Mayor Eric Adams on Friday accused the city Campaign Finance Board of “poisoning the atmosphere” by releasing a letter via Freedom of Information Law this week notifying him that it has reason to believe his 2021 mayoral campaign broke the law.
Adams made the remarks over a series of Friday morning TV interviews in response to reporters’ questions over the CFB’s April 15 letter, which several media outlets reported after the board released it following their FOIL requests. The missive explains that the board reviewed Adams’s now-dismissed federal indictment alleging that his 2021 campaign defrauded the city’s matching funds program, partially accounting for its determination that his 2025 re-election campaign is still ineligible to receive over $4 million in public money.
Yet Adams insisted that his campaign did not violate the law and that the board overstepped by releasing the letter, which it is legally required to do in response to FOIL requests.
“I think the Campaign Finance Board and others should be extremely careful about poisoning the atmosphere and releasing information without giving us an opportunity to respond to it,” the mayor said on NY1. “Give me the same due process we’ve been calling for for everyone else. We know we did nothing wrong. We’re going to produce the information to do so.”
CFB spokesperson Timothy Hunter declined to respond to Adams’ comments.
The mayor then went on to blame any campaign finance issues that may have occurred on his former volunteers, whom he declined to name.
“Were there volunteers that did things that are inappropriate? Yes,” Adams said on Fox5. “I apologize to New Yorkers. Some people I trusted, I should not have trusted.”
In its letter, the board not only cited Adams’ case, which a federal judge dismissed last month after President Trump’s DOJ moved to end its prosecution, but also two of his associates who pleaded guilty to funneling illegal straw donations to his campaign as reasons to reject his matching funds request. One of the associates, Erden Arkan, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge in January and another, Mohammed Bahi, is reportedly in talks with federal prosecutors about pleading guilty a similar charge.
The board also pointed to what it described as Adams’ campaign’s failure to provide certain documentation and information it requested regarding his federal case by deadlines it lgave both in November and April.
While the CFB’s continued denial of public matching funds to Adams has appeared to significantly hinder his ability to vie for re-election, he said the roughly $3 million in his campaign account is enough to remain competitive. He also insisted his “legal team” will continue to push for unlocking matching funds.
“We still have millions of dollars to campaign on,” Adams said. “I have a record. Others are running from their record, I am running on my record. And I’m going to do what I do best, speak to working class people of the city.”
Adams does have more time to push the board to reverse its decision and raise more private funds, as he bowed out of the June 24 Democratic primary and is now running as an independent in the November general election.
However, the denial of matching funds is hardly the only thing hamperring Adams’ chances of securing another four years in City Hall. Private donations to his campaign have alsmot entirely dried up, he has a record-low approval rating of 20%, and many of his closest political allies have defected to support former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — the frontrunner in the Democratic primary — instead.
