New York City mayor’s final push to block law-enforcement measures

NEW YORK — Ahead of his likely veto of two law-enforcement measures, Mayor Eric Adams is mounting a multipronged push to win over local lawmakers — an effort that is colliding with growing tension in the legislative body.

Adams’ lieutenants have been calling City Council members to gauge support and persuade them to oppose the bills as the mayor prepares to veto the measures by Friday’s deadline, according to two people familiar with the recent outreach. One bans solitary confinement in city jails and the other requires more police reporting on low-level stops — changes the mayor says would put New Yorkers in danger.

Based on the margin by which the measures cleared in December, the Council speaker has the 34 votes required to override a veto. But four lawmakers have since left the body, giving the mayor an opportunity to try to win over their replacements, as well as convince members who may have second thoughts.

The mayoral team’s calls — which include outreach from within the NYPD — come as Adams is speaking out against the legislation, both publicly and at private events.

“There’s a bill that was passed that must not be able to become a law. I need you to rally with the Jewish Caucus and rally whatever elected official that comes to you,” Adams told attendees of a recent Bar Mitzvah, according to a video clip on Instagram.

“We cannot handcuff our police,” he added, speaking in front of a giant screen featuring a digitally bedazzled Star of David. “We don’t want them doing paperwork. We want them to be protecting the people of this city. … This is our line in the sand.”

This coincides with a letter from the federal monitor overseeing Rikers Island opposing the solitary confinement legislation. The commissioner of the Department of Correction told reporters at a briefing Tuesday that she’d asked the federal monitor to weigh in. And Adams did not try and hide his glee that the monitor agreed with him.

“Those who have been saying to us for the last two years ‘listen to the monitor,’ ‘listen to the monitor,’ ‘listen to the monitor,” Adams said. “They need to listen to the monitor.”

In an unusual move, both the NYPD and Department of Correction have posted on their social media accounts directly arguing against the two bills.

A City Hall spokesperson did not confirm that Adams is planning to veto the bills, sticking with the usual line that “we are exploring all options.” But they noted that the federal monitor’s criticism of the bill will influence their thinking, when it comes to the solitary confinement bill.

This administration's push is happening in tandem with a persuasion campaign from two law enforcement unions representing rank-and-file police officers and guards and city jails.

The city’s Police Benevolent Association is encouraging its supporters to join an online campaign deriding the bills — missives that will be delivered to Council members.

“If a police officer in my community is searching for a missing child or trying to find the right address for an emergency call, I don't want them spending up to *three minutes* filling out a form for each person they talk to,” reads the PBA’s letter about the police reporting bill.

The Correction Officers Benevolent Association, which opposes the solitary confinement ban, has also been reaching out to Council members to discuss the bill ahead of Adams’ deadline to veto it, a Council staffer who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations told POLITICO.

The mayor and the Council are often at odds over budgetary matters, but Adams has only vetoed two legislative packages to date. The Council would have 30 days to override his veto.

The push is running headfirst into strife in the Council.

The speaker’s office is doling out committee chairmanships ahead of Thursday’s stated meeting. Some members have already lost their coveted positions, which could benefit Adams’ effort to separate lawmakers from Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who supports the measures.

Adams’ team is expected to wait until committee assignments are finalized Thursday to get a sense of whose vote could be flipped before they begin a more aggressive lobbying campaign, multiple Council members told POLITICO.

“I think it’s certain that the mayor is going to try to capitalize on a City Council that is unorganized right now,” said one member granted anonymity to speak freely about internal deliberations.

Four people familiar with Speaker Adams’ operations are confident she will have enough votes to override a veto, if it comes to that.