Voters could be given the option to vote on removing NYC mayors from office
The Brief
A Charter Revision Commission recommended that voters be given the opportunity to vote on a new removal process for New York City mayors.
As of today, there are two ways a New York City mayor can be removed.
"Staff recommend that the Commission consider creating a process for mayoral removal beyond those currently available to the Governor or Committee on Mayoral Inability."
NEW YORK CITY - New Yorkers could soon have the power to remove sitting New York City mayors over misconduct.
What we know
A Charter Revision Commission, the NYC Commission to Strengthen Local Democracy, recommended that voters be given the opportunity to vote on a new removal process for New York City mayors.
For context, Charter Revision Commissions are temporarily appointed government bodies that review the New York City Charter, which is essentially the framework for how the city is governed. These commissions can propose changes to the charter that are then voted upon by the public in a general election.
Click to open this PDF in a new window.
The Commission to Strengthen Local Democracy met on June 6 – one of the changes proposed is granting the New York City Council the ability to begin the process of removing a mayor.
"Staff recommend that the Commission consider creating a process for mayoral removal beyond those currently available to the Governor or Committee on Mayoral Inability," reads one portion of the Preliminary Staff Report released.
The process in mind would allow the Council to file mayoral misconduct charges with a supermajority vote (over two-thirds), then hold a hearing for the mayor in question to respond to said misconduct charges. The findings would be decided upon by another supermajority vote – after that point, it would be in the hands of the voters.
A ballot question on whether to remove the sitting mayor would be presented to the voters – only a majority, not a supermajority, would be required to remove the mayor.
Read the entire updated list of recommendations, including the aforementioned process, here.
As of today, there are two ways a New York City mayor can be removed.
The New York governor is able to serve a NYC mayor with charges, after which said mayor would have a chance to defend themself – the governor would then decide personally whether to remove them.
The alternative is a bit more complicated.
The City Charter cites that a special committee can be assembled to remove a mayor: an inability committee.
This committee would comprise the corporation counsel, the city comptroller and the speaker of the City Council, as well as the borough president who has served the most consecutive years in office and the deputy mayor.
Four of the five members would have to vote to remove the mayor.
Who they are
This specific Charter Revision Commission (CRC) was created by the City Council in November 2024.
It has 17 commissioners, nine of which are appointed by the Council speaker; the remaining commissioners are appointed by the mayor, public advocate, comptroller and the five borough presidents.
The panel will hold hearings about its suggested recommendations, then issue a final report later on.
The backstory
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced earlier this year that she would not use her authority to remove New York City Mayor Eric Adams from office – the calls for Adams' removal came after New York prosecutors were directed by the U.S. Department of Justice to "dismiss" federal criminal charges that had been made against Adams
Adams had been accused of accepting luxury travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals in exchange for political favors, including helping Turkish officials resolve city approvals for a diplomatic building in Manhattan.
The Source
This article includes information from several New York City government offices and an updated list of recommendations made by the NYC Commission to Strengthen Local Democracy.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
2 hours ago
New York lawmakers approve bill that would allow medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Terminally ill New Yorkers would have the legal ability to end their own lives with pharmaceutical drugs under a bill passed Monday in the state Legislature. The proposal, which now moves to the governor's office, would allow a person with an incurable illness to be prescribed life-ending drugs if he or she requests the medication and gets approval from two physicians. A spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would review the legislation. The New York Senate gave final approval to the bill Monday night after hours of debate during which supporters said it would let terminally ill people die on their own terms. 'It's not about hastening death, but ending suffering,' said state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat who sponsored the proposal. Opponents have argued the state should instead improve end-of-life medical care or have objected on religious grounds. 'We should not be in the business of state-authorized suicide,' said state Sen. George Borrello, a Republican. The state Assembly passed the measure in late April. The proposal requires that a terminally ill person who is expected to die within six month make a written request for the drugs. Two witnesses would have sign the request to ensure that the patient is not being coerced. The request would then have to be approved by the person's attending physician as well as a consulting physician. The legislation was first introduced in 2016, Hoylman-Sigal said, though it has stalled year after year in the New York statehouse. Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, which has opposed the measure, said 'This is a dark day for New York State." Eleven other states and Washington, D.C., have laws allowing medically assisted suicide, according to Compassion & Choices, an advocacy organization that backs the policy. Corinne Carey, the group's local campaign director, said lawmakers had 'recognized how important it is to give terminally ill New Yorkers the autonomy they deserve over their own end-of-life experiences.' 'The option of medical aid in dying provides comfort, allowing those who are dying to live their time more fully and peacefully until the end,' said Carey.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
