For Immediate Release
Contact: Max Schulman, 347-861-4167, max@anatgerstein.com
Proposal to be presented to the Charter Revision Commission this evening; report also proposes reforms to the governor’s broad removal powers
To read the full report, click here
New York, NY (April 9, 2025) – Citizens Union today released a new report outlining a proposal to establish a clear, fair, and effective process for removing a New York City mayor from office for misconduct. Recent crises at City Hall have exposed significant gaps in the City Charter when it comes to holding the mayor accountable – New York City is one of the only large cities in the U.S. without a local mechanism to remove a mayor for misconduct.
The report analyzes removal systems across dozens of cities and states, examining their compatibility with New York City’s political system. The proposed procedure provides New Yorkers with a crucial tool to hold the nation’s most powerful mayor accountable while preserving democratic safeguards and meaningful due process for the Mayor.
The report recommends a locally-controlled, hybrid mechanism for removal that begins with the City Council and ends with voters. First, a supermajority of the City Council would need to vote to recommend charges for removal on grounds related to misconduct. The Council would then hold a 30-day hearing, where the Mayor would have the right to counsel and would be able to present evidence and witnesses. Next, the charges would need to be approved by another supermajority of the Council, and the question would then be sent to voters for final approval in a Special Removal Election. If voters approve the removal, regular succession and special election procedures outlined in the charter would take effect.
“The crisis of governance and corruption in the Adams administration has made it clear that New York needs a practical process to remove a Mayor for serious misconduct,” said John Avlon, Board Chairman of Citizens Union. “To ensure New Yorkers have the ability to hold a Mayor accountable for violating their oath of office, we need to amend the City Charter to establish an effective, honest and fair removal process for abusing the public trust. Our proposal is strong, mandates broad consensus, and protects due process for the Mayor.”
Key elements of the proposed process include:
Grounds for removal: The removal of the Mayor must be based solely on misconduct, not political differences. Therefore, the legal grounds should be well-tailored to preclude abuse; the Mayor could only be removed for either malfeasance, neglect of duty, violation of the oath of office, or a conviction of a felony regarding conduct in office.
Voting thresholds: A mayoral removal process should be deliberately difficult to achieve and be used extremely rarely. And in New York City, with its overwhelmingly Democratic lean, multiple majority thresholds should be required for removal. Under the proposed process, removal would require 70% of the City Council to issue charges, 80% of the Council to recommend removal, and a simple majority of New York City voters to confirm the removal.
Due process, transparency, and timeline: Proceedings would be made public, and the mayor would have robust legal rights, including a right to counsel and the ability to present evidence and call witnesses. The overall removal process would be conducted within a reasonable timeframe to avoid disruption to government, with the entire process, from charges of removal to Special Removal Election, taking no more than 67 days.
Local control and implementation: The removal of the Mayor of New York City must be a local matter. State law grants local governments Home Rule over the “mode of selection and removal” of local officials – the proposal begins with the City’s legislative branch and ends with the City’s voters. The proposed reform would be implemented by amending our Charter through the existing revision process, involving a Charter Revision Commission and a ballot question to be approved by voters.
“Our proposed reform gives New Yorkers the means to hold their Mayor accountable for misconduct, and is intentionally structured to avoid the pitfalls of other removal systems,” said Ben Weinberg, Citizens Union’s Director of Public Policy. “We encourage the Charter Revision Commission to study this idea and bring a ballot proposal for voters to approve.”
Amending the Governor’s Removal Power
The report also recommends amending state law to establish clear grounds and guardrails for removal by Governor, aligning the procedure with the state constitution and principles of home rule. Under existing law, the Governor can remove mayors, but this power is untested and ill-defined, making it unlikely that Governors will act even in extreme cases of misconduct. State law fails to define the grounds for removal and provides very little guidance on the procedure and the Mayor’s rights due process rights.
Under the proposal, the Governor would need to present clear charges related to misconduct against the Mayor. The Governor would then conduct a public hearing, during which the Mayor would have the right to counsel and the ability to present evidence and call witnesses. At the conclusion of the hearing, which would take no longer than 30 days, the Governor would determine whether to remove the Mayor.
The full report is available here.
Our February report outlining all of our recommendations to reform the City Charter is available here
About Citizens Union
For over 125 years, Citizens Union has been a leading non-partisan advocate for reform, accountability, and ethics in New York City and State government. Learn more at www.citizensunion.org.
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