Top Eric Adams appointee did business with Trump and a Russian oligarch who was sanctioned by the U.

[Polybius]

Source: CNBC

New York Mayor Eric Adams has appointed to a top city job a veteran real estate executive with ties to influential businesses and officials who have come under legal scrutiny, including the Trump Organization and Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. government.

Edward Mermelstein, whom Adams named earlier this month to be commissioner of New York’s international affairs office, also is linked to public relations executive Ronn Torossian, an Adams ally who has worked for several high-profile figures over the years and has gained a reputation for being a confrontational firebrand. Torossian’s clients have included the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been criticized for anti-democratic power grabs.

Details of these connections had yet to be reported since Mermelstein was appointed earlier this month to be commissioner of international affairs, who acts as the primary liaison between the city government, foreign leaders and the United Nations. Marjorie Bloomberg Tiven, who held the position while her brother Michael Bloomberg was mayor, once said the job is meant to ensure “your head of government is behaving in a way that doesn’t offend other heads of government.”

Mermelstein is a Russian-American foreign investment attorney who has given “expert help navigating the complex foreign investment process in the United States,” according to his still-active personal website. The mayor’s office website says he came to the United States in the 1970s as a refugee from Ukraine.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/21/ny-mayor-eric-adams-appoints-exec-linked-to-trump-organization-russian-oligarch.html

[milestogo]

1. This mayor sounds like bad news.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. +1

[2naSalit]

14. Like a...

Trojan horse.

[Me.]

2. This JUst Gets Better & Better

[Ocelot II]

3. I hope he turns out to be better than he seems so far, but

so far isn't so good.

[elleng]

5. Right.

[George II]

4. So?

[Polybius]

6. So?

No biggie?

[George II]

7. What does that have to do with Democratic Mayor Adams running New York City?

[secondwind]

9. Wut 😳

[Polybius]

10. CNBC thought it was interesting enough to publish

I like Adams more than most, but disagree with him on this.

[2naSalit]

15. I'm beginning to wonder...

Just how long he's been a Democrat.

[George II]

26. He's been a Democrat for a long time. He was an outspoken supporter of DEMOCRATIC Mayor....

....David Dinkins in the early 1990s.

He ran in the Democratic primary for Congress in 1994.

He did switch his registration in 1997 for four years. He said that switch was a "protest move" because of what he considered failed Democratic leadership. I don't agree with that, but we're all now familiar with Democrats and "protests".

He served four terms as a DEMOCRATIC State Senator, and two terms as the DEMOCRATIC Brooklyn Borough President.

I don't know why his Democratic credentials are being questioned here.

[2naSalit]

29. I have been unaware of him...

Until the election. I question his credentials based on his recent political moves as he sets up his personnel roster. He seems kind of hinky and so I have to wonder about him.

[Ford_Prefect]

34. It is not his credentials which are being challenged. Up to now he's been a respectable Democrat.

The questions we are asking have to do with the kind of Mayor for NYC he is ABOUT to be. He is surrounding himself with a rather curious selection of people who seem to represent choices of the powerful which do not usually benefit ordinary citizens and Democrats alike.

[paleotn]

21. It smells bad. May not be anything there, but...it smells bad.

In his line of work, it may be hard NOT to represent and advise a lot of unsavory characters. Still, lay down with dogs you're bound to get fleas. Makes me wonder who the other candidates were for that job.

[2naSalit]

30. Once upon a time...

The mere appearance of impropriety was enough to sink a political career.

[George II]

35. People started on him just two days after being sworn in. They were showing two video clips....

....both only 28 seconds each, from 30+ minute addresses, and misrepresenting what he said.

Then he was criticized for was appointing his brother to a job in his administration, but.....

Once upon a time President John F. Kennedy was trashed for nominating his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, to be Attorney General. How did that work out?

I think there's an underlying reason why people are being critical of him and almost writing him off after only 23 days after taking office.

[2naSalit]

37. Well...

I am sure you are better informed about it than I am. I can see where he could be getting "the treatment" for not being white so there is that.

It's early, time will tell.

Thanks for the input, it helps to know more than less!

[George II]

39. I actually think he's going to be very good - he's a lot tougher and resilient than his predecessor.

This isn't why I like him, but there are amazing coincidences in our early lives (although I'm not Black and he's gone a LOT further than I did):

We both spent our early years in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.
We both moved to Queens when we were young - he at 8, me at 9.
He graduated from Bayside High School, which was my local high school. Although I went to HS in Manhattan, three of my siblings graduated from Bayside.

[rockfordfile]

11. Connected to a pos like Viktor Vekselberg.

[AZLD4Candidate]

12. I don't trust police in places of power like a Mayor

He is turning out to be another Sinema and quickly.

[George II]

31. He hasn't been a member of the Police Department since 2006. One should look into one's....

....background before making negative remarks about him.

