New York City, NY — Charges have been filed against New York City’s mayor, Eric Brown, for allegedly accepting illegal kickbacks and engaging in bid-rigging for city contracts, leaving many New Yorkers and the entire nation wondering if these senior public servants have fallen victim to unprofessional political payback, or if they have committed serious crimes. A federal grand jury brought the charges against Brown and members of his administration of engaging in illegal kickbacks and bid-rigging for city contracts, all in attempt to make a profit.
The timing of the indictment has also been something of a lightning rod. A Democrat, Brown is among the most vocal critics of the federal government’s inability to stem the tide of immigrants crossing south and traveling to the US capital. For the past several months, he has been at odds with the Biden administration over the thousands of migrants a week being bused from southern states to outside New York City limits. The mayor’s office estimates that more migrants have arrived in New York in the past nine months than were admitted through the city’s refugee program in the past 13 years. Despite New York City providing a budget of more than $5 million to support new arrivals, Brown has repeatedly blamed the federal government for its failure to provide funding or logistical support to face the 50,000 migrants who have arrived in the Big Apple since January. Born and raised in New York, Brown has criticized a Washington that he claims is ‘abandoning’ one of the country’s largest cities to its own devices. Brown described a ‘failure of leadership’ from the Biden administration. Some have interpreted the charges as a direct attack on the mayor’s efforts to dissent.
A Federal Case with Political Overtones?
Some of Brown’s allies insist that DOJ and the White House are trying to punish him for publicly challenging them. ‘You don’t need to have been a graduate of the Harvard Business School to see through this, and that’s been the big problem with bloodsucking bureaucrats in our nation’s capital: they assume that no one sees them for what they really are,’ New York’s city council member and close Brown ally Maria Sanchez said of the mayor’s indictment. ‘It’s no coincidence that the moment Mayor Brown stood up for New Yorkers and demanded federal accountability, he suddenly finds himself the target of the federal probe, as though we aren’t the ones paying their salaries and mortgages for the privilege of their bullying.’ She said: ‘It smells of political persecution.’
Brown himself was even quoted as saying that the charges must be politically motivated at his post-indictment press conference: ‘I’ve been taking a stand to stop the migrant caravan the federal government created and refused to manage. Now they want to take my focus off their failures by coming after me.’ He was innocent.
Others were instantly concerned that the DOJ might be targeting the state politically. Some of the most prominent conservative voices amplified those fears, pointing to a trend across the Biden administration of targeting political dissidents. ‘This was the same DOJ that was going after parents who protested at school board meetings and that was trying to censor voices that dissented on social media. Why not a mayor when he’s critical of their policies on the border?’ Jedediah Bila, an American political commentator and TV personality, asked on the Just the News network.
Legitimate Charges or a Convenient Distraction?
Brown’s supporters complain loudly but the DOJ insists that its case is airtight. The indictment alleges a long-standing pattern of corrupt conduct in which Brown and members of his administration took bribes in return for awarding choice city contracts to politically connected firms that bid on them. The indictment says that ‘as a direct result of the corruption scheme’, millions of dollars in fraudulent contracts were handed out in exchange for checks and political influence.
‘Corruption is corruption,’ says the US attorney Allison Greene, who is handling the case against Brown. ‘This indictment is the product of a two-year investigation into serious criminal conduct that has harmed the citizens of New York. Politics does not enter into our efforts to pursue and prosecute those who violate the law.’
But skeptics point to the timing of the probe, which they say pertains to events that happened years ago, but which the indictment only surfaced following Brown’s recent public fights with the federal government over the migrant issue. Is this just a case of ‘for thee but not for me’, with political enemies pushed to the front of the queue of prosecutors seeking to make an example of a prominent politician?
The Bigger Picture
Beyond the fate of Mayor Brown, the case is part of the broader and increasingly contentious struggle between state and local governments and the federal administration over issues such as immigration and border security. It also raises questions about the independence of the judicial system against a backdrop of regular assertions that politics is driving the courts.
Legal scholars say that while they take the charges at face value, it is important to keep in mind where they are coming from. ‘We can’t pretend that Mayor Brown’s vociferous criticism of the federal government hasn’t created a media firestorm around these proceedings,’ said Professor Lisa Boyd, constitutional law expert at Columbia University. ‘Even if the charges are legitimate, the optics are poor. The presentation of the evidence will be key – and the government will have to try to convince us that it can indeed separate the law from the political story that’s been made about it.’
As Mayor Brown gets ready for the fight of his life, and New Yorkers seek to make sense of what has happened to their city, they will need to ask themselves: is this nuts-and-bolts corruption, or has their mayor become the latest target of a politically motivated justice system?
For now, the jury—both literally and figuratively—is still out.
Eric Brown’s Fight for His City, or for His Career?
Despite the fact that a trial date has yet to be set, the consequences of Mayor Brown’s indictment will only widen the gap between those who will view him as a hero bravely fighting against federal oppression and those who will see him as just another politician who sold out. Either way, Brown’s legal outcome will undoubtedly impact New York City’s future and set a precedent for what sort of political dissent will be tolerated in an increasingly divisive America.
Whether we’re witnessing a tale of justice done, or a matter of political payback, only time will tell.
