News that the state’s top Democrat had issued a “scathing” criticism of one of her closest allies lit up political and advocacy circles last week.
The battle over migrant aid between Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul spilled into public view after the New York Times reported on a letter from Hochul’s lawyers that portrayed the city’s response to the migrant crisis as slow, disorganized and counterproductive.
If Adams had had his way, the letter would have never become public.
The day before the Times published its story, lawyers for the city sought to have the letter sealed, only for the request to be turned down by a state judge in Manhattan presiding over the consent decree case known as Callahan v. Carey, according to two people with knowledge of the email discussions. The state’s lawyers argued there was no need to keep the letter confidential and Judge Erika Edwards agreed.
The conflict underscores the murky and seemingly contradictory court proceedings around the city’s decades-old right to shelter obligation, which guarantees beds for homeless New Yorkers. Like previous legal disputes over the right to shelter, court hearings involving Callahan have been held behind closed doors inside the judge’s chambers.
The theory is that by keeping the proceedings private, both sides will ease off any political squabbles and avoid trying to score points with the public. But that ended with the publication of the letter, which exposed the simmering divisions behind Hochul and Adams’ public facade of unity.
Both sides are now arguing over who should assume greater responsibility in sheltering the nearly 60,000 migrants currently under the city’s care as well as the thousands who arrive each week. On Thursday, Hochul joined Adams in pressuring President Joe Biden to respond to the crisis, but drew a line against relocating migrants to other parts of the state.
On the recent issue, the mayor’s office said the state’s letter had been leaked before the…
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