After New York City Mayor Eric Adams pleaded not guilty on Sept. 27 to bribery charges following a federal investigation into his 2021 mayoral election campaign, has since moved to dismiss the charges, and on Oct. 1, sought sanctions on the federal prosecutors who charged him, alleging the prosecutors leaked grand jury material and other sensitive information in “brazen violations” of the rules, this week, we asked readers for their opinions on whether, generally, they have faith in the integrity of elected officials.

 

The mayor is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law. Read our latest related coverage on the topic, including the recent wave of resignations from the Adams’ administration and the mayor’s recent visit to Woodlawn Heights here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

 

“I do, because everyone makes mistakes, and everyone deserves a second chance, and because people lie and set people up, and nobody really knows the truth until it comes out in court. So, no one really knows what’s going on yet.”

Mossamat Akhter,

Burnside

“I really don’t have any faith in the politicians anymore. Honestly, I think it’s really like picking your poison now. You’re left with a choice of picking the better of two evils. I don’t really have trust in any politicians at the moment until we get some new leaders in office. I’m hopeful that it’s possible that somebody out there can get in there, but as of right now, there’s no hope in the near future.”

Bashiri Walsh,

Allerton

“To a certain extent, yes. You’ve got to give him a chance, innocent before proven guilty, that’s the way it is in this country. But yes, I can also see the reasons for him to step down. If he’s going to be in court every day, you can’t really run the city that way, but give him a chance.”

Chris Perkins,

Norwood

“It’s hard to have faith in our elected officials. After I was assaulted and had an attempted home invasion by the family of a local party leader, I asked some of my elected officials to teach female politicians to treat other women right. The request was completely ignored by a number of them. There’ve been programs set up by our local elected officials to help us with tax questions, but it’s really set up to just file them online, not answer our questions. We give them money and vote for them, and they act like politicians, not public servants.”

Anne Leighton,

Norwood

“In terms of elected officials being trusted, sure why not? I mean this isn’t the first time witnessing an elected official being accused of an egregious transgression. We saw this with former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer. We saw this with the former Governor of Connecticut John Rowland, and let’s not forget [former U.S. presidential candidate] John Edwards who committed adultery on his wife, who was dying of cancer.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick stole money. What do all of these individuals have in common? They were all replaced by someone else. Who, you ask? Another politician, someone else that deserves a chance, someone that simply deserves our respect. Think about it; what happens when a police officer is charged with misconduct? They’re replaced by another officer. Professionally, no one ever says we can’t trust them, right? They come on board with a clean slate. The same concept applies here.”

Jason Gonzalez,

Allerton

Editor’s Note: Former U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards was acquitted for campaign finance violations.