Robert Petrosyants defended the mayor as a steadfast friend.
Robert Petrosyants said in an interview: “I was friends with Eric for a long time, and we were still friends and then I had that problem, that financial problem. “As friends, he doesn’t turn his back on me.”
The mayor’s emphasis on loyalty and redemption gave some political observers pause.
Christina Greer, professor of political science at Fordham University. “And he seems really excited about doing the job.”
More importantly, the mayor is at risk of compromise if he associates with people who may have connections or activities that “could expose him to a conflict of interest,” said Ross Sandler, director of the Center New York City Law at the New York School of Law said. and a former assistant United States attorney in Manhattan.
However, Sid Davidoff, a veteran lobbyist and former aide to Mayor John V. Lindsay, said the public is not concerned with Mr. Adams’ appointments, they are concerned with whether the trash has is picked up and whether the subway is safe or not.
He defends the mayor’s second chance philosophy. “I think he deserves his time to show that the people he appoints are the right people for the job regardless of their past,” said Davidoff.
With questions frequently arising about his hiring practices, Mr. Adams adopted a political model: Weigh the uproar, delay the decision and then make the hiring – sometimes with rank. and liability is reduced.
He followed that model with his brother, Bernard Adams, a retired Police Department sergeant and most recently, a parking lot manager in Virginia. Initially, the mayor had been looking for his brother for the position of deputy police commissioner, who would oversee security for the mayor and other dignitaries, although he had little experience with that type of work.
