NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is eager to control the questions he is asked by reporters, an unusual statement in response to a question about his role in supporting Kamala Harris.
Lisa Zornberg, Adams’ top counsel at City Hall, instructed reporters Tuesday not to ask purely political questions during the mayor’s weekly news conference. She later softened her stance.
“That’s not an appropriate question to ask at an event in the city,” Zornberg said in response to a question about Adams’ possible role in Harris’ presidential campaign.
The mayor, who once saw himself as a national spokesman for the Democratic Party, had already answered five questions about his restrained role at the national party conference in Chicago this week.
“Don’t ask specific questions that are exclusively campaign-related, like the presidential campaign or other campaigns. That shouldn’t be happening at a press conference in the city,” Zornberg said later.
There are no other routine opportunities to ask Adams questions. The mayor’s press team makes him available for questions on any topic only once a week.
About an hour later, on Tuesday, Zornberg backtracked on her position with a statement.
“We’re not trying to limit the questions the press can ask,” she said. “However, there are some limitations on what the mayor and city staff can say about political campaigns in the context of an official city press conference.”
Zornberg attributed her opinion to guidelines from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, which enforces rules intended to prevent corruption.
Fabien Levy, deputy mayor for communications, said Zornberg received that guidance by phone. He declined to go into detail about what lawyers in the office advised, although the mayor suggested that the COIB was interpreting political issues as off-limits in city hall.
“We don’t make these rules. We don’t agree with all the rules,” the mayor said. “But if the COIB gives us something, we have to abide by what they give.”
The new look at the existing conflict rules comes days after it was reported that Adams himself had received a subpoena in a federal investigation into his 2021 campaign’s possible ties to Turkey.
Richard Briffault, once president of the COIB, said there was a point at which a press conference could cross the line. But he didn’t think there were any rules that would prohibit the mayor from answering a specific question about politics.
“It is difficult to see how answering a single question is the pursuit of ‘personal and private activities,'” he said via email. “It is a matter of proportion, and if the political issues are going to take over the press conference, the mayor should stop questioning.”
Zornberg cited conflict-of-interest rules that prohibit elected officials from using taxpayer dollars to benefit themselves or political campaigns. In this case, she argued, the City Hall press room was the source that was being improperly used.
A former New York government lawyer questioned Zornberg’s characterization of the laws.
“It’s nonsense, and that’s a legal term you can understand,” said the lawyer, who asked not to be named and spoke freely about a sensitive issue.
Answering questions from the press is the mayor’s job and is different from performing material campaign work, such as calling donors, holding strategy talks at City Hall or holding a rally on the steps of the government building, the attorney said.
Former mayors Bill de Blasio, Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani regularly answered reporters’ questions about politics.
And until Tuesday, Adams was no exception.
In this case, the question that prompted Zornberg to intervene was whether the mayor was disappointed or surprised that he did not play a more prominent role in Harris’ campaign, given his background and support among black voters.
Adams responded that he will play a prominent role and will be doing outreach in the city. He reiterated that it is the Harris campaign’s decision where and how best to deploy him.
“There’s no ego. She’s running for president … and it’s not my job to outdo her in her presidential campaign,” Adams said. “This is not the Eric show. This is her show.”
