Today is Thursday, September 26, 2024. As Florida braces for yet another storm, New York City is currently facing its own particular storm, the indictment of the sitting mayor, Eric Adams, on federal charges of corruption stemming from his dealings with Turkish officials as far back as 2014. I almost wrote about Adams’ exodus of administration officials in the past few weeks that has cast a long shadow on Adams’ continuing effectiveness as mayor in the wake of these serious allegations. What’s in the indictment? you might ask. An online CNN article answers those questions. The article is entitled “What’s in the 5-count indictment against NYC Mayor Eric Adams,” written by Eric Levinson and Celina Tebor.

The indictment against New York City Eric Adams unsealed this morning alleges he secretly solicited and accepted freebies and illegal campaign donations from wealthy foreigners, including Turkish officials, as far back as 2014.

In exchange, he pressured the Fire Department of New York to approve the opening of a new Turkish consular building in the city without a fire inspection, the indictment states. In addition, his campaign used those illegal campaign donations to “steal public funds” through New York City’s matching funds, according to the indictment.

The 110th mayor has been charged with five counts: bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and two counts of soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals.

Adams, a Democrat whose political leanings seem to veer toward the right rather than the left, in my opinion, has denied wrongdoing and said he does not plan to resign.

In a statement, Adams said, “I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as I’ve done throughout my entire professional career.”

The unsealed indictment spans 57 pages and is 15,000 words in length. In particular, the indictment lays out how Adams sought out and accepted benefits such as free luxury travel and campaign donations from foreign businessmen, the indictment alleges.

Between 2016 and October 2023, Adams allegedly committed 23 different “overt acts,” which included accepting free flights and hotel rooms and coordinating straw donations.

Prosecutors say the foreign nationals were able to sidestep federal law and conceal their campaign donations through these “straw donors” – U.S.-based donors who falsely claimed they were contributing their own money.

The indictment details free tickets and upgrades to business class on international flights for the mayor and his associates. He allegedly accepted free stays at “opulent” hotels, meals at high-end restaurants, and other “luxurious entertainment while in Turkey.”

For the year 2017, Adams allegedly accepted free business class tickets for three roundtrip international flights and a heavily discounted stay at a suite in the St. Regis Istanbul. The trip was worth over $41,000, and Adams did not disclose it, the indictment alleges.

Adams allegedly accepted over $123,000 worth of luxury travel benefits between 2016 and 2021, without disclosing any of it.

In exchange for receiving luxury travel and other benefits from Turkish officials, Adams allegedly pressured the Fire Department of New York to open a Turkish consular building without a fire inspection in time for a high-profile visit from Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

While in September 2021, a Turkish official told the mayor “it was his turn to repay,” the indictment says.

In all, Adams is charged with five counts punishable up to 45 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The most serious charge is wire fraud, which comes with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The charge stems from allegations that Adams stole from New York City’s matching funds program. The program is designed “to give New Yorkers a greater voice in elections,” and matches donations from City residents with public funds, but it prohibits the use of “straw donations,” according to the indictment.

Bribery is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. That charge relates to the alleged quid pro quo of receiving luxury travel benefits from the Turkish official in exchange for pushing the approval of the Turkish House, the indictment states.

These charges, if they can be proved, are quite damning for the mayor who is the only sitting mayor ever indicted in the modern era. Already a chorus is gathering demanding the mayor step aside from governing the city. The city has already lost its police chief and schools chancellor this month. Other members of Adams’ inner circle have been slapped with federal investigations and phone seizures, and to me, this does not look good for this current mayor. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is next in line to the mayor’s office. It appears that political rivals and a handful of erstwhile allies have been bombarding Adams with calls to resign, but so far, Adams has taken a defiant tone in the wake of this indictment. Only time will tell if we have the first mayor stepping aside because of being charged by the feds.

I had another kind of storm on Wednesday when I prepped for my 8 a.m. Thursday colonoscopy when I had to restrict myself to the house, basically, one room, the bathroom, after taking the unpalatable solution with water. Comprising 32 ghastly ounces, I downed the mixture, along with two bottles of water. The solution tasted very salty and I almost retched the first time I drank it. But I soldiered along and drank the entire mixture.

Thus started a more-than- 7-hour relationship with the toilet bowl and it wasn’t pretty. I tried to divert my attention away from the bathroom by watching an old John Wayne film, The Sons of Katie Elder, costarring Dean Martin and Earl Holliman.

By 11, I decided to go into the bedroom and call it a night. We had to wake up today at 6:30 a.m. to come to my gastroenterologist’s office at 7:45 a.m. Since I couldn’t eat, an hour was enough to prepare for this procedure.

All I can say about the procedure today is that it ended pretty well in the end (with pun intended). The only objection I had was that I had to wait for almost an hour before being taken. I sat in a crowded waiting room with other potential patients. All of them spoke Russian.

Around 8:45 or so, I was called into a room with an assistant who tested me for food allergies. She used the old allergy testing method of using prick points on my skin and watched for any reaction. Surprisingly, she told me I had a reaction to lemons and to the yolk of an egg. I had mentioned that I liked to have lemons in my water, and she said I could use a straw if I wanted to have this in the near future or that I could eliminate having a lemon altogether. About yolks, she said I could eat egg whites instead. I was surprised over this revelation since I thought I had no food allergies of this kind at all. However, the assistant did say this was a mild allergy, not a severe one.

By 9 or so, I was finally called into a room in pursuance of my colonoscopy. I was told to take everything off below my waist and to don a blue cotton gown. I was provided a ziplock bag for my shorts and underwear. Then I was left there – to wait.

What seemed like an interminable length of time before I was eventually called into the operating theater, so to speak. I was met by a pushy, bald anesthesiologist who roughly told me how to sit on the table, with my tush upwards and my legs in a certain position. He took my pressure and gave me a pulse oximeter for my middle finger. Then we just waited; again, I was left wondering as to what was happening. The anesthesiologist was left just standing near his apparatus after these monitors were given me. I finally blurted out why were we waiting here. The surgeon who was behind me said it had something to do with the previous patient who had the wrong name on his chart and that it was being corrected; it had nothing to do with me and my procedure. Oh, now I could breathe a sigh of relief! I had visions of this being aborted and then being told to come back another time.

Soon the problem was resolved and I was informed we could start. Now the anesthesiologist injected me with propofil which is the drug of choice here. Here I had no recollection of how long it took or what happened during the procedure. I did sleep the sleep of Morpheus. Not that I can recall any dreams that I had.

I’m not even sure who informed me that the procedure was over. I think it was the nurse who helped me down from the table who took me back to the room and told me to dress. At this time, the doctor made an appearance and said everything went well; there was only one polyp that he clipped and said I didn’t have to return in three years. He recommended that I return in five years instead. However, he said the office would call me in two weeks with the definitive results. Then he gave me a report showing my nether regions in living color.

I went back to the waiting room where Elliot was sitting; I was offered a drink of water by Elliot and then I ate the Snickers bar that I bought on Wednesday just for this occasion. The office provided no sustenance after such a procedure in which I basically fasted for practically 24 hours.

Feeling a little groggy, I left the second floor and walked to the Austin House Diner where I was able to have breakfast finally. Thus ended my dreaded colonoscopy.

Stay safe and be well.