Adams’ brother to quit job at city hall security a year after controversial hiring

New York Mayor Eric Adams’ brother is leaving his volunteer post as mayoral safety adviser, a position he took after disagreements over initial plans to hire him for a high-paying job in the city.

In an interview that aired on Friday, Bernard Adams told PIX11 News that he will complete his job at City Hall next week. The mayor then publicly thanked his brother for his role in the Adams administration, now just over a year old.

“When it comes to protecting my life, I trust no one more than my little brother,” the mayor said in a statement tweeted by his spokesman.

Both brothers are retired NYPD officers. Bernard Adams continued to work as a parking administrator at the University of Virginia when his brother, a Democrat, entered politics in New York. He won a state senate seat, a Brooklyn borough presidency, and then won the 2021 mayoral race.

A few days after being sworn in, Eric Adams appointed his brother as deputy police commissioner, raising questions about what powers the then-new NYPD police commissioner would have. The mayor then offered to make his brother the head of City Hall security at a $210,000-a-year salary, a police-staffed team housed with the NYPD.

City law prohibits public servants from using their position to obtain “any financial advantage, contract, license, privilege, or other private or personal advantage, direct or indirect” for themselves or an associate, including a sibling. But the city’s Board of Conflicts of Interest can issue a waiver.

In an attempt to get such a waiver, the Adams administration decided instead to hire Bernard Adams as a senior security adviser for $1 a year. Previous mayors have also appointed relatives to volunteer positions.

Eric Adams said at the time that bringing his brother into his administration was “never about money” but about having a trusted hand with security.

Bernard Adams told PIX11 News that he helped put together a strong security team for his brother and now plans to spend more time with his family.

He said leaving City Hall was “definitely bitter because I love him, but I’ll call him anyway, big brother, when I need to talk to him.”