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Mayor Eric Adams hasn’t met a scandal that he couldn’t avoid. This time, the cop-turned-politician is answering to questions about his decision to go on vacay just before a winter storm was set to hit the city he’s in charge of over the Christmas holiday weekend.
Apparently, while the mayor’s office didn’t let the public know his whereabouts, it turns out he was in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Reports Gothamist:
The mayor revealed his weekend whereabouts at an unrelated press conference Tuesday evening after his office hid them from the public for days. Adams stood by his decision to leave town and said he was mourning his mother during his second Christmas without her.
“After 365 days of commitment to this city, I decided to take two days to reflect on mommy. And to watch how you responded to my two days out of this city was really alarming,” the mayor told reporters after someone asked where he had been over the holiday weekend. “I deserve a good work-life balance like you do.”
Hey, everyone needs time off, right?
However, a public official essentially telling his office to cover for him doesn’t exactly lend to transparency. Nevertheless, Adams insisted he followed protocol and just wanted some time to reflect on the loss of his mother.
Adams asked for sympathy from the city press corps as he noted that, in the past year, he has dealt with killings, fires and police officers dying — all without his parents. His mother died in 2021 while he was campaigning for mayor.
“If I take time off to get my mental capacity together, so I can take the city through the crisis, I deserve those two days,” the mayor said.
Adams added that he had followed City Charter rules, which place the first deputy mayor in charge in the mayor’s absence.
Considering New York City press, it was a lose, lose situation for Mayor Adams no matter what he did.
Just saying.