NY judge censured for throwing a fit at school board over his son not being named class valedictorian
A Nassau County judge was censured by a state commission after he threw a fit and publicly chastised a school board for not naming his straight-A son the valedictorian of his graduating high school class last year. Long Beach City Court Judge Corey E. Klein was censured — or written up for misconduct — by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Albany-based group announced Monday, noting the judge agreed to the censure. Klein stormed into an April 2024 public school board meeting, seeking to challenge its decision and policies that led to his son not being designated top of the class, according to the commission. When the school district lawyer Christopher Powers tried to interrupt Klein's tirade, the judge told him not to 'try to outlawyer me' and pressed on, the group said. Members of the board continued to try and stop Klein's nonsensical rant and even turned off his microphone. Yet he continued to shout, his voice booming as he apparently grew tired of Powers' continued reference to him as 'Counsel.' 'You can refer to me, Counsel, as judge,' Klein said, according to the commission. 'If you are going to try to be a lawyer, then refer to me by my title as well, okay. Thank you,' he added after his microphone was turned back on. As board members tried to explain that the public meeting — which was also streamed online — was not a proper setting to appeal the decision on his son's viability for valedictorian, Klein started to shout over them, the commission said. 'I'm gonna stay up here now and I'm going to continue speaking,' Klein stubbornly insisted. 'Your Honor. We are not in court at this point,' Powers tried to interject, but to no avail as Klein steamrolled over him. 'The fact that I'd have the audacity, okay, because it's the end of my kid's career, to come up here and question a decision that you made, okay, so you try to sic your pit bull attorney on me. It's beyond reproach that you don't do something like that, okay,' Klein eventually concluded after his heated back-and-forth with the board, the commission said. The ranting judge was also accused of helping a professional acquaintance get out of $500 worth of unpaid parking tickets, according to his censure. The person's car was booted as a result of the unpaid tickets, and Klein reached out to numerous police departments to have it removed. Officers, thinking Klein was acting within his capacity as a judge, removed the boot and the acquaintance eventually paid the tickets, according to the commission. 'It corrodes public confidence in the judiciary when a judge lends the prestige of judicial office to advance a private benefit. Doing so impulsively, in an unseemly public argument over who should be a high school's honoree, or as a favor to a parking ticket scofflaw, is especially irresponsible,' Commission Administrator Robert H. Tembeckjian said in a statement. Klein has been a Long Beach judge since 2015. His term doesn't expire until the end of 2034, according to the commission.
San Francisco Chronicle
7 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
New York lawmakers approve bill that would allow medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Terminally ill New Yorkers would have the legal ability to end their own lives with pharmaceutical drugs under a bill passed Monday in the state Legislature. The proposal, which now moves to the governor's office, would allow a person with an incurable illness to be prescribed life-ending drugs if he or she requests the medication and gets approval from two physicians. A spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would review the legislation. The New York Senate gave final approval to the bill Monday night after hours of debate during which supporters said it would let terminally ill people die on their own terms. 'It's not about hastening death, but ending suffering,' said state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat who sponsored the proposal. Opponents have argued the state should instead improve end-of-life medical care or have objected on religious grounds. 'We should not be in the business of state-authorized suicide,' said state Sen. George Borrello, a Republican. The state Assembly passed the measure in late April. The proposal requires that a terminally ill person who is expected to die within six month make a written request for the drugs. Two witnesses would have sign the request to ensure that the patient is not being coerced. The request would then have to be approved by the person's attending physician as well as a consulting physician. The legislation was first introduced in 2016, Hoylman-Sigal said, though it has stalled year after year in the New York statehouse. Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, which has opposed the measure, said 'This is a dark day for New York State." Eleven other states and Washington, D.C., have laws allowing medically assisted suicide, according to Compassion & Choices, an advocacy organization that backs the policy. Corinne Carey, the group's local campaign director, said lawmakers had 'recognized how important it is to give terminally ill New Yorkers the autonomy they deserve over their own end-of-life experiences.'