As a matter of fact, AS a member of the NYPD he was very critical of the department himself.

[kysrsoze]

13. I smelled a rat when we was on Bill Maher's show

Nothing about him struck me as a Democrat. He came off as smarmy and self-serving.

[2naSalit]

16. I'm thinking he's more of a...

Poser than the real deal.

[Joinfortmill]

17. Getting the bad feeling New Yorkers made a mistake electing this dude.

[Beastly Boy]

19. I guess nothing exciting is happening at the Staten Island Zoo today

By New York standards, this story is pretty lame. Just about any veteran real estate executive in NY has ties to "influential businesses and officials who have come under legal scrutiny", just like any corrections officer at Rikers has ties to convicted felons. It's an occupational hazard. If Adams were to appoint someone with no such ties, he would end up with an incompetent executive running a City Hall office.

I don't usually pay attention to click bait like this, so I can't recall who among the previous mayors was accused of having ties with whom, but I am pretty sure the media have been reporting something similar to this on a regular basis for decades. Because it beats publishing stories about two ducks mating at the Staten Island zoo.

Adams was elected mayor because he was an exemplary Brooklyn Borough President, and the other candidates weren't. It remains to be seen how well he will handle a mayor's job, but stories like this one will have no impact on his record.

[brooklynite]

22. "he was an exemplary Brooklyn Borough President"

Last edited Sun Jan 23, 2022, 11:51 AM - Edit history (1)

Not a heavy lifting job. Appointments to Community Board, a small capital budget to allocate, and mostly borough cheerleading.

Adams won largely because 1) he wasnt a "defund the police" progressive, and 2) he was cozy with the ethically challenged Kings County Democratic Party which is still able to turn out votes in the poor neighborhoods.

[Beastly Boy]

23. Arguably, the lifting was as heavy as, say, being mayor of any city with

population under 3 million people. Like LA, or Chicago. Or Rome, or Paris for that matter.

And I am not so sure that he is a "defund the police" progressive. Some of his opponents were, and they lost.

And his third and fourth degree of separation connections to people who have come under legal scrutiny are still trivial.

[brooklynite]

24. Absolutely no comparison

No need to manage and provide city services.

No need to review and approve or veto Council legislation.

No need to develop and maintain operating budgets.

[Beastly Boy]

27. I understand your critique of Adams is that he is ill prepared to run NYC.

Since my post was about the trivial nature of the article linked in the OP, we are digressing here, but... who among the mayoral candidates do you think was better prepared for the job?

I hope we can agree that Curtis Sliwa was not.

[brooklynite]

28. I and many of my political friends were supporting Kathryn Garcia.

Former Sanitation Commissioners and City Housing Association Chair.

[Beastly Boy]

32. But, based on her previous job experience, is she better prepared than Aadams to run NYC?

[brooklynite]

33. Running a major City Department with a staff of more than 10,000?

The NYC Department of Sanitation is the world’s largest sanitation department. DSNY collects more than 10,500 tons of residential and institutional garbage and 1,760 tons of the recyclables – each day. While efficiently managing solid waste and clearing litter or snow from 6,300 miles of streets, the Department is also a leader in environmentalism — committing to sending zero waste to landfills.

Running an agency that houses more than 300,000 low income people?

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the largest public housing authority in North America, was created in 1935 to provide decent, affordable housing for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. NYCHA is home to roughly 1 in 15 New Yorkers across over 177,000 apartments within 335 housing developments. NYCHA serves over 350,000 residents through the conventional public housing program (Section 9), over 20,000 residents at developments that have been converted to PACT/RAD, and over 75,000 families through federal rent subsidies (the Section 8 Leased Housing Program). In addition, NYCHA connects residents to opportunities in financial empowerment, business development, career advancement, and educational programs. With a housing stock that spans all five boroughs, NYCHA is a city within a city. View NYCHA's 2021 Fact Sheet.

I'm thinking...yes.

[George II]

36. Exactly. We're not talking about Des Moines, Iowa or Omaha Nebraska. We're talking about....

....NEW YORK CITY, the financial capital of the world and probably the real estate capital of the world, too.

If you're going to be hiring financial or real estate people for your administration, there's going to be some connections with nefarious people - not that the people being hired are nefarious themselves. Think of all the people who did business with Bernie Madoff.

Wait until they find out that some of those appointed by him have checking accounts with Deutsche Bank, or at one time rented an apartment in one of Jared Kushner's buildings. Oh the horror!

[Kid Berwyn]

20. A strong man doing big good with strong mens.

Mafiya.

[amaico]

25. Did he commit a crime?

The article doesn't explain the nefarious "links".
Was he involved in corruption?

[MOMFUDSKI]

38. I think Adams

is skeevy and dirty. Watch out NY.