Things aren’t going real well at NYC City Hall. Lisa Zornberg, Chief Counsel to Democrat Mayor Eric Adams, handed in her resignation late Saturday night. That doesn’t bode well for the mayor. New York Police Commissioner Edward Caban quit only two days before, “as the federal government’s multiple criminal probes” into the Adams administration continue.
NYC loses their lawyer
Lisa Zornberg won’t be seen at the elbow of NYC Mayor Eric Adams when he holds his next press conference. His chief counsel handed him her resignation.
With all the federal investigations going on, she’s probably got some conflicts of interest. It could also be a case of a rat diving off a sinking ship.
The FBI has been running around raiding one Adams official after another. They’ve been collecting cell phones and other electronic devices in a big pile. The lawyer for NYC clearly isn’t happy about being caught in the middle of it.
“I am tendering my resignation, effective today, as I have concluded that I can no longer effectively serve in my position,” Zornberg wrote in a public statement.
There isn’t much Mayor Adams can do about it so he “thanked Ms. Zornberg for her work.” He very carefully “gave no reason for his top counsel’s departure.”
NYC administration is having a major turnover crisis. “These are hard jobs and we don’t expect anyone to stay in them forever,” Adams shrugs. He promises to have a new lawyer for the city “in the coming days.”
Several top officials
Zornberg is leaving while the rest of the office is in chaos. Several NYC officials appointed by Adams “saw their homes raided last week.” The mayor also faced a separate corruption probe that appears to be totally unrelated to the current FBI activity.
That one involved an aide and some influence peddling. The public doesn’t know much about what the FBI are fishing for now, other than the names of who got raided.
Besides Edward Caban, the former NYC Police Commissioner, his twin brother, James Caban is under the microscope. Also Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks III and Chancellor of New York City Public Schools David C. Banks.
While nobody has any idea what they might be accused of doing, Zornberg has probably been advising Adams about it. She “consulted with the mayor on legal and strategic advice for city hall” as part of her duties.
For the past few weeks, she’s been “sitting alongside Adams at weekly news conference.” Zornberg also “responded to questions from the media about the federal government’s multiple probes into the administration.”
She was careful not to say anything disparaging about the NYC mayor’s office in her resignation letter. She didn’t even “offer an explanation for her departure.” All she said is she’s “deeply grateful to Mayor Adams for giving me the opportunity to serve the city, and I strongly support the work he has done and continues to do for New Yorkers.” As for the rest of his cabinet, shes better off putting some distance between them and her.
