Gail Collins: Wellfcc, Bret, the mayor of New York is certainly in a ton of trouble. Any thoughts? I couldn’t help noticing that a lot of Eric Adams’s misdeeds seem to involve him getting cushy flights to places like Turkey and Sri Lanka. Remembering the scandal over Justice Clarence Thomas’s super-luxe flights in a plane belonging to a billionaire named Harlan Crow.
Do you think young people contemplating a career in public service these days think of it as a way to avoid sitting in the middle seat while flying cross-country or cross-world?
Bret Stephens: Gail, I remember a lot of high-profile prosecutions of government officials that fell apart in court. The Alaskan senator Ted Stevens comes to mind, as does Ray Donovan, Ronald Reagan’s secretary of labor, who asked, “Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?” after his acquittal on fraud and larceny charges.
So I’m not going to join the stampede calling for Adams’s immediate resignation, particularly because his would-be interim successor, Jumaane Williams, the public advocate, is a democratic socialist. I also have to wonder whether accepting discounted airline tickets and sleeping in a nice hotel room are the kind of offenses that should bring down an elected mayor. As Liel Leibovitz wrote in Tablet, “Prosecuting New York City mayors for their proximity to one form or another of local corruption is like prosecuting bartenders for their proximity to gin.”
Guessing you, uh, don’t agree.
Gail: Well, prosecuting bartenders for their proximity to gin makes sense if the bartenders are drinking deeply from the cup.
Bret: Well, sure, though whether you’re willing to fire and charge the bartender depends, also, on how much he’s drinking — and how well he mixes the drinks.
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