Mayor Eric Adams quietly issued an executive order late Thursday assigning the powers of First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright to another top staffer if Wright can’t perform her duties — just weeks after the FBI raided her home.
The new order would push Wright’s responsibilities onto Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isolm, who has been untouched by the federal probes that have been a linchpin of a series of high-profile resignations involving City Hall.
Wright serves at the mayor’s right hand and oversees the city’s budget and finance offices as well as its recruiting and hiring agency, Department of Citywide Administrative Service, and policy arm of the administration, the Office of Policy & Planning.
The fresh Adams directive, which was issued around 7 p.m., flew under the radar while all eyes were on Hizzoner as he mounted his public defense to a bombshell five-count criminal indictment against him before surrendering to authorities in court Friday.
“In the event that the First Deputy Mayor is unable to perform such functions, powers or duties, or in the event that the First Deputy Mayor waives in writing the delegation contained herein, all such functions, powers or duties of the Mayor are hereby delegated to the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services,” Executive Order 45 posted to the city’s website reads.
The move comes just weeks after Wright’s elegant West 143rd Street home in Harlem was raided and her phone was seized. She lives there with hubby and equally embattled city schools chief David Banks, who also has a Queens home, which was raided by FBI agents, too. His phone was seized as well.
The law enforcement action marked a jaw-dropping escalation in the federal investigations swirling around Adams. The raids’ precise purpose remains unclear.
“Sheena is not resigning, nor has she taken a leave of absence,” City Hall rep Allison Maser said Friday of the mayor’s move the night before. “It is simply good governance to establish a clear line of succession, for the sake of continuity, in the instance that the mayor and first deputy mayor are both out of pocket.
The Adams administration has repeatedly brushed off concerns over how it will be able to run the day-to-day while fending off a dizzying amount of federal probes.
Two days before the order was issued, Banks announced he is stepping down as schools chancellor. Melissa Aviles-Ramos will take over the post at the end of December.
During an official event to name Banks’ successor, the schools chief shifted the spotlight from himself to his longtime love Wright.
“I just want to say to the love of my life who has helped me in ways that are immeasurable, simply immeasurable, that folks can write whatever the hell they want to write. I know my truth. I know my truth,” he said before embracing Wright.
