Adams, a Democrat, has endured months of mounting calls for his resignation or removal and Hochul said she had heard from many New Yorkers who feel “outraged, hurt, betrayed” by the mayor.
The calls have grown louder in recent days as the mayor pledged to help US President Donald Trump, a Republican, with deporting undocumented immigrants while Trump’s justice department sought to dismiss the federal indictment against Adams. A US district judge in Manhattan was considering whether to drop the charges.
The state’s constitution gives the governor the power to remove a mayor, and to suspend him or her for 30 days once charges have been brought. The power has not been invoked in nearly a century, and the process has never been carried through to completion.
Hochul said she was “deeply troubled” by the accusations against Adams and said New York City was in crisis, but said on Thursday that she would not commence removal proceedings for now, though she would retain the option to do so at a later date.
“My strong belief is that the will of the voters and the supremacy and sanctity of democratic elections preclude me from any action,” she said at a press conference. “I cannot deny the people of this great city the power to make this decision for themselves.”
Instead, she proposed New York create a new state inspector general overseeing New York City.
Adams, who is seeking a second term in elections this November, has repeatedly said he has done nothing wrong and will not resign.
He pledged to cooperate with Hochul in a statement issued after the governor spoke.
“I have told the governor, as we have done in the past, that I am willing to work with her to ensure faith in our government is strong. I look forward to continuing those conversations,” Adams said.
Previously, Hochul and Adams have had a relatively warm relationship as two of New York’s most powerful elected officials.
Hochul said new oversight was needed to “make sure our leaders are operating only with the city’s best interest in mind, unimpeded by any legal agreements with the Trump justice department.”
Hochul said Trump is “taking out his anger and frustration over the 35 felony convictions he received here in the state of New York,” and that she believed his administration would “stop at nothing to try and exercise control over New York.”
Hochul’s plans would need votes of approval from lawmakers in the state legislature and the city council, some of whom may oppose giving the state greater control over its most important city.
Adams, a 64-year-old former police captain, was indicted last September on five corruption charges, accusing him of arranging illegal foreign donations to his election campaigns and luxury travel from Turkish nationals seeking to influence him. He has pleaded not guilty.
He has publicly courted Trump, who returned to the White House in January and has the power to pardon Adams. More than half a dozen senior prosecutors at the department of justice have resigned in protest over the effort to have the indictment against Adams dismissed.
US attorney general Pam Bondi on Thursday criticised the case against Adams, voicing arguments that prompted the resignations.
Bondi, without citing evidence, said prosecutors brought the indictment last year, during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, to interfere with Adams’ ability to crack down on illegal immigration.
“It was an incredibly weak case filed to make deportations harder,” Bondi told the Conservative Political Action Conference in her most extensive comments yet on the case.