NYC Mayor Adams disappointed that political action group allied with him for pumping $10K into Lee Zeldin’s GOP bid

Mayor Adams voiced disappointment Tuesday that a political group closely aligned with him donated $10,000 to Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin on the eve of his electoral showdown against Gov. Hochul.

“I’m disappointed, but I don’t have any say-so on the PAC and how the money is spent,” the Democratic mayor told reporters of the five-figure Zeldin contribution from Striving for a Better New York, a political action committee founded by the Rev. Alfred Cockfield II.

Cockfield, a Brooklyn pastor and prominent Adams supporter, launched the PAC last fall with an aim to boost moderate Democratic political candidates who see eye-to-eye with the mayor on public safety and other issues.

Adams, who spoke to reporters outside a polling place in Brooklyn after casting his vote for Hochul, said he would’ve rather seen Cockfield funnel the cash into Hochul’s campaign coffers.

“I though it would’ve been better to support Democrats up and down the line, and, particularly, this governor,” he said.

The Cockfield PAC’s donation appeared in the state’s campaign finance database late Monday — just hours before polls opened across New York for voters to cast ballots in the hotly-contested gubernatorial race between Hochul and Zeldin.

The 11th-hour PAC contribution underscores the politically fraught situation Adams has put himself in by criticizing Democratic criminal justice policies, such as the 2020 bail reforms enacted by the state Legislature.

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In opposing such reforms, the mayor’s rhetoric has echoed that of Zeldin and his fellow Republicans, who blame Hochul and other elected New York Democrats for increases in some index crimes in the city during the pandemic.

Asked Tuesday afternoon for a reaction to Adams’ criticism of his PAC’s Zeldin donation, Cockfield told the Daily News that he couldn’t talk about his group’s internal deliberations.

“I can’t discuss the governor’s race. I have no comment,” he said in a brief phone call. “Have a great day.”

Word of Cockfield’s Zeldin boost came on the heels of a New York Times report that found his PAC made a legally dubious donation to a Brooklyn charter school that he founded.

Though Zeldin has aligned himself with the mayor on bail reform, Adams told reporters in Brooklyn that the Republican is out of step on gun control issues — and that it was thereby misguided for Cockfield to financially aid him.

“They used the money to (support) a candidate that I believe voted against the gun bill in D.C., that wants to put guns in the hands of teachers in school, as I’m trying to take guns out of schools,” Adams said.