Adams defends 2021 campaign amid report of fiscal issues

Mayor Eric Adams publicly responded Monday to news reports that his 2021 mayoral campaign was recently flagged for fiscal issues.

The city’s campaign finance board in a draft audit, first reported by Gothamist/WNYC Radio, flagged Adams’ campaign for a lack of record keeping. In the report, it was for issues ranging from financial discrepancies to prohibited donations.

“It was a draft report. Imagine writing your first rough draft of your news story and all of a sudden it shows up in the paper,” Adams said before asking, “How did a draft report get leaked?”

The city’s campaign finance board administers the city’s public matching funds program, matching local contributions to candidates with public funds.

As part of that process, the board reviews the finances of campaigns involved in the program. It flags campaigns with issues, giving them a chance to respond and submit the appropriate paperwork.

Adams’ campaign faces a multi-million dollar fine if the violations aren’t corrected.

“Give us an opportunity to…missing a person’s name, we’re missing an address. Give us an opportunity to respond to that,” he said.

On Monday, Adams argued the report was leaked by the board. NY1 reached out to the city’s campaign finance board, and it had no comment.

But in this case, the report was obtained through a public records request.

“There was a lot of sensationalism attached to that draft report that was leaked and I don’t think that follows the proper procedures of how you’re supposed to handle a draft report,” Adams said.

This all comes as the first official primary challenger enters the 2025 race.

City Comptroller Brad Lander last week announced he would be running against Adams.

Lander is one of the mayor’s biggest critics.

The comptroller recently launched an “analysis” of the mayor’s “Operation Padlock to Protect.”

The program, authorized under state law, aims to permanently close illegal weed shops.

In early July, Lander sent the city’s Sheriff a letter notifying him of the probe and looking for data related to complaints, inspections and enforcement action under Operation Padlock to Protect.

In a statement Monday, Sheriff Anthony Miranda pointed to the closing of more than 800 shops under the program.

“The notification of the Comptroller’s investigation was surprising, especially given our success and New Yorkers’ support of our efforts, but our office will comply with the needs of the inquiry,” Miranda said in a statement.

Lander said the probe is part of the auditing powers of his office and comes weeks after the law went into effect.