to Gov. Hochul
By Chris Sommerfeldt
New York Daily News • Oct 24, 2022 at 2:19 pm

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Mayor Adams dialed down his tough talk on the state’s bail reforms over the weekend after unprovoked Queens subway
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maintaining for months that they’re to blame for the city’s crime uptick — extending a pre-
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lection olive branch to Gov. Hochul, who has been reluctant to heed Hizzoner’s calls for
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Adams offered the tone shift on bail reform in a virtual press conference Sunday that capped hate speech, CAA drops
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off a two-day criminal justice summit at Gracie Mansion. anti-Semitic comments
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The mostly closed-door summit was attended by a long list of local prosecutors, public
defenders, criminal justice reform advocates and government officials, including Hochul’s chief Giants
counsel, Elizabeth Fine, according to an invite list provided to the Daily News. Discussions Giants ran same ‘Power’
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revolved around ways to find “common ground” on public safety — but largely stayed clear of straight plays to bleed clock
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the hot-button issue of bail reform, Adams said in the press conference.
2h

“Anytime we engage in this conversation around the criminal justice system, people highlight
one term and that is bail reform. There are so many other aspects of the criminal justice system
that we were able to talk through and discuss, and we were extremely pleased with the
conversations we had,” Adams told reporters.

New York Cty Mayor Eric Adams (Michael Appleton/NYC Mayor's Office)

Adams’ pivot away from bail reform contrasts his previous focus on the issue.

Since last year’s mayoral race, Adams has attributed pandemic-era spikes in some crime
categories to the state Legislature’s 2019 bail reforms, which eliminated cash bail and pre-trial
detention for most nonviolent offenses.

“The overall system is failing New Yorkers by allowing repeat offenders back out on the streets
over and over again,” Adams said in August of the reforms.

[ NYC Mayor Adams wants state lawmakers to work on bail laws after transit cop brawl ]

In addition to opposing the reforms, the mayor has previously proposed taking it a step further
by pushing the state Legislature to institute a “dangerousness” standard in the bail laws that
would give judges discretion to mandate pre-trial detention based on their personal view of a
defendant. He has also advocated for allowing prosecutors to try some teenage defendants in
criminal court.

Asked in Sunday’s press conference if he maintains those views, Adams declined to give a
straight answer and reiterated he’s focused on “common ground.”

“We must focus on a holistic approach,” he said. “The goal this weekend was to say, ‘Hey, let’s
find our common ground. What are the common grounds we have?’ We’re going to have
disagreements, we’re going to have things that some believe is more of a top priority than
others, but what are the common grounds?”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (Darren McGee/Office of the Governor)

Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic political strategist and former Port Authority cop, said
he sees Adams’ decision to let bail reform take a backseat as a boon to Hochul, who’s in a tight
reelection race against Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin.

“Bail reform immediately gets people focused and afraid, and if the mayor mentions bail
reform as a problem, he injures his fellow Democrats and the governor, who are fighting in
tough races right now,” he said. “Adams changing course is an indirect help to the governor.”

[ There is ‘no evidence’ bail reform rollback would cut crime: NYC Comptroller Brad Lander ]

Hochul and Democratic leaders in the state Legislature have signaled they are not interested in
acting on Adams’ past demands for tweaks to the bail laws. They’ve pointed to data from the
state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services showing that the 2019 legislative action did not
result in a spike in recidivism among defendants — seemingly debunking the claim from critics
that the reforms are to blame for recent crime spikes.

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) (Bebeto Matthews/AP)

To that end, Adams’ past rhetoric on the bail issue has been in line with talking points pushed
by Zeldin, putting the mayor in an awkward position with the incumbent Democratic governor.

“Zeldin’s rise has even had to do with bail reform,” Sheinkopf said, pointing to recent polls
showing Hochul only holding single-digit percentage point leads over the GOP candidate, with
two weeks to go until the Nov. 8 election.

[ GOP gubernatorial hopeful Lee Zeldin aligns himself with NYC Mayor Adams in push for
bail law action ]

Lining up with messaging more widely embraced by elected New York Democrats, Adams said
in Sunday’s press conference that his team left this weekend’s summit with a renewed focus on
reforming the state court system’s discovery process and increasing access to mental health
services.

A lack of focus in those areas, Adams said, is detrimental to public safety.

“This system is not built for the 21st century,” he said.

The Legal Aid Society, a public defender group that often criticizes Adams, offered support for
the mayor’s post-summit agenda.

“What is clear from this summit is that we share an interest in resolving these issues,” Legal
Aid said in a joint statement with two other like-minded groups, the Bronx Defenders and the
Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. “We must all commit to investing in community
health services and data-proven solutions to the mental health crisis before, during, and after
entanglement with the criminal legal system.”

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