Mayor Eric Adams exploits 9/11 to defend staffer who had a brazen conflict of interest who still worked at Resorts World.

 

 NY Post

Mayor Eric Adams tried to counter a new barrage of questions about ethics at City Hall Monday after hiring his close friend Timothy Pearson as a public safety adviser while allowing him to keep his job at a Queens gambling operation seeking approvals to expand its business — with Hizzoner claiming at one point that “We need to lift up our 9/11 heroes.”

Adams spoke just hours after Resorts World, which runs the slots at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, parted ways with Pearson following a string of stories that revealed his simultaneous work in city government and as the security chief at the facility.

“He’s a 9/11 hero,” Adams told reporters in The Bronx after he was pressed on allowing Pearson to maintain dual employment while he was in city service. “When the [World Trade Center] buildings collapsed, he was inside one of the buildings and led people to safety.”

“We need to lift up our 9/11 heroes,” the mayor added. 

Adams also claimed on Monday that City Hall has “nothing to do with the placement of casinos” — even though the mayor appoints one of the voting members to the panel that must approve any new casino license in the five boroughs.

The Malaysia-based Genting Group, the parent company of Resorts World, is fighting hard for one of those new licenses so it can add lucrative table games like craps and roulette to its racetrack operation, which is currently limited to slots and other computer games.

The New York Times first reported last week that Pearson was still employed full time by Resorts World even after taking an adviser position at the city’s Economic Development Corporation on matters of public safety and COVID-19 pandemic recovery. 

So Adams exploited the pandemic too to hire a crony of his. Disgusting.

Adams shooting craps hiring casino cop crony to EDC position

New York Times

Mayor Eric Adams has appointed a former New York City police official and close confidant as a paid senior adviser — while allowing him to keep his job as an executive at the Resorts World New York City casino in Queens, according to city officials and a person close to Resorts World.

Since May 31, the adviser, Timothy Pearson, a retired police inspector, has served as both a city official and the vice president responsible for overseeing security at the casino, which is seeking state approval to expand its gambling offerings in Queens. City support for its bid could prove pivotal.

On top of what he earns from the casino job, Mr. Pearson receives a city-funded salary through the nonprofit New York City Economic Development Corporation under an unusual arrangement that allows him to continue collecting his $124,000 annual Police Department pension.

State law prohibits city officials from simultaneously receiving a salary and a pension from the city. Mr. Pearson is able to do so because he is being paid by the development corporation, a nonprofit controlled by the mayor.

Initially, Mr. Pearson had worked on Mr. Adams’s behalf without pay during his mayoral transition last fall, and for the first five months of his administration before he was put on the public payroll as a senior adviser to the mayor for public safety and Covid recovery, said Fabien Levy, a spokesman for Mr. Adams.

Mr. Adams’s administration has declined to answer other questions about the arrangement, including how much the city is paying Mr. Pearson. According to Mr. Levy, the Economic Development Corporation reached out to the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board on Mr. Pearson’s behalf. He said Mr. Pearson is following all applicable laws.

As of Tuesday, the board had issued no waivers of the conflicts of interest law to Mr. Pearson, records show.

“New Yorkers are lucky to have such a knowledgeable and experienced individual agree to serve and bring his expertise to the greatest city in the world, especially after he did the job without being paid a single dollar for months,” Mr. Levy said in a statement.

Mr. Levy said Mr. Pearson’s municipal job responsibilities had no overlap with casino policy, and instead included working with law enforcement to help improve the city’s public safety, the centerpiece of Mr. Adams’s mayoral agenda. Mr. Levy also said Mr. Pearson would recuse himself should any interaction between the casino and the development corporation arise.