First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright is in charge of New York City when Mayor Eric Adams is out of the five boroughs.
But that doesn’t happen by law. Adams had to pass an executive order to designate Wright so that Public Advocate Jumaane Williams wouldn’t become acting mayor whenever he leaves. Adams is in Israel. He flew out Sunday and is due back to the city on Thursday. So Wright “can sign executive orders, respond to emergencies, and conduct other such responsibilities as necessary,” City Hall spokesperson Jonah Allon told Playbook. But if the first deputy is out of town, or can’t serve? Then “the chief of staff performs the duties of the mayor,” by the “clearly formalized line of succession,” Allon said. So yes, Frank Carone has served as mayor, in a way. That was “a special opportunity,” Adams’ former chief of staff told Playbook. The attorney and Adams confidante has earned scrutiny for his business dealings before entering City Hall. But when now-retired First Deputy Mayor Lorraine Grillo was also out, Carone became acting mayor a couple times. He never really did anything. “We have this incredible device called an iPhone that does work outside the city,” he joked, and let Adams remain in charge. But he recalled a scare once when Adams was on his way to Athens, Greece, and an emergency team thought they had found explosives in a Midtown hotel. “We had to run over there,” Carone said, but it was a false alarm. Camille Joseph Varlack is now chief of staff, but it isn’t clear who’s in the line of succession after her — City Hall declined to share the full chain of command, something Mike Bloomberg did in 2007 after questions arose about who was in charge while he was off at his home in Bermuda. The acting mayor gets a security detail when the mayor is gone, Playbook has personally observed, though the NYPD never discusses such details publicly. Otherwise things don’t change much. City Hall emphasized Adams is still the mayor, “continually working while on his trip to Israel” holding remote meetings. And Wright wasn’t made available for an interview, citing her own busy schedule. For now, all this is just municipal trivia and legal technicalities. If the mayor dies or, hypothetically, gets elected president (dream on!), the City Charter says the public advocate takes over as mayor for a few months until a new mayor is picked in a special election. But what if the mayor is in a coma, or even goes temporarily insane? There’s a “committee on mayoral inability,” where the corporation counsel, comptroller, City Council speaker, a designated deputy mayor and the longest-serving borough president could meet and declare the mayor “unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.” It’s thrilling stuff, as far as laws go, reminiscent of how Trump critics wanted Congress to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him. But nobody’s lobbying the committee to declare Adams crazy yet. Queens BP Donovan Richards, who would serve on it, didn’t even know he had the power until he talked to Playbook. “Tell Eric Adams to call me,” Richards joked, with a slightly maniacal laugh. HAPPY WEDNESDAY. You’re halfway to the weekend. Got news? Send it our way: Jeff Coltin, Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. WHERE’S KATHY? Touring and making an announcement at the opening of the Great New York State Fair near Syracuse. WHERE’S ERIC? Continuing his Israel trip with meetings with local and national leaders, including traveling from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Opposition Party Leader Yair Lapid. QUOTE OF THE DAY: "So I want to thank Patrick. He's a good friend and colleague. I think he became the favorite congressman in my household for my wife” — Rep. Mike Lawler on Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.. who saved Lawler’s baby daughter from choking.
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