Mayor Adams embraces Bloomberg and de Blasio, a rarity in NYC politics

When Bill de Blasio succeeded Mike Bloomberg as New York City’s mayor in 2014, pledging to extinguish raging inequality that he blamed on his billionaire predecessor, the relationship between the men was frosty.

Bloomberg sat stone-faced at de Blasio’s inauguration, an event marred by biting criticism of the outgoing mayor by several guest speakers. Bloomberg’s allies still gripe that de Blasio aides ignored extensive briefing books they prepared for the new administration.

But when Eric Adams launched his administration this month with a vague if unobjectionable promise to “get stuff done,” the city’s second Black mayor found himself in a quite different situation.

He is friendly with his predecessor. And his predecessor’s predecessor.

Bill de Blasio (left) Mayor Eric Adams (center) and Michael Bloomberg (right).

As a rule, one followed so closely over the last half-century that it might as well have been enshrined in the City Charter, New York City mayors have never loved — and largely loathed — the men they followed.

Even Bloomberg, who was endorsed by his forerunner, Rudy Giuliani, was not close to his predecessor. They seldom spoke, according to associates.

But in an interview during his first week on the job, Adams said he entered office having spoken daily with de Blasio and weekly with Bloomberg throughout his transition.

“I like Mike; I think Mike likes me,” Adams said of Bloomberg, a centrist former Republican. “He goes out of his way to be helpful to me. He’ll take time, and we’ll just sit on the phone, and he’ll allow me to ask all the dumb questions of the learning curve.”

He cited the Barry Manilow song “I Made It Through the Rain” to describe the mutual respect between himself and Bloomberg.

Discussing de Blasio, a close political ally who privately supported him during the Democratic primary, marshaling union support and even aiding in debate prep, Adams said: “He’s a friend.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t agree on everything I do or say, and I don’t agree with everything he does or says,” added Adams, a Democrat who joined the GOP for part of the 1990s. “But friends don’t have to agree. Friends have to respect each other.”

Adams’ close contact with the two men partly reflects him. He is a former police captain with flexible politics who has also dispensed warm words for Curtis Sliwa, his Republican challenger in the mayoral race, and has — at least so far — held Gov. Hochul, a Democrat, at his hip.

But it is also a reflection of the uncharted political waters Adams is sailing. New York City has not had a handoff between two Democratic mayors since David Dinkins unseated Ed Koch in 1989.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (Luiz C. Ribeiro/)

Koch is said to have hated Dinkins. And earlier transitions between liberal-leaning mayors were marked by varying degrees of indifference and animosity.

“It is unusual,” said Sid Davidoff, who has advised several mayors, of Adams’ approach. “The relationships weren’t there in the past as they are now.”

Adams’ embrace of the two former mayors has been public and private: He appeared at fund-raisers with Bloomberg and in news conferences with de Blasio during the transition.

It comes despite some public differences he has had with his predecessors.

Adams often obliquely poked at de Blasio during the primary and general elections (but gave his mayoralty a B+ grade during a debate with Sliwa).

And in 2008, Adams called Bloomberg “the Wizard of Oz,” blasting him for his push to extend term limits. Reminded of the comment, Adams laughed.

“We don’t take anything personal, we keep it moving,” Adams told the Daily News in the interview. “I’m thick-skinned. I don’t hold onto any of this stuff. I just see that in his personality, and I’m pretty sure he sees it in mine.”

Howard Wolfson, one of Bloomberg’s closest advisers, said the two mayors have a “good relationship,” adding that Bloomberg believes Adams is “off to a strong start.”

The bonds Adams has nurtured with his precursors could pay dividends as he navigates daunting pandemic challenges. They could irk some New Yorkers, too.

Wary progressives have detected a rightward drift in Adams’ transition. They have been alarmed by his seemingly deferential attitude toward the jail officers’ union and his glad-handing with moneyed interests.

“This guy sews up the Democratic nomination, and what does he do? He fund-raises with billionaires,” said Bill Neidhardt, a former de Blasio press secretary.

“The very Republicanesque direction and approach that he’s been taking is not what a lot of people who voted for him thought he would do,” Neidhardt added. “He got a lot of working-class voters who vote for very progressive leaders election after election.”

And New Yorkers of all political stripes raised eyebrows when the new mayor gave his brother Bernard a top Police Department job with a salary in excess of $200,000.

Adams defended the appointment, which is under review by the Conflicts of Interest Board, by arguing that his brother, a former police sergeant, is well equipped to lead his personal security detail.

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (Jefferson Siegel/)

The selection added to questions about Adams’ ethics that followed him during his campaign, and fed a perception among critics that he represents the continuation of a culture of corruption that allegedly permeated de Blasio’s City Hall.

Christina Greer, a Fordham University political science professor who called the brotherly appointment “Trumpian,” said she believes New Yorkers will still appreciate Adams’ warm approach to Bloomberg and de Blasio.

“It’s always a good thing when a mayor has solid working relationships with past mayors,” she said. “Both Bloomberg and de Blasio hired really good people — de Blasio didn’t listen to his good people, by and large. But Bloomberg and de Blasio both had pretty solid teams.”

Adams has tapped heavily into both former mayors’ orbits as he puts together his administration. Greer said his links with his predecessors come as a good sign, given concerns around the personnel in the new administration.

Despite their divergent political heritages, Bloomberg and de Blasio — who declined interview requests — both appear to revel in Adams’ rise. The interactions are genuinely warm, according to people familiar with all three men.

It remains an open question whether Adams will ultimately land closer to Bloomberg or de Blasio on the political spectrum.

“I don’t fit into a box,” said Adams, who can appear progressive on some issues, like transportation, and right-leaning on others, like crime. “I am an enigma, and we are in a society where people must fit you into a box.”

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Eric Risberg/)

Peter Ragone, a longtime adviser to de Blasio, said that Adams’ politics largely mirror his immediate predecessor’s, and emphasized their overlapping constituencies. Chris Coffey, who worked for 12 years at Bloomberg’s City Hall, put Adams at the political midpoint between Bloomberg and de Blasio.

Less than a month into Adams’ tenure, and with a left-leaning City Council eager to act, final judgments naturally remain premature.

Adams said he plans to continue to consult regularly with his predecessors, noting that he looks forward to each chat with Bloomberg, and that de Blasio provided him an analysis of the pros and cons of keeping public schools open during the omicron spike.

“Eric is humble in a lot of ways,” Davidoff said. “I don’t think you can tell him much about police that he doesn’t already know. But when it comes to a lot of the other areas of the city, he knows that he has to reach out.”

As Brooklyn borough president, Adams offered support to de Blasio on public-safety issues when the former mayor faced heat from cops and activists alike. De Blasio, in turn, helped his successor during his mayoral bid, even as Adams publicly kept the unpopular mayor at arm’s length.

Mayor Eric Adams (left) and former Mayor Bill de Blasio

Before one pivotal Democratic primary debate, de Blasio offered a bit of advice in an area he knows particularly well: political theater.

“He said to me, ‘Eric, the technical part of the campaign is over — it is now time for you to tell your story; you have an amazing story,’” Adams said. “I was like, ‘But don’t I have to give all of this technical stuff, and show that I read up, and I’m prepared?’ He said, ‘Nope, that’s over.’”

Adams followed the advice on the debate stage, leaning into his history as a victim of police brutality who overcame dyslexia to rise as a policeman and then a politician. “I walked out of there saying to myself, I’m going to win this race,” Adams said.