Challenging Eric Adams offers a test for New York City comptroller candidates

Politico

4 days ago

NEW YORK — The two major candidates for New York City comptroller eagerly take aim at President Donald Trump on the campaign trail — but only one of them has called on the city's Trump-friendly mayor to resign.
The race for the fiscal watchdog job has served as the underwhelming undercard to the crowded and chaotic mayor's race. And as they run for the job of being a check on the city's next mayor, the two leading candidates are battling over whether each has done enough to stand up to the current one.
'If you're not willing to stand up to Eric Adams, how the hell can voters expect you to stand up to Donald Trump?' City council member Justin Brannan said.
As the City Council's Finance Chair, Brannan finds himself in a natural perch to criticize Adams — unlike his opponent Mark Levine, who as Manhattan Borough President enjoys a largely ceremonial role.
The brash, in-your-face Brannan is claiming his quieter, more cerebral opponent isn't a loud enough critic of the mayor. One of his main proof points: Levine never called for Adams to resign.
Now Brannan is hoping to make the differing approaches to the city's MAGA-minded mayor an issue in the race.
'He's the only one in the race that took on Adams' (budget) cuts,' a local deli worker says in one of Brannan's ads — which feature loud balloon pops, clown horns, knife sharpening sounds and an angry Brannan yelling 'Hell no!'
By contrast, an early May ad from Levine features upbeat music, pie charts and focuses on his ability to communicate in five languages.
After the DOJ moved to drop federal corruption charges against Adams, Brannan joined fellow Democrats in calling for Adams to resign. Levine largely stayed mum.
But Levine scoffed at the notion he is unwilling to criticize Adams, and said he's deeply concerned about the possibility the mayor is beholden to the federal government following the Department of Justice's intervention in Adams' now-defunct criminal case.
'The truth is he's not going to resign; he's made that clear,' Levine said in a recent interview. 'He's either going to be removed by the courts or the voters. … I've been pretty unsparing in calling out what is an administration riddled with corruption.'
Brannan's focus on standing up to the mayor marks a shift from 2021, when he supported Adams in his path to winning the election. Adams fared well in the Coney Island section of Brannan's purple district, and the two shared in common the endorsement of police unions.
This year, Brannan has considerations beyond his district: In running for comptroller, he's secured the backing of the anti-police union — and decidedly anti-Adams — Working Families Party.
'The record is clear: when the mayor tried to slash crucial funding to our city's libraries, pre-K, and housing, the Manhattan Borough President was completely silent,' Brannan's spokesperson, Alyssa Cass, said in a statement.
Levine's campaign responded with a four-page dossier that described Cass' statement as 'incredibly false' and cited the borough president's 2024 and 2025 city charter-mandated responses to the mayor's budget, which push back on a host of Adams' proposals.
'There have been myriad failings that I would call out as comptroller,' Levine said. 'I talk about them regularly in the campaign, and they impact the priorities I care about.'
He mentioned the need to speed up the approval process for affordable housing, expand the 'broken system' for identifying children with learning disabilities and audit the system that public housing tenants use to request apartment repairs.
While the two candidates are fighting over who has stood up to Eric Adams, neither is willing to say much about Democratic front-runner Andrew Cuomo, who has a history of structurally weakening the positions of his opponents.
While it is politically easy to criticize Adams — whose popularity in the deep-blue city has nosedived — standing up to Cuomo is a tougher task.
Unlike Adams, who faced calls for his post-indictment resignation from Democrats around the state, Cuomo has garnered support from power brokers within the party — even many those who had called for his ouster four years ago.
He also spent his time as governor removing checks on his power.
During his first year as governor, Cuomo greatly limited State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's powers by stripping him of his power to review certain state contracts before they are signed. His administration reportedly ridiculed him in the process — even referring to DiNapoli as 'chipmunk balls' for his ineffectual use of the post.
In 2019, after state lawmakers thwarted Amazon's plans to open a second company headquarters in the city, the former governor greatly diminished the powers of a state board that oversees deals involving state public financing.
While Brannan and Levine both said necessary rebukes of the president and mayor are central to the comptroller's role, each demurred when asked about standing up to a would-be Mayor Cuomo.
'I will stand up to any future mayor just as I've stood up to the current one,' Brannan said.
'Judge me by what I've done in my role for the past almost four years, where I've not been silent, I've been fearless,' Brannan added, citing his work to restore short-lived budget cuts to city services put in place by Adams last year.
Levine provided a similar reply: 'I'm ready for whoever the next mayor will be, ready to use the considerable powers of the office which are established in the charter that no mayor can overturn … I'm being very careful not to make an endorsement in the mayor's race because I do want to be totally independent from whoever's elected.'