New York City Mayor Eric Adams made the rounds declaring his innocence on federal corruption charges this weekend, appearing at a church in Queens on Saturday and the Bronx on Sunday. Adams said he’s “not going to resign; [he’s] going to reign,” even as more key members of his administration are jumping ship. Award-winning NorthJersey.com columnist Mike Kelly saw parallels between Adams and many other modern-day politicians. Speaking on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program, Kelly said he thought of several public figures, but one name in particular from his side of the Hudson- Bob Menendez- kept running through his head.
“What we basically have here are two guys, Adams and Menendez, who thought they were entitled to freebies,” Kelly told Berman and Larry Mendte, sitting in for Riedel. “They didn’t tap the brakes or see any caution flags emerging in all of this, and I think whether or not he’s guilty or not is one thing, but I think one of the great back stories here is how so many political figures now consider themselves to be entitles to all this freebie stuff- and that includes people like Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and the Supreme Court… In the case obviously of the Supreme Court justices, they’re not being indicted for any crimes, but certainly some questions are raised about their judgement there, and that’s what I think is one of the most interesting themes to come out of all of this.”
Kelly says it’s the sense of entitlement that many public figures shamelessly flash that piqued his interest to write his most recent column. “If we focus on the details, it’s one thing, and yes, there are obvious differences… but it’s the sense of entitlement I find most appalling here, which I think a lot of political figures don’t see as a problem, and potentially a conflict of interests going down the line. I think Adams’ blindness to that, as well as Menendez’ blindness to that and Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito, as well- the fact that they didn’t see the potential for a conflict of interest and the fact that people could ask questions about their judgement, I find this to be one of the more interesting aspects in all this.”
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